• Chen Shao, Hui Liu, Lingjia Meng, Lin Sun, Yankun Wang, Zhujun Yue, Heli Kong, Hongjun Li, Honglei Weng, Fudong Lv, and Ronghua Jin.
• Department of Pathology, Beijing Youan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
• Hum. Pathol. 2020 Jul 1; 101: 82-88.

AbstractA 65-year-old man was hospitalized owing to fever (38.6 °C) and dry cough since 4 days. He visited Wuhan 8 days ago. At admission, nasopharyngeal swab samples were taken, and polymerase chain reaction analysis confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) RNA positivity. On day 9, after admission, the chest computed tomography scan showed diffuse ground-glass shadows in the patient's bilateral lungs. On day 11, his respiratory symptoms worsened. Subsequently, type I respiratory failure was diagnosed, coinciding with kidney injury, and subsequently, type II respiratory failure occurred, coupled with multiorgan failure including the heart and liver. However, the patient's constitution worsened although SARS-CoV-2 tests were negative since day 13. He died on day 21. Lung biopsy showed areas of diffuse alveolar damage, characterized by extensive acute alveolitis with numerous intra-alveolar neutrophil, lymphocyte, and macrophage infiltrations. Microthrombi were seen in the dilated pulmonary capillaries. Immunohistochemistry staining for SARS-CoV-2 N protein was negative. Taken together, the patient died of multiorgan failure although the SARS-CoV-2 infection was cleared already, implicating that for disease worsening, no active SARS-CoV-2 infection is required.Copyright © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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