A case report of prolonged COVID-19-positive RT-PCR for five months.

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 gold standard assessment tool remained the RT-PCR of upper respiratory tract specimen extracted by the nasopharyngeal swab. A positive result would decrease through a three-week course and eventually be undetectable. The maximum duration of viral shedding is 83 days. Besides, COVID-19 RT-PCR remained positive for 74 days in a patient suffering from lymphoma. In this study, we have presented a 56-year-old male patient, a known case of lymphoma since 2015, who experienced many episodes of chemotherapy with a five-month positive RT-PCR COVID-19 laboratory test and finally was intubated and then died of opportunistic pulmonary infections. COVID-19 patients with concurrent lymphoma failed to remove the virus thoroughly, despite providing appropriate treatment regimens.