Persistence of positive severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction test result for 24 days in a hospitalized asymptomatic carrier

• Published in: Acute medicine & surgery 2020, Vol.7 (1), p.e525-e525
• Main Authors: Uechi, Takahiro, Nakamura, Shunsuke, Takeshita, Ryo, Morino, Kyoko, Mizuno, Ren, Nakagawa, Yuki, Irifukuhama, Yuna, Takada, Shiho, Teruya, Hideki, Mita, Naoto, Nakamori, Tomoki, Kinoshita, Hirohisa
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• ISSN: 2052-8817
• DOI: 10.1002/ams2.525

BACKGROUNDSeveral countries have imposed a mandatory 14-day period of quarantine on individuals arriving from countries considered high-risk for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. However, it is not clear how long asymptomatic patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 can be an asymptomatic carrier.CASE PRESENTATIONWe experienced a case of an asymptomatic female patient infected with SARS-CoV-2 with abnormal chest computed tomography findings. She did not develop a fever during hospitalized isolation. She remained reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction-positive for 24 days.CONCLUSIONAn asymptomatic patient diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 infection remained reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction-positive for 24 days, although she was quarantined in an isolation hospital. This finding suggests that an asymptomatic patient diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 infection with abnormal chest computed tomography findings can be an asymptomatic carrier for more than 3 weeks.