A 63-Year-Old Man with a Diagnosis of Re-Infection with SARS-CoV-2 Nine Weeks After an Initial Hospital Admission with COVID-19 Pneumonia

Patient: Male, 63-year-old Final Diagnosis: SARS-COV-2 reinfection Symptoms: Auscultatory changes typical for pneumonia • fever of 39°C • general weakness Medication: — Clinical Procedure: — Specialty: Diagnostics, Laboratory • Pulmonology OBJECTIVE: Unusual clinical course BACKGROUND: This report describes a 63-year-old Polish man presenting with COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) pneumonia in early 2020, before vaccines to prevent severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection were available. Nine weeks following recovery from the initial infection, he tested positive again for SARS-CoV-2. CASE REPORT: Man, age 63, was admitted to the Military Institute of Medicine on March 12, 2020, with body temperature 40°C, a cough, and breathlessness. On March 12, 2020, SARS-CoV-2 RNA was found in a nasopharynx smear. A chest X-ray (RTG) showed discrete areas of interstitial densities. On June 13, 2020, after 32 days of hospitalization and 2 negative real-time polymerase chain rection (RT-PCR) test results, patient was released home in good general condition. On July 23, 2020 he reported to the emergency room with fever of 39°C and general weakness. A nasopharynx smear confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. On admission, the patient was in moderately good condition with auscultatory changes typical for pneumonia on both sides of the chest. On the seventh day of hospitalization, the patient was transported to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) due to drastic deterioration in respiratory function. Respiratory support with non-invasive high-flow oxygen therapy (Opti-Flow) was used. On August 20, 2020, after negative RT-PCR test results, he was discharged in good general condition. CONCLUSIONS: This case of COVID-19 pneumonia presented early in the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, and the laboratory diagnosis of the initial and subsequent SARS-CoV-2 infection relied on the laboratory methods available at that time. However, several cases of repeat SARS-CoV-2 infection have been described before the development of vaccines in late 2020.