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Case Reports
. 2021 Jul 26;9(21):5955-5962.
doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v9.i21.5955.

COVID-19 patient with an incubation period of 27 d: A case report

Xue Du  1 , Yang Gao  2 , Kai Kang  1 , Yang Chong  1 , Mei-Ling Zhang  1 , Wei Yang  1 , Chang-Song Wang  3 , Xiang-Lin Meng  1 , Dong-Sheng Fei  1 , Qing-Qing Dai  4 , Ming-Yan Zhao  5
Affiliations
Case Reports

COVID-19 patient with an incubation period of 27 d: A case report

Xue Du et al. World J Clin Cases. .

Abstract

Background: As a highly contagious disease, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is wreaking havoc around the world due to continuous spread among close contacts mainly via droplets, aerosols, contaminated hands or surfaces. Therefore, centralized isolation of close contacts and suspected patients is an important measure to prevent the transmission of COVID-19. At present, the quarantine duration in most countries is 14 d due to the fact that the incubation period of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is usually identified as 1-14 d with median estimate of 4-7.5 d. Since COVID-19 patients in the incubation period are also contagious, cases with an incubation period of more than 14 d need to be evaluated.

Case summary: A 70-year-old male patient was admitted to the Department of Respiratory Medicine of The First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University on April 5 due to a cough with sputum and shortness of breath. On April 10, the patient was transferred to the Fever Clinic for further treatment due to close contact to one confirmed COVID-19 patient in the same room. During the period from April 10 to May 6, nucleic acid and antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 were tested 7 and 4 times, respectively, all of which were negative. On May 7, the patient developed fever with a maximum temperature of 39℃, and his respiratory difficulties had deteriorated. The results of nucleic acid and antibody detection of SARS-CoV-2 were positive. On May 8, the nucleic acid and antibody detection of SARS-CoV-2 by Heilongjiang Provincial Center for Disease Control were also positive, and the patient was diagnosed with COVID-19 and reported to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Conclusion: This case highlights the importance of the SARS-CoV-2 incubation period. Further epidemiological investigations and clinical observations are urgently needed to identify the optimal incubation period of SARS-CoV-2 and formulate rational and evidence-based quarantine policies for COVID-19 accordingly.

Keywords: COVID-19; Case report; Incubation period; Quarantine duration; SARS-CoV-2.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Lung computed tomography scan of the patient. A: April 5, 2020; B: April 26, 2020; C: April 30, 2020; D: May 5, 2020; E: May 11, 2020.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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