Publication Date
2021
Journal or Book Title
Frontiers in Medicine
Abstract
Background: Secondary infections pose tremendous challenges in Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) treatment and are associated with higher mortality rates. Clinicians face of the challenge of diagnosing viral infections because of low sensitivity of available laboratory tests.
Case Presentation: A 66-year-old woman initially manifested fever and shortness of breath. She was diagnosed as critically ill with COVID-19 using quantitative reverse transcription PCR (RT-qPCR) and treated with antiviral therapy, ventilator and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). However, after the condition was relatively stabled for a few days, the patient deteriorated with fever, frequent cough, increased airway secretions, and increased exudative lesions in the lower right lung on chest X-rays, showing the possibility of a newly acquired infection, though sputum bacterial and fungal cultures and smears showed negative results. Using metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS), we identified a reactivation of latent human herpes virus type 1 (HHV-1) in the respiratory tract, blood and gastrointestinal tract, resulting in a worsened clinical course in a critically ill COVID-19 patient on ECMO. Anti-HHV-1 therapy guided by these sequencing results effectively decreased HHV-1 levels, and improved the patient's clinical condition. After 49 days on ECMO and 67 days on the ventilator, the 66-year-old patient recovered and was discharged.
Conclusions: This case report demonstrates the potential value of mNGS for evidence-based treatment, and suggests that potential reactivation of latent viruses should be considered in critically ill COVID-19 patients.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2021.715519
Volume
8
License
UMass Amherst Open Access Policy
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Shi, Lei; Xia, Han; Moore, Matthew D.; Deng, Chao; Li, Na; Ren, Hui; Chen, Yunru; Liu, Jinfeng; Du, Fenjing; Zheng, Gezhi; Li, Jing; Han, Qunying; Fan, Wanhu; Ye, Feng; Lin, Shumei; Liu, Zhengwen; Liu, Hongjuan; Wang, Yawen; Yang, Jian; Liu, Qingguang; Zhao, Yingren; and Chen, Tianyan, "Metagenomic Next-Generation Sequencing in the Diagnosis of HHV-1 Reactivation in a Critically Ill COVID-19 Patient: A Case Report" (2021). Frontiers in Medicine. 54.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2021.715519