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Borderline SARS-CoV-2 patients: the trace behind
Bojana Mohar Vitezić1,2, Elena Štefančić2, Davorka Repac Antić1,2
1Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia.
Background:
Effective and precise SARS-CoV-2 detection assays are crucial for maintaining regular hospital routines and identifying infected hospital employees and infected patients before hospital admission. Inconclusive PCR test results of potentially infectious borderline SARS-CoV-2 patients can confuse clinicians and delay appropriate infection control.
Objectives And Study Design:
In this retrospective study, we followed up borderline SARS-CoV-2 patients who were tested (from the second sample with the same method) at the Clinical Department of Clinical Microbiology. We aimed to determine the positivity conversion ratio within 7 days after inconclusive PCR test results.
Results:
Out of 247 borderline patients, who were resampled and retested in the same laboratory, 60 patients (29.4%) showed conversion of the borderline viral load (inconclusive RT-PCR test) to a positive RT-PCR test result.
Conclusions:
Our results highlight the need for retesting of borderline patients with inconclusive SARS-CoV-2 results. Follow-up testing of inconclusive PCR results within 7 days can identify additional positive results and reduce the potential risk of intrahospital transmission.
