SARS-CoV-2 and Plasmodium falciparum Co-Infection in a Returning Traveler.

Since December 2019, the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has become a non-neglectable context for the whole healthcare system. Under the background of COVID-19, the detection and diagnosis of malaria cases are under challenge. Here, we reported a COVID-19 and malaria co-infection traveler who has a long living history in Cameroon. The case was administered with dihydroartemisinin and piperaquine tablets for malaria, Lopinavir and Ritonavir tablets, Arbidol, recombinant human interferon α-2b and Compound Maxing Yifei mixture for COVID-19, and Zolpidem Tartrate tablets, Diazepam, Paroxetine Hydrochloride tablets, Thymosin α1, and Lianhua Qinwen Jiaonang during the second hospitalization of the patient since the patient has a certain level of anxiety and insomnia with no evidence of inflammatory reactions. After being tested negative two times for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in 48 h, the patient met China's COVID-19 discharge standards and was discharged with stable vital signs and mental state. Since most countries in the sub-Saharan region have a fragile health system, co-infection for both Plasmodium and SARS-CoV-2 may not be uncommon, and raise a challenge in diagnosis, treatment, and prevention for both diseases. We add to the literature on co-infection of P. falciparum malaria and COVID-19 and offer operational advice on diagnosis, prevention, and treatment for the co-infection.

Diagnostic value and dynamic variance of serum antibody in coronavirus disease 2019.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the diagnostic value of serological testing and dynamic variance of serum antibody in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). METHODS: This study retrospectively included 43 patients with a laboratory-confirmed infection and 33 patients with a suspected infection, in whom the disease was eventually excluded. The IgM/IgG titer of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was measured by chemiluminescence immunoassay analysis. RESULTS: Compared to molecular detection, the sensitivities of serum IgM and IgG antibodies to diagnose COVID-19 were 48.1% and 88.9%, and the specificities were 100% and 90.9%, respectively.In the COVID-19 group, the IgM-positive rate increased slightly at first and then decreased over time; in contrast, the IgG-positive rate increased to 100% and was higher than IgM at all times. The IgM-positive rate and titer were not significantly different before and after conversion to virus-negative. The IgG-positive rate was up to 90% and not significantly different before and after conversion to virus-negative. However, the median IgG titer after conversion to virus-negative was double that before, and the difference was significant. CONCLUSIONS: Viral serological testing is an effective means of diagnosis for SARS-CoV-2 infection. The positive rate and titer variance of IgG are higher than those of IgM in COVID-19.