Large amounts of viral RNA were detected in 2 sputa and 1 throat swab collected from the imported Taiwan cases according to a recent Lancet letter.
While early throat swabs (days after fever onset)and a chest X-ray did not indicate H7N9 infection, later in the disease course (11-13-days after onset of his 3-day fever) signs and virus became more clearly detectable.
This case may suggest shedding is possible well before incapacitation and not long after a clinically indistinguishable episode of fever begins.
