Positive results for patients with COVID-19 discharged form hospital in Chongqing, China

• Published in: BMC infectious diseases Vol. 20; no. 1; pp. 429 - 6
• Main Authors: Deng, Wang, Guang, Tian-wen, Yang, Mei, Li, Jian-rong, Jiang, De-peng, Li, Chang-yi, Wang, Dao-xin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 19.06.2020; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Betacoronavirus; Care and treatment; China; Clinical Laboratory Techniques; Coronavirus disease 2019; Coronavirus Infections - diagnosis; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19 Testing; Feces - virology; Female; Health aspects; Hospital discharge; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Nose - virology; Pandemics; Patient Discharge; Pharynx - virology; Pneumonia, Viral - diagnosis; Quarantine; RNA, Viral - isolation & purification; SARS-CoV-2; Sputum - virology; China; Coronavirus disease 2019; Hospital discharge; SARS-CoV-2
• DOI: 10.1186/s12879-020-05151-y
• ISSN: 1471-2334

Since December 2019, over 80,000 patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have been confirmed in China. With the increasing number of recovered patients, more attention should be paid to the follow-up of these patients. In the study, 576 patients with COVID-19 discharged from hospital in Chongqing, China from January 24, 2020, to March 10, 2020 were evaluated by viral nucleic acid tests for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2(SARS-CoV-2) to determine if they could be released from quarantine. Among the 576 patients, 61 patients (10.6%) had positive RT-PCR test results of SARS-CoV-2. We aimed to analyze the demographics, clinical characteristics and treatment of 61 patients. These positive patients were characterized by older age, chronic medical illness and mild conditions. 38 (62.3%) patients who were asymptomatic without abnormalities on chest radiographs were found in the positive with COVID-19. Also, they showed positive results of stool or sputum specimens with negative results of nasal and pharyngeal swab specimens. The median duration of positive result of SARS-CoV-2 was varied from 3 days to 35 days in the patients discharged from hospital with no family member infection. Multi-site screening of SARS-CoV-2 including nasal and pharyngeal swabs, stool and sputum specimens could be considered to improve the diagnosis, treatment and infection control in patients with COVID-19. Our findings provide the important information and clinical evidence for the improved management of patients recovered from COVID-19.