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. 2021 Feb 25;21(1):217.
doi: 10.1186/s12879-021-05909-y.

Case series of acute appendicitis association with SARS-CoV-2 infection

Charlsea Prichard  1 , Matthew Canning  1 , Kindra McWilliam-Ross  1 , John Birbari  2 , William Parker  3 , Lori Wasson  1 , John W Hollingsworth  4   5
Affiliations

Case series of acute appendicitis association with SARS-CoV-2 infection

Charlsea Prichard et al. BMC Infect Dis. .

Abstract

Background: Describe the indications for surgical interventions in asymptomatic patients with SARS-CoV-2. We are unaware of previous reports of an association between SARS-CoV-2 and acute appendicitis.

Methods: We performed a single institution retrospective review of SARS-CoV-2 pre-procedure testing and indications for surgical intervention. Statistical comparisons were performed using Chi Square analysis or two-tailed Student T test.

Results: We report a high prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in both all testing and pre-procedure testing during the enrollment period. We observe a high prevalence of acute appendicitis among patients identified to be SARS-CoV-2 positive during pre-procedure testing and without recognized symptoms of COVID19.

Conclusion: We report a previously unrecognized association between SARS-CoV-2 and acute appendicitis.

Keywords: Appendicitis; COVID19; SARS-CoV-2.

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Conflict of interest statement

None.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Demographics of COVID19 testing and diagnosis in asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 positive cases requiring surgery. a The number of total PCR positive cases over the enrollment period. b The number of tests performed during each time period. c The overall rate of detecting positive PCR test for COVID19 over time. d The rate of detecting positive PCR test for COVID19 in pre-procedure testing over time. e We report a total of 24 patients requiring emergent surgery that were SARS-CoV-2 positive on pre-procedure testing. Appendicitis represented 33.3% (8/24) of patients that were SARS-CoV-2 positive and required emergent surgery
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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