• Tatsuya Kodama, Yuji Kouzaki, Shuichi Kawano, Hirofumi Obinata, Hiroaki Taniguchi, Hisashi Sasaki, Shinichiro Ota, Akihiko Kawana, and Kaku Tamura.
• Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Self-Defense Forces Central Hospital, 1-2-24 Ikejiri, Setagaya, Tokyo 154-8532, Japan. Electronic address: kodaaman1986@gmail.com.
• J. Infect. Chemother. 2020 Nov 1; 26 (11): 1220-1223.

AbstractCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is spreading worldwide and poses an imminent threat to public health. We encountered 2 cases of COVID-19 with progression resulting in severe respiratory failure and improvement without any specific treatment. To examine the course of infection, we performed reverse-transcription (RT) polymerase chain reaction assay with serum specimens, and serum SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected in both cases when body temperature increased and respiratory status deteriorated. We, then examined, retrospectively and prospectively, the clinical course during hospitalization by performing serial examinations of serum SARS-CoV-2 RNA status. The findings from our cases suggest that not only is detection of viremia useful as a predictive marker of severity, but also serial serum SARS-CoV-2 RNA results can be helpful for predicting the clinical course.Copyright © 2020 Japanese Society of Chemotherapy and The Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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