Study: patients can test positive for covid

German researchers have revealed that sign and symptom-based screening is not effective in detecting COVID-19 infection. There are several patients who are positive for Covid-19 even though they do not show symptoms.

In research New England Journal of Medicine, German researchers disclose the fact that it is possible for people who do not show signs and symptoms of COVID-19 infection such as cough and fever to remain positive.

The report is based on checking on 126 German citizens who at that time had just been evacuated from Wuhan to Frankfurt, Germany.

Two German citizens tested positive for COVID-19 even though they did not show any symptoms

In early February, Saturday (1/2) the German government picked up 126 citizens from Wuhan, China. They were evacuated and flown to Frankfurt after passing through the series screening or examination.

Of the 126 people, two people who appeared healthy tested positive for COVID-19 after passing a two-week quarantine period and did not show any symptoms.

These two people were known to be positive for COVID-19 even though they did not show any symptoms after everyone who was evacuated carried out laboratory tests.

This laboratory examination is carried out by method Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR). All underwent tests, including those who were free of symptoms such as fever, fatigue, sore throat, cough, runny nose, muscle aches and diarrhea.

RT-PCR is an examination to analyze the presence or absence of viruses in the sample under study, such as analysis of gene expression, determination of the number of viruses, detection of organisms with genetic mutations. These tests are known to require expensive equipment and reagents as well as understanding the correct techniques for accurate results.

For information, sample examination using the RT-PCR method was not carried out on 238 Indonesians who were evacuated from Wuhan. 238 This person only passed the incubation period of 14 days of quarantine.

During the quarantine period in Natuna, signs and symptoms were periodically checked for these 238 people and then they were declared clean from COVID-19.

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How are two people detected positive for COVID-19?

During that flight, there were 10 passengers who were isolated. They were isolated in three different rooms, the details are as follows:

• Six people were isolated because they showed symptoms of COVID-19 infection, namely coughing, fever and shortness of breath.
• Two people are relatives of six suspect above.
• Two people were isolated because they were known to have had contact with a positive patient with COVID-19 while in China, even though they did not show any symptoms.

Arriving in Frankfurt, the 10 passengers were immediately sent to the Frankfurt University Hospital. They do a series of checks with swab throat (taking samples of the throat mucosa) and sputum (sputum). Then the RT-PCR lab test of the sample was carried out and all the results were tested negative for COVID-19.

Meanwhile, 116 other passengers were taken to the health evaluation location at Frankfurt Airport. They also conducted a series of checks, measuring body temperature, including health interviews about symptoms of diarrhea, coughing, muscle aches, and fatigue.

One person had a high fever of up to 39 degrees Celsius, he was immediately separated from the group and taken to the hospital. But then the results of checking the throat and phlegm mucosa samples showed negative COVID-19.

The remaining 115 people were transferred to military bases to go through a 14-day quarantine period.

After going through several stages of health checks during the quarantine period, they were still offered to check throat mucosal samples for laboratory testing (RT-PCR). All agreed except for one person.

From the results of checking, two people tested positive for COVID-19 even though they did not show any symptoms. For these two people, double-checking was carried out and the results that came out still indicated positive exposure.

Even though these two people are in good health and have passed one week of quarantine. The two positive COVID-19 patients are a 44-year-old woman and a 58-year-old man. The good news is that these two people did not get sick, after being taken to the hospital and being treated, one of them only had a faint rash.

Potential to infect other people

Another fact is that the throat mucosal samples under study also grew on a laboratory dish showing the potential to infect other people.

From these results, the research team led by Dr. Sebastian Hoehl of Frankfurt University Hospital emphasized that process screening signs and symptoms are ineffective and detects COVID-19.

"We found that a potentially contagious shedding of the virus could occur in people who were asymptomatic and asymptomatic, or had only minor signs of infection," the report wrote.

In the report, dr. Sebastian and friends reminded experts to remain vigilant against the asymptomatic transmission of COVID-19.