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Epidemiologic Features and Clinical Findings of COVID-19-Infected Patients in Suzhou
32 Pages Posted: 18 Mar 2020
More...Abstract
Background: Since December 2019, a novel coronavirus (COVID-19) infection pneumonia broke out in Wuhan city (the capital of Hubei province in China), and rapidly spread worldwide. In order to provide an insight into the prevention and treatment of COVID-19, the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of 87 COVID-19-infected patients in Suzhou (a city of Jiangsu province in China) were analyzed.
Method: All 87 patients infected with COVID-19 in Suzhou were admitted to the Affiliated Infectious Diseases Hospital designated for COVID-19 infected patients of Suzhou. We collected the epidemiologic and clinical data of these 87 patients from 10 January 2020 to 18 February 2020.
Findings: Of the 87 patients in Suzhou, there were three minors (including one 20-month-old male toddler, one 9-year-old female child and one 11-year-old female teenager) and 84 adults (including 45 males and 39 females; median age was 46 years). 48 (55%) patients had a recent travel history to Wuhan (the original source of the virus) or nearby cities before illness onset, while 25 (29%) patients had solid records of close contact with COVID-19-infected patients in either work or family life. In contrast, 14 (16%) patients could not find the exact cause. The most common symptoms at onset of illness were fever (70 (81%) patients), cough (56 (65%) patients), expectoration (35 (40%) patients), sore throat (11 (13%) patients), headache (3 (4%) patients), fatigue (15 (17%) patients), muscle ache (11 (13%) patients), chest tightness and dyspnea (7 (8%) patients) and gastrointestinal reaction (12 (14%) patients). Almost all the patients showed the ground-glass opacity based on the imaging examination on admission. During the study, four patients were critically ill and admitted to the intensive care unit, and no patients died. 83 (95%) patients were given antiviral treatment once the patients were admitted, and 28 patients were cured and discharged from the hospital. Four (5%) patients didn’t receive any antiviral treatment. Out of these four patients, 3 patients (included one 32-year-old female with nephrotic syndrome, one 64-year-old female and one 20-month-old toddler) had been self-cured and discharged, and the other 11-year-old girl was still under observation (she was almost completely recovered, but the result of her throat swab was still positive). In the 87 patients, we found the throat swab of a 9-year-old girl was negative in three consecutive tests (once every day) after treatment with Lopinavir and Ritonavir Tablets, but her anal swab was still positive.
Interpretation: We provided the epidemiologic features and clinical characteristics of 87 COVID-19 infected patients outside Wuhan. On the basis of this study, we found that children and adolescents were mostly asymptomatic or less symptomatic after infection. Additionally, COVID-19 might still be detectable in the digestive tract of the infected patients despite his/her consecutive throat swab tests were negative.
Funding Statement: The National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31801088).
Declaration of Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Ethics Approval Statement: The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Affiliated Infectious Diseases Hospital and the written informed consent was waived because of the retrospective nature of the study and belongs to emergency medical service.
Keywords: Epidemiologic features, clinical findings, COVID-19-infected patients, Suzhou
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