Chen Shen, Si Jiafeng, Tang Wenqiang, Zhang Anqi, Pan Li, An Meng, Zhang Huawei, Xue Shoukun, Wu Kunpeng, Chen Shuangfeng, Zhang Wei, Liu Wei, Fu Bo
Department of Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Liaocheng People's Hospital, Liaocheng, China.
Department of Clinical Laboratory, Dong'e People's Hospital, Liaocheng, China.
Front Med (Lausanne). 2020 Sep 25;7:562875. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2020.562875. eCollection 2020.
An outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has become pandemic worldwide. A better understanding of asymptomatic infections is crucial to prevent and control this epidemic. Here, we report the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of a family cluster with SARS-CoV-2 infection. In the family cluster, a 32-year-old male (case 1) and a 53-year-old female (case 2, the mother-in-law of case 1) exhibited clinical symptoms of COVID-19, while case 1's 32-year-old wife (case 3) and their 11-month-old daughter (case 4) were both asymptomatic. Notably, case 4's nasopharyngeal swab samples was negative for nearly 80 days, and her immune system has been boosted for at least 57 days, but the fecal samples have tested positive for 100 days (May 13, 2020), suggesting SARS-CoV-2 may invade enterocytes and may exist in individuals with low antiviral immunity for a long term. This report highlights that asymptomatic infections should be managed with caution and vigilance. For SARS-CoV-2 testing of asymptomatic cases, besides the normally used nasopharyngeal swab, fecal sample testing is also needed.
由严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2（SARS-CoV-2）引起的2019冠状病毒病（COVID-19）疫情已在全球大流行。更好地了解无症状感染对于防控这一疫情至关重要。在此，我们报告了一个SARS-CoV-2感染家庭聚集性病例的流行病学和临床特征。在该家庭聚集性病例中，一名32岁男性（病例1）和一名53岁女性（病例2，病例1的岳母）出现了COVID-19临床症状，而病例1的32岁妻子（病例3）及其11个月大的女儿（病例4）均无症状。值得注意的是，病例4的鼻咽拭子样本近80天呈阴性，其免疫系统增强至少57天，但粪便样本在100天（2020年5月13日）检测呈阳性，提示SARS-CoV-2可能侵袭肠上皮细胞，且可能在抗病毒免疫力低下的个体中长期存在。本报告强调对无症状感染应谨慎管理并保持警惕。对于无症状病例的SARS-CoV-2检测，除常规使用的鼻咽拭子外，还需要进行粪便样本检测。
