Published in:
Open Access 01-12-2020 | SARS-CoV-2 | Research article
Characteristics of recovered COVID-19 patients with recurrent positive RT-PCR findings in Wuhan, China: a retrospective study
Published in: BMC Infectious Diseases | Issue 1/2020
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Background
Two months after the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Wuhan, China, tens of thousands of hospitalized patients had recovered, and little is known about the follow-up of the recovered patients.
Methods
The clinical characteristics, reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) results from throat swab specimens and the results of serological COVID-19 rapid diagnostic test (RDT) for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) were retrospectively reviewed for a total of 758 recovered patients who were previously hospitalized in 17 hospitals and quarantined at 32 rehabilitation stations in Wuhan, China.
Results
In total, 59 patients (7.78%) had recurrent positive findings for COVID-19 on RT-PCR from throat swabs. With regard to antibody detection, 50/59 (84.75%) and 4/59 (6.78%) patients had positive IgG or dual positive IgG/IgM RDT results, respectively.
Conclusions
Some patients who had been quarantined and had subsequently recovered from COVID-19 had recurrent positive RT-PCR results for SARS-CoV-2, and the possibility of transmission of the virus by recovered patients needs further investigation.
Trial registration
Current Controlled Trials ChiCTR2000033580, Jun 6th 2020. Retrospectively registered.