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The prevalence and outcomes of patients who had re-activation of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) after discharge remain poorly understood. We included 126 consecutively confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 2-month follow-up data after discharge in this retrospective study. The upper respiratory specimen using a reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction test of three patients (71 years [60–76]) were positive within 11–20 days after their discharge, with an event rate of 19.8 (95%CI 2.60–42.1) per 1,000,000 patient-days. Moreover, all re-positive patients were asymptomatic. Our findings suggest that few recovered patients may still be virus carriers even after reaching the discharge criteria. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s10096-020-04024-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Background Whether intravenous thrombolysis before mechanical thrombectomy provides additional benefit for functional outcome in acute ischemic stroke remains uncertain. We performed a meta‐analysis to compare the outcomes of direct mechanical thrombectomy (dMT) to mechanical thrombectomy with bridging using intravenous thrombolysis (bridging therapy [BT]) in patients with acute ischemic stroke. Methods and Results We performed a literature search in the PubMed, Excerpta Medica database, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials from January 1, 2003, to April 26, 2021. We included randomized clinical trials and observational studies that reported the 90‐day functional outcome in patients with acute ischemic stroke undergoing dMT compared with BT. The 12 included studies (3 randomized controlled trials and 9 observational studies) yielded 3924 participants (mean age, 68.0 years [SD, 13.1 years]; women, 44.2%; 1887 participants who received dMT and 2037 participants who received BT). A meta‐analysis of randomized controlled trial and observational data revealed similar 90‐day functional independence (odds ratio [OR], 1.04; 95% CI, 0.90–1.19), mortality (OR, 1.03; 95% CI, 0.78–1.36), and successful recanalization (OR, 0.93; 95% CI, 0.76–1.14) for patients treated with dMT or BT. Compared with those in the BT group, patients in the dMT group were less likely to experience symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (OR, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.51–0.91; P =0.008) or any intracranial hemorrhage (OR, 0.71; 95% CI, 0.61–0.84; P Conclusions In this meta‐analysis of patients with acute ischemic stroke, we found no significant differences in 90‐day functional outcome or mortality between dMT and BT, but a lower rate of symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage for dMT. These findings support the use of dMT without intravenous thrombolysis bridging therapy. Registration URL: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/ ; Unique identifier: 42021234664.

Background The long-term functional outcome of discharged patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) remains unresolved. We aimed to describe a six-month follow-up of functional status of COVID-19 survivors.Methods We reviewed the data of COVID-19 patients who had been consecutively admitted to the Tumor Center of Union Hospital (Wuhan, China) between 15 February and 14 March 2020. We quantified a six-month functional outcome reflecting symptoms and disability in COVID-19 survivors using a post-COVID-19 functional status scale ranging from 0 to 5 (PCFS). We examined the risk factors for the incomplete functional status defined as a PCFS > 0 at a six-month follow-up after discharge.Results We included a total of 95 COVID-19 survivors with a median age of 62 (IQR 53-69) who had a complete functional status (PCFS grade 0) at baseline in this retrospective observational study. At six-month follow-up, 67 (70.5%) patients had a complete functional outcome (grade 0), 9 (9.5%) had a negligible limited function (grade 1), 12 (12.6%) had a mild limited function (grade 2), 7 (7.4%) had moderate limited function (grade 3). Univariable logistic regression analysis showed a significant association between the onset symptoms of muscle or joint pain and an increased risk of incomplete function (unadjusted OR 4.06, 95%CI 1.33 - 12.37). This association remained after adjustment for age and admission delay (adjusted OR 3.39, 95%CI 1.06 - 10.81, p = 0.039).Conclusions A small proportion of discharged COVID-19 patients may have an incomplete functional outcome at a six-month follow-up; intervention strategies are required.