Persistently positive PCR after COVID-19. How to diagnose reinfections?

Abstract

Persistence of a long-term positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test in patients with severe coronavirus-associated respiratory syndrome may interfere with the diagnosis of reinfections, causing false positives of the disease, with the potential implications to determine the need for isolation and, consequently, for Public Health.

In these field notes we present the experience of a patient with positive PCR of eight months of evolution to which an erroneous diagnosis of COVID-19 reinfection was made due to a gastrointestinal disease, resulting in a Campylobacter jejuni infection.