A Perspective on Re-Detectable Positive SARS-CoV-2 Nucleic Acid Results in Recovered COVID-19 Patients

OBJECTIVES: There have been reports on re-detectable positive nucleic acid tests for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in recovered coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients. In this study, we look at the clinical characteristics, possible causes, pathogenesis, and infectivity of re-detectable positive patients and provide up-to-date information to public health policy planners and clinicians. METHODS: By consulting the latest research data and related progress data of re-detectable positive patients, this study addresses the implications that this special group brings to clinical work and disease prevention and control. RESULTS: We discuss in detail the phenomenon of re-detectable positive nucleic acid tests for recovered patients. There are many possible causes of a re-detectable positive, but there is no 1 factor that can fully explain this phenomenon. CONCLUSIONS: It can’t be completely ruled out that the re-detectable positive patients are infectious. We should be alert to these re-detectable positive patients becoming chronic virus carriers, and virus serological IgM and IgG antibody tests should be added before patient discharge. It is urgent to find a more powerful evidence-based and virological basis for the integrity of viral ribonucleic acid and the variation of viral virulence with time through cell experiments in vitro and animal experiments in vivo.