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Case Reports
. 2021 Mar 20;57(3):290.
doi: 10.3390/medicina57030290.

SARS-CoV-2 Detection in Fecal Sample from a Patient with Typical Findings of COVID-19 Pneumonia on CT but Negative to Multiple SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR Tests on Oropharyngeal and Nasopharyngeal Swab Samples

Barbara Brogna  1 , Carlo Brogna  2 , Mauro Petrillo  3 , Adriana Modestina Conte  4 , Giulio Benincasa  5 , Luigi Montano  6 , Marina Piscopo  7
Affiliations
Case Reports

SARS-CoV-2 Detection in Fecal Sample from a Patient with Typical Findings of COVID-19 Pneumonia on CT but Negative to Multiple SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR Tests on Oropharyngeal and Nasopharyngeal Swab Samples

Barbara Brogna et al. Medicina (Kaunas). .

Abstract

Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) negative results in the upper respiratory tract represent a major concern for the clinical management of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. Herein, we report the case of a 43-years-old man with a strong clinical suspicion of COVID-19, who resulted in being negative to multiple severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) RT-PCR tests performed on different oropharyngeal and nasopharyngeal swabs, despite serology having confirmed the presence of SARS-CoV-2 IgM. The patient underwent a chest computed tomography (CT) that showed typical imaging findings of COVID-19 pneumonia. The presence of viral SARS-CoV-2 was confirmed only by performing a SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR test on stool. Performing of SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR test on fecal samples can be a rapid and useful approach to confirm COVID-19 diagnosis in cases where there is an apparent discrepancy between COVID-19 clinical symptoms coupled with chest CT and SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR tests' results on samples from the upper respiratory tract.

Keywords: COVID-19; RT-PCR; SARS-CoV-2; chest; computed tomography; fecal swab; feces; nasopharyngeal swab; oropharyngeal swab; viral pneumonia.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Chest computed tomography (CT) images of the patient with the typical distribution of COVID-19 pneumonia: (a) consolidation (red arrow) and crazy paving area (yellow arrow) with a posterior and peripheral distribution in the right inferior lobe; (b) observed air bronchogram (green arrow) in the consolidation together with small vascular vessel enlargement (orange arrow); (c) small consolidations in the left inferior lobe (red arrow); (d) small consolidations in the posterior segment of the right superior lobe (red arrow).
Figure 2
Figure 2
On the left panel (a), reduction of the consolidation the right inferior lobe (red arrow) after therapy; on the right panel (b), the reduction of areas previously observed as small zones of consolidations with some ground glass (GGO) area (red arrow) in the absorptive phase after therapy.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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