Positive result of Sars‐Cov‐2 in faeces and sputum from discharged patient with COVID‐19 in Yiwu, China

Li, Youjiang; Hu, Yingying; Yu, Yuanyuan; Zhang, Xiaodong; Li, Bin; Wu, Jianguo; Li, Junyu; Wu, Yingping; Xia, Xiaoping; Tang, Huina; Xu, Jian

BACKGROUND: With the effective prevention and control of COVID ‐ 19 in China, the number of cured cases increased significantly. Further monitoring of the disease prognosis and effective control of the "relapse" of the epidemic become the next focus of work. To analyse the clinical prognosis of discharged COVID‐19 patients by monitoring their SAR‐CoV‐2 nucleic acid status, which may provide evidence to establish discharge standards and follow‐up management for COVID‐19 patients. METHODS: We included 13 discharged COVID‐19 patients who were quarantined for 4‐week at home. The patient's daily clinical signs were recorded and sputum and faecal specimens were regularly sent for the detection of SARS‐CoV‐2 nucleic acid. RESULTS: The time between initial symptoms and meeting discharge criteria was 18 – 44 days with an average of 25 ± 6 days. The faecal samples of two patients still tested positive after meeting discharge criteria and the sputum samples of four patients returned positive 5 – 14 days after discharge. The rate of a recurring positive test result in samples from the respiratory system was 31%(4/13). CONCLUSION: Under the present discharge criteria, the high presence of SARS‐CoV‐2 nucleic acid in faecal and respiratory samples of discharged COVID‐19 patients indicate potential infectivity. Therefore, we suggest that faecal virus nucleic acid should be tested as a routine monitoring index for COVID‐19 and a negative result be added to the criteria. Simultaneously, we should strengthen the regular follow‐up of discharged patients with continuous monitoring of the recurrence of viral nucleic acid. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.