Plasma as an alternative COVID-19 diagnostic specimen in a hospitalized patient negative for SARS-CoV-2 by nasopharyngeal swab

Lauren Lawrence; Bryan A Stevens; Malaya K Sahoo; ChunHong Huang; Fumiko Yamamoto; Katharina Röltgen; Oliver Wirz; James Zehnder; Run-Zhang Shi; Scott D Boyd; Gary Schoolnik; Benjamin A Pinsky; Catherine A Hogan

doi:10.1016/j.diagmicrobio.2021.115365

Plasma as an alternative COVID-19 diagnostic specimen in a hospitalized patient negative for SARS-CoV-2 by nasopharyngeal swab

Diagn Microbiol Infect Dis. 2021 Jul;100(3):115365. doi: 10.1016/j.diagmicrobio.2021.115365. Epub 2021 Mar 4.

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.
² Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA; Clinical Virology Laboratory, Stanford Health Care, Stanford, CA, USA.
³ Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases and Geographic Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.
⁴ Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA; Clinical Virology Laboratory, Stanford Health Care, Stanford, CA, USA; Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases and Geographic Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.
⁵ Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA; Clinical Virology Laboratory, Stanford Health Care, Stanford, CA, USA. Electronic address: [email protected].

Abstract

We present the case of an inpatient with pneumonia and repeatedly negative nasopharyngeal SARS-CoV-2 testing. In such challenging cases, alternative diagnostic options include lower respiratory tract and plasma SARS-CoV-2 RNA testing, of which the latter may be particularly useful where bronchoscopy is deferred due to clinical factors or transmission risk.

Keywords: COVID-19; RNA; SARS-CoV-2; plasma.

Publication types

Case Reports

MeSH terms

Adult
COVID-19 / diagnosis*
COVID-19 Nucleic Acid Testing
Humans
Male
Nasopharynx / virology
Plasma / virology*
RNA, Viral / genetics
SARS-CoV-2 / isolation & purification*
Specimen Handling

Substances

RNA, Viral