Long-term Positivity to SARS-CoV-2: A Clinical Case of COVID-19 with Persistent Evidence of Infection
Damiano D’Ardes, Andrea Boccatonda, Ilaria Rossi, Michela Pontolillo, Giulio Cocco, Cosima Schiavone, Francesca Santilli, Maria Teresa Guagnano, Marco Bucci, Francesco Cipollone
Abstract
In December 2019, an outbreak of a new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) was reported in Hubei province in China. The disease has since spread worldwide and the World Health Organization declared it a pandemic on 11 March 2020. We describe the case of a 65-year-old woman who clinically recovered from COVID-19 but showed persistent infection with SARS-CoV-2 for 51 days. LEARNING POINTS: A case of persistent infection with SARS-CoV-2 is described.Some tests may pick up viral RNA fragments, giving a false positive result.The quarantining of infected patients to limit possible SARS-CoV-2 spread is important.