RESUMEN
Early diagnosis is among the crucial measures to control the spread of SARS-CoV-2 infection. To date, reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) is the gold standard for COVID-19 testing, but various factors can affect its performance leading to false negative results. Hereby we present a patient with a high clinical suspicion for COVID-19 and had multiple negative RT-PCR results over 5 days. A 22-year-old woman presented with fever, dry cough, nausea, myalgia, headache, and mild dyspnea. Eleven days before, she was in close contact with her father who had tested positive for COVID-19. RT-PCR on nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swabs were performed on day 8, 9, and 12 of illness which all came back negative even after she started having a worsening dyspnea and showing an increased lung opacity from radiographic findings on day 11 of illness. Interestingly, her rapid antibody test (VivaDiag™ COVID-19 IgM/IgG rapid test by VivaChek Biotech (HangZhou,China) was positive for anti-SARS-CoV-2 Ig M and Ig G. Due to the worsening condition, she was referred to a tertiary hospital where her RT PCR result was positive on day 13 of illness. After 28 days from her first symptom, she was discharged from the hospital with improved symptoms and chest X-ray. As conclusions, in patients with high suspicion of COVID-19, repeat swab tests are mandatory if previous tests were negative. The diagnosis and treatment plan of COVID-19 should not solely be based on RT-PCR, but also consider the patient's history, symptoms, laboratory result, and radiographic findings.
Asunto(s)
Prueba de Ácido Nucleico para COVID-19/normas , COVID-19/diagnóstico , Reacción en Cadena de la Polimerasa de Transcriptasa Inversa/normas , SARS-CoV-2/genética , Anticuerpos Antivirales/sangre , COVID-19/virología , Reacciones Falso Negativas , Femenino , Humanos , Inmunoglobulina M/sangre , Nasofaringe/virología , Sensibilidad y Especificidad , Manejo de Especímenes , Factores de Tiempo , Adulto JovenRESUMEN
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a new infectious disease that spreads very rapidly and therefore, WHO has declared it as a global pandemic disease. The main clinical symptoms found in COVID-19 patients are cough and fever; however, in some cases, diarrhea can be one of the early symptoms. The present case report describes a patient who came with a complaint of diarrhea without fever and she was later confirmed to be positive for COVID-19 during hospitalization. The presence of unspecified initial symptoms calls for greater vigilance from health workers in establishing diagnosis patients with COVID-19.