4 週間以上にわたりPCR 検査が持続陽性となった新型コロナウイルス感染症患者の3 例

抄録

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by the novel virus, SARS-CoV-2. The clinical spectrum of COVID-19 varies from asymptomatic infection to severe pneumonia. The COVID-19 epidemic started at the end of 2019 in Wuhan, China, and the disease has now spread to the entire world. The rapid spread of the infection worldwide led the WHO to declare the outbreak a pandemic on March 11,2020. Herein, we report three patients with COVID-19 admitted to Atsugi City Hospital, who contracted the infection on the cruise ship, Diamond Princess, which was one of the early sites of outbreak of COVID-19. The three patients had different backgrounds, including age, sex and underlying disease profile, and each had a different clinical course. However, all three tested persistently positive by the PCR test for more than 4 weeks, which is longer than the average reported period of positivity. In this report, we discuss the interpretation of persistently positive results of PCR for SARS-CoV-19, the appropriate instructions for these patients, and the optimal timing of discharge home of these patients, considering the available medical resources.