Four months after the first positive RT-PCR (3rd F/U)
A mong the 41 patients who had tested negative, 32 patients (39.02%) continued their participation in the study. Four patients had a positive RT-PCR result (12.5%). None of the patients who tested positive were symptomatic in previous studies; but now three of them were mildly symptomatic; also, two patients had underlying medical conditions (Figure-1). None of the patients who tested negative were symptomatic. The underlying medical conditions, history of using immunosuppressive drugs, initial disease severity, admission duration and history of ICU admission in the first episode of infection were not significantly different between patients who had a positive RT-PCR result and those who did not (P-value: 0.67, 0.59, 0.64, 0.64, 0.71).
The IgM levels were <1.1 g/L in 30 (94%) patients (negative); and positive in 2 patients. The patients who tested positive were asymptomatic and did not have a positive RT-PCR test in any of the previous follow-up studies. The IgG levels were >1.1 g/L in 30 (94%) patients (positive); and negative in 2 patients. The mean IgG level was 7.94±3.67 g/L and ranged between 1.48-14.5 g/L. The two patients, who had a negative IgG test result, did not test positive in any of the follow-up RT-PCR tests.
All patients recovered with no further complications and none of the patients who re-tested positive required readmission or further medical treatment.