May 26, 2020

Coronavirus Disease 2019 Test Results After Clinical Recovery and Hospital Discharge Among Patients in China

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Clinical Characteristics and Health Care Setting

• PCR tests on nasopharyngeal and anal swabs from 60 patients who had been hospitalized for COVID-19 found evidence of persistent viral shedding following discharge. Samples were collected 4-24 days after index hospital discharge and 10 out of 60 patients had positive results (16.7%; 5 nasopharyngeal and 6 anal). None of these patients had clinical symptoms of COVID-19 at the time of sample collection except for occasional cough in two patients older than 70 with multiple comorbidities; one such patient was PCR positive by both samples 56 days after illness onset.  

Wu et al. (May 22, 2020). Coronavirus Disease 2019 Test Results After Clinical Recovery and Hospital Discharge Among Patients in China. JAMA Network Open. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.9759