scholarly journals Clinical Characteristics of Asymptomatic Patients with SARS-CoV-2 in Zhejiang: An Imperceptible Source of Infection

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Dai ◽  
Xinmiao Chen ◽  
Xiaoting Xu ◽  
Zhefeng Leng ◽  
Wenwen Yu ◽  
...  

Objective. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, was first identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, and has since spread globally, resulting in an ongoing pandemic. However, the study of asymptomatic patients is still rare, and the understanding of its potential transmission risk is still insufficient. In this study, epidemiological investigations were conducted in the Zhejiang province to understand the epidemiology and clinical characteristics of asymptomatic patients with COVID-19. Methods. This retrospective study was carried out on 22 asymptomatic patients and 234 symptomatic patients with COVID-19 who were hospitalized in Zhejiang Duodi Hospital from January 21 to March 16, 2020. The characteristics of epidemiology, demography, clinical manifestations, and laboratory data of mild patients were compared and analyzed. Results. The median age was 28 years in asymptomatic patients and 48 years in symptomatic patients. The proportion who were female was 77.3% in asymptomatic patients and 36.3% in symptomatic patients (p<0.001). The proportion of patients with coexisting diseases was 4.5% in asymptomatic patients and 38.0% in symptomatic patients (p=0.002). The proportion of patients with increased CRP was 13.6% in the asymptomatic group and 61.1% in the symptomatic group (p<0.001). The proportion of patients received antiviral therapy was 45.5% in the asymptomatic group and 97.9% in the symptomatic group (p<0.001). The proportion of patients received oxygen therapy was 22.7% in the asymptomatic group and 99.1% in symptomatic patients (p<0.001). By March 16, 2020, all patients were discharged from the hospital, and no symptoms had appeared in the asymptomatic patients during hospitalization. The median course of infection to discharge was 21.5 days in asymptomatic patients and 22 days in symptomatic patients. Conclusions. Asymptomatic patients are also infectious; relying only on clinical symptoms, blood cell tests, and radiology examination will lead to misdiagnosis of most patients, leading to the spread of the virus. Investigation of medical history is the best strategy for screening asymptomatic patients, especially young people, women, and people without coexisting disease, who are more likely to be asymptomatic when infected. Although the prognosis is good, isolation is critical for asymptomatic patients, and it is important not to end isolation early before a nucleic acid test turns negative.

2021 ◽  
pp. 50-53
Author(s):  
Divya Jain ◽  
Umesh Shukla ◽  
Jyotsna Madan ◽  
Bhanu K Bhakri ◽  
Devendra Kumar Gupta ◽  
...  

Background and objectives: Worldwide literature on presentation of patients infected with novel coronavirus shows huge variability in terms of severity and outcome depending on the demographic characteristics of the affected population. We aim to present epidemiological and clinical characteristics of COVID-19 patients admitted at our facility. Methods: Retrospective analysis of epidemiological, and clinical characteristics of patients admitted at a dedicated COVID hospital in North India. Results: Records of 245 patients were analyzed. The mean (SD) age was 32 (17.87) years ranging from 1 day to 81 years. Children <18 years of age constituted around 18% of the study population of which only about a fourth (23%) were symptomatic. About 52.4% of patients were males. Almost 40% cases were detected through contact tracing of known infected patients and in about 56% cases the source of infection was indeterminate. About 67% were asymptomatic and most of the symptomatic patients had mild disease. Among the symptomatic patients cough (19.9%) and fever (17.1%) were most common symptoms followed by throat irritation. Comorbidities were present in 32 (13.06%) patients, of which hypertension in 6.12% was the most common. There were 22 (8.97%) health care workers (HCW) among the patients. Majority of the affected HCW were working in areas with relatively low infection risk. Six (2.44%) patients required oxygen supplementation. The mean duration of stay in hospital was 9.6 ±.57 days. Interpretations & Conclusions: Our observations indicate a relatively younger age of affected population and high proportion of asymptomatic patients. Children are usually asymptomatic with relatively better prognosis.


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 373-380 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jie Tan ◽  
Shousheng Liu ◽  
Likun Zhuang ◽  
Lizhen Chen ◽  
Mengzhen Dong ◽  
...  

