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

Abstract

Background: Several 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 presentation: We 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.

Conclusion: An 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.

Keywords: COVID‐19; Coronavirus infection; pandemic; pneumonia; reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction; viral.