Identification of RT-PCR-Negative Asymptomatic COVID-19 Patients via Serological Testing

Identification of RT-PCR-Negative Asymptomatic COVID-19 Patients via Serological Testing

Dan Zhou, Ning ZHOU, Xinyi Liu, Pa Wu, Miao Dai, Jin-Ru Wu, Guangqian Qiu, Qingting Yang, Zhonghui Pan

Asymptomatic individuals with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) have been identified via nucleic acid testing for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2); however, the epidemiologic characteristics and viral shedding pattern of asymptomatic patients remain largely unknown. In this study, serological testing was applied when identifying nine asymptomatic cases of COVID-19 who showed persistent negative RT-PCR test results for SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid and no symptoms of COVID-19. Two asymptomatic cases were presumed to be index patients who had cleared the virus when their close contacts developed symptoms of COVID-19. Three of the asymptomatic cases were local individuals who spontaneously recovered before their presumed index patients developed symptoms of COVID-19. This report presents the epidemiologic and clinical characteristics of asymptomatic individuals with SARS-CoV-2 infection that were undetected on RT-PCR tests in previous epidemiologic investigations probably due to the transient viral shedding duration.

2020

reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, Asymptomatic, serological test, SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19

DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2020.00267

Frontiers in Public Health

Frontiers Media S.A.

Public aspects of medicine