Recurrence of COVID-19 related symptoms and viral detection in patient discharged after complete recovery and test negativization

• Main Authors: Chiara Vassallo, Francesca Pupo, Luca Marri, Chiara Schiavi, Francesca Giusti, Monica Greco, Simone Negrini, Raffaele De Palma, Andrea Guastalla
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: PAGEPress Publications 2021-01-01
• Series: Italian Journal of Medicine
• Subjects: COVID-19; viral test; pneumonia; viral clearance.
• Online Access: https://www.italjmed.org/index.php/ijm/article/view/1393
• ISSN: 1877-9344; 1877-9352

Since the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has declared pandemic, the possibility of recurrence of the disease after recovery has become a debated issue. We report a case of an 84-yearsold male patient who was admitted to our hospital for dyspnea and fever. Lab and clinical workout showed that he had COVID-19. After a full recovery of symptoms and a double negative nasopharyngeal swab of SARS-CoV-2 by RT-PCR assay, he was dismissed from the hospital. One month later, he developed again dyspnea and fever with lung involvement. Surprisingly, nasopharyngeal swab of SARS-CoV-2 was positive. Since he denied contacts with confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19, he probably experienced a reactivation of a persistent infection. The failed eradication of the virus could depend on both virus’ escape mechanisms and dysfunctional immune response. Further studies are needed to confirm the hypothesis of viral reactivation and to identify signs of an incomplete clearance.