23 Mar Clinical characteristics of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 reactivation.
Guangming Ye, Zhenyu Pan, Yunbao Pan, Qiaoling Deng, Liangjun Chen, Jin Li, Yirong Li, Xinghuan Wang
ABSTRACT
Objectives: Previous studies on the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pneumonia outbreak were based on information from the general population. However, limited data are available for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) reactivation. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 reactivation.
Methods: Clinical records, laboratory results, and chest CT scans were retrospectively reviewed for 55 patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 pneumonia (ie, with throat swab specimens that were positive for SARS-CoV-2). who were admitted to Wuhan University Hospital, Wuhan, China from January 8 to February 10, 2020.
Results: All 55 patients had a history of epidemiologic exposure to COVID-19, and 5 (9%) patients who were discharged from the hospital had SARS-CoV-2 reactivation. Among the 5 reactivated patients, other symptoms such as fever, cough, sore throat, and fatigue were also observed. One of the 5 patients had progressive lymphopenia (1.3 to 0.56 × 10 9 cells per L) and progressive neutrophilia (4.5 to 18.28 × 10 9 cells per L). The 5 reactivated patients presented normal aminotransferase levels. Throat swab samples from the 5 reactivated patients were tested for SARS-CoV-2, all of which were positive for the virus.
Conclusions: The findings from this small group of cases suggest that there is currently evidence of SARS-CoV-2 reactivation and there may not be specific clinical features to distinguish them.