COVID-19 in 2 Persons with Mild Upper Respiratory Tract Symptoms on a Cruise Ship, Japan

Abstract

We describe 2 cases of coronavirus disease in patients with mild upper respiratory symptoms. Both patients worked on a cruise ship quarantined off the coast of Japan. One patient had persistent, low-grade upper respiratory tract symptoms without fever. The other patient had rapid symptom cessation but persistent viral RNA detection.

Keywords: COVID-19; Japan; PCR; SARS-CoV-2; coronavirus; cruise ship; global health; respiratory infections; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; travelers health; viruses.

Figure

Clinical courses of 2 case-patients with 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) admitted from a cruise ship docked in Japan, 2020. A) Case-patient 1, a 35-year-old female who worked on the ship as a restaurant server. B) Case-patient 2, a 27-year-old male who worked on the ship as a kitchen cleaner. Acetaminophen was administered on an as-needed basis >2×/day after taking body temperature, so measured body temperature is not affected. Nasopharyngeal swabs were used after February 21, 2020, because a study by Zou et al. (10) suggested higher sensitivity of nasopharyngeal swab specimens over oropharyngeal swab specimens. AC, acetaminophen; Adm., admission; AM, amoxicillin; B, bakumondoto, a multiherb kampo medicine for dry cough; C, codeine-containing cough syrup; F, fexofenadine; naso, nasopharyngeal swab; oro, oropharyngeal swab; RT-PCR, reverse transcription PCR.