The 2019 novel coronavirus disease, SARS-CoV-2, is now spreading globally and is characterized by person-to-person transmission. However, it has recently been found that individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2 can be asymptomatic, and simultaneously a source of infection in others. The viral load detected in nasopharyngeal swabs of asymptomatic carriers is relatively high, with a great potential for transmission. More attention should be paid to the insidious spread of disease and harm contributed by asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 carriers. To provide a theoretical basis for the accurate and early clinical identification of asymptomatic patients, this review objectively summarizes the epidemic status, transmission characteristics and clinical features of asymptomatic patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (01) ◽  
pp. e137-e140
Author(s):  
Mosaad Abdel-Aziz ◽  
Nada M. Abdel-Aziz ◽  
Dina M. Abdel-Aziz ◽  
Noha Azab

AbstractThe clinical manifestations of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vary from mild flu-like symptoms to severe fatal pneumonia. However, children with COVID-19 may be asymptomatic or may have mild clinical symptoms. The aim of this study was to investigate clinical features of pediatric COVID-19 and to search for the factors that may mitigate the disease course. We reviewed the literature to realize the clinical features, laboratory, and radiographic data that may be diagnostic for COVID-19 among children. Also, we studied the factors that may affect the clinical course of the disease. Fever, dry cough, and fatigue are the main symptoms of pediatric COVID-19, sometimes flu-like symptoms and/or gastrointestinal symptoms may be present. Although some infected children may be asymptomatic, a recent unusual hyperinflammatory reaction with overlapping features of Kawasaki's disease and toxic shock syndrome in pediatric COVID-19 has been occasionally reported. Severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronvirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) nucleic acid testing is the corner-stone method for the diagnosis of COVID-19. Lymphocyte count and other inflammatory markers are not essentially diagnostic; however, chest computed tomography is highly specific. Factors that may mitigate the severity of pediatric COVID-19 are home confinement with limited children activity, trained immunity caused by compulsory vaccination, the response of the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 receptors in children is not the same as in adults, and that children are less likely to have comorbidities. As infected children may be asymptomatic or may have only mild respiratory and/or gastrointestinal symptoms that might be missed, all children for families who have a member diagnosed with COVID-19 should be investigated.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yani Kuang ◽  
Susu He ◽  
Shuangxiang Lin ◽  
Rui Zhu ◽  
Rongzhen Zhou ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: In December 2019, the first case of pneumonia associated with the SARS-CoV-2 was found in Wuhan and rapidly spread throughout China, so data are needed on the affected patients. The purpose of our study was to find the clinical manifestations and CT features of COVID-19.Methods: All patients with COVID-19 in Taizhou city were retrospectively included and divided into non-severe group and severe group according to the severity of the disease. The clinical manifestations, laboratory examinations and imaging features of COVID-19 patients were analyzed, and the differences between the two groups were compared.Results: A total of 143 laboratory-confirmed cases were included in the study, including 110 non-severe patients and 33 severe patients. The median age of patients was 47 (range 4–86 years). Fever (73.4%) and cough (63.6%) were the most common initial clinical symptoms. Between two groups of cases, the results of aspartate transaminase, creatine kinase and lactate dehydrogenase, serum albumin, CR, glomerular filtration rate, amyloid protein A, fibrinogen, calcitonin level and oxygen partial pressure, IL – 10, absolute value of CD3, CD4, CD8 were different, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). Therefore, these quantitative indicators can be used to help assess the severity. On admission, the CT showed that the lesions were mostly distributed in the periphery of the lung or subpleural (135 cases (98%)), and most of lesions presented as patchy (81%), mixed density (63%) shadow. Consolidation (68% vs 41%), bronchial inflation signs (59% vs 41%), and bronchiectasis (71% vs 39%) were more common in the severe group.Conclusions: Most of the cases of COVID-19 in Taizhou have mild symptoms and no death. In addition to clinical symptoms, some laboratory tests (such as absolute values of CD4 and CD8) and CT findings can be used to assess the severity of the disease.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huan Deng ◽  
Yifan Zhu ◽  
Jiamin Zhang ◽  
Qiangquan Rong ◽  
Yao Quan ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Mycoplasma pneumoniae (MP) is a common agent of community-acquired pneumonia in children and young adults that can lead to refractory or persistent Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia (MPP). Macrolide-resistant MP harbors point mutations in domain V of 23S ribosomal Ribonucleic Acid (rRNA) with substitutions detected at positions 2063, 2064, 2067 and 2617. This study’s purpose is to investigate the prevalence and clinical characteristics of mutations in domain V of MP 23S rRNA. Methods We sequenced the 23S rRNA domain V of MP strains collected from children with MPP. Clinical and laboratory data were also obtained, including gender, age, duration of fever, duration of fever after the start of macrolide therapy, MP-Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) load at enrollment, leukocyte count, neutrophil count, and lymphocyte count, immunomodulators treatment and pulmonary complications.Results Of 276 strains, 255 (92.39 %) harbored A to G transition at the position 2063 (A2063G), and 21 (7.61 %) were not mutated. There were no significant differences in gender, age, duration of fever, duration of fever after the start of macrolide therapy, MP-DNA load at enrollment, hospitalization days, lymphocyte count and pulmonary complications when patients were stratified based on the presence or absence of domain V mutations. We also found that children with refractory MPP experienced higher MP-DNA load than the non-refractory MPP, but the prevalence of domain V mutations was comparable.Conclusions We found that clinical MP strains harbored very high mutation rate in 23S rRNA domain V, especially A2063G mutation. However, these mutations were not associated with clinical symptoms, laboratory results, pulmonary complications and development of refractory pneumonia. Instead, MP-DNA load was significantly different between refractory and non-refractory MPP.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenzhi ZHANG ◽  
Hui LI ◽  
Jingzhen LIU ◽  
Jiawei XU ◽  
Jinjin HAO ◽  
...  

