Benefit of Nasal Douche in COVID-19 Patients with Recurrence of Positive SARS-CoV-2 Viral RNA

PURPOSE: The purpose was to review relevant clinical data and formulate recommendations supporting the use of saline as a simple rinse for an early reassuring intervention to reduce the occurrence of re-positive COVID-19 patients. METHODS: We conducted a single-centre retrospective cohort study, which enrolled patients with confirmed re-testing positive COVID-19 during 7–60 days after discharge from Third People’s Hospital of Shenzhen. By one-to-two propensity score matching for age and sex, the control group of those not re-testing positive during the same period served as matched control. RESULTS: A total of 223 patients were included in our study, 94 in re-positive group and 129 in non-re-positive group. The result shows that the rates of nasal douche treatment in the non-re-positive group were considerably higher than that of the re-positive group. And the Ct value of nasal douche group increased faster than that of non-nasal douche group after the Ct value reaching ≥35. Further analysis revealed that the higher the Ct value at the time of readmission, the shorter the time of average Ct values to reach ≥35. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that nasal douche is beneficial to shorten the time of virus nucleic acid turning negative, thereby reducing the incidence of re-positive. The prevention and control of epidemics focuses on re-positive patients with Ct values <35.