Imaging plus repeated positive test of COVID-19 of one patient after improvement of symptoms

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To explore the changes of clinical symptoms, imaging features and related infection indexes of the Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and reveal its relationship with the change of viral nucleic acid load. METHODS: A 31-year-old male patient who had a history of staying in the epidemic-affected area and a history of fever, cough, and sore throat was enrolled in the study, and the clinical symptoms, CT imaging features and laboratory test indexes of the patient were retrospectively analyzed. RESULTS: The patient was tested twice for the nucleic acid at the onset, the symptoms disappeared quickly after treatment. The lung CT was re-checked 14 days after the onset, the viral nucleic acid test showed positive after the re-test, and the patient was conformed as COVID-19 and was cured successfully. During the course of the disease, the clinical symptoms and laboratory indicators were not parallel with the imaging findings. CONCLUSION: Combined with the characteristics of the case whose symptoms and test indicators are not parallel with the imaging findings and the existing studies, it does not rule out that the COVID-19 has a growth and decline process during the in vivo replication process, and the difference in nucleic acid load at different stages in the course of the disease determines the result of nucleic acid test. It is suggested that in the process of diagnosis and treatment, attention should be paid to the need for repeated test of nucleic acid, and when the symptoms improve and the virus nucleic acid re-test is positive, you should be highly vigilant of the possibility of aggravation of the symptom and the image.