Patients recovering from COVID-19 are unlikely to be infectious, even if they test positive for SARS-CoV-2 and are symptomatic, according to a study by the South Korean government.
Investigators followed 285 patients who re-tested positive for the coronavirus after being discharged from isolation. Nearly half still had symptoms, such as cough and sore throat. Ongoing contact tracing found only three new cases of the virus among family and other associates. In each case, the infected contact had other possible sources of transmission, such as a church group. The post-discharge retests were given an average of 45 days after the patients originally presented with symptoms.
“Based on active monitoring, epidemiological investigation, and laboratory testing of re-positive cases and their contacts, no evidence was found that indicated infectivity of re-positive cases,” the authors wrote.
While COVID-19 symptoms may indeed linger, “there’s no relapse,” Laila E. Woc-Colburn, M.D., told Medscape Medical News. Other viruses — such as influenza — also persist in this way, explained Woc-Colburn, a professor with the National School of Tropical Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas. She was not involved in the study.
Until now, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has managed positive re-test cases using isolation measures similar to those for confirmed cases. Based on the findings, the agency will now revise its protocol, it reported.
Other studies have noted positive test results among patients after hospital discharge.
