COVID-19 pneumonia in a 66-year old Honduran female with false negative RT-PCR but typical tomography pattern

Abstract

During the first weeks of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Honduras, a 66-year-old female patient was admitted to the ICU with a 5-day history of cough, fever, and respiratory distress. She had contact with a COVID-19 patient in previous days. The chest radiograph showed signs of bilateral ground-glass opacities (A). Since the RT-PCR was negative, a computed tomography angiography was done at day 7 to rule out a pulmonary embolism. This showed a diffuse, patchy, bilateral increase in density with ground-glass opacities, poorly defined edges, and slight predominance in subpleural regions (B and C). There was no evidence of a pulmonary thromboembolism. The swab test was repeated at day 7, resulting positive. In this case, the clinical and CT findings were highly suggestive before RT-PCR confirmed the diagnosis. This is the first COVID-19 case with a false negative PCR test in our hospital. She recovered fully.