Abstract The knowledge of clinical characteristics and prognosis of pediatric acute megakaryocytic leukemia (AMKL) with or without acquired +21 was limited. We reported 15 AMKL pediatric patients without Down Syndrome (four cases with acquired +21 and 11 cases without acquired +21) with the clinical manifestations, laboratory data, and prognosis. The clinical features and laboratory data between patients with acquired +21 and patients without acquired +21 are similar. As for prognosis, three of the 11 cases without acquired +21 obtained complete remission (CR) after 1st induction. The median follow-up time of the 11 cases was 9 months. Among four cases with acquired +21, one case gave up treatment during 1st induction, one obtained CR after 1st induction and was still alive after 49 months of follow-up. One case obtained CR after 2nd induction and was still alive for 15 months of follow-up after bone marrow transplantation, the other patient was planning for allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) without CR. The median follow-up time of the four cases was 12 months. None relapsed in our study. In conclusion, acquired trisomy 21 may not be an indicator for poor prognosis. Cytogenetics analysis can help us for diagnosis stratification, prognostic judgment and individualized treatment of AMKL.


Author(s):  
Yu Lei ◽  
Xiaobo Huang ◽  
Bamu SiLang ◽  
YunPing Lan ◽  
Jianli Lu ◽  
...  

AbstractCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by SARS-CoV-2, has rapidly spread throughout China, but the clinical characteristics of Tibetan patients living in the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau are unknown. We aimed to investigate the epidemiological, clinical, laboratory and radiological characteristics of these patients. We included 67 Tibetan patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. The patients were divided into two groups based on the presence of clinical symptoms at admission, with 31 and 36 patients in the symptomatic and asymptomatic groups, respectively. The epidemiological, clinical, laboratory and radiological characteristics were extracted and analysed. No patient had a history of exposure to COVID-19 patients from Wuhan or had travelled to Wuhan. The mean age of Tibetan patients was 39.3 years and 59% of the patients were male. Seven patients presented with fever on admission and lymphocytopenia was present in 20 patients. 47 patients had abnormal chest CTs at admission instead of stating that 20 were unchanged. Lactate dehydrogenase levels were increased in 31 patients. Seven patients progressed to severe COVID-19; however, after treatment, their condition was stable. No patients died. Of the 36 asymptomatic patients, the mean age was younger than the symptomatic group (34.4±17.3vs 44.9±18.1 years, P=0.02). Lymphocyte count and prealbumin levels were higher in the asymptomatic group than the group with clinical symptoms (1.6±0.5 vs 1.3±0.6 and 241.8±68.2 vs 191.9±60.3, respectively; P<0.05). Imported cases of COVID-19 in Tibetan patients were generally mild in this high-altitude area. Absence of fever or radiologic abnormalities on initial presentation were common.


Author(s):  
Zonghao Zhao ◽  
Jiajia Xie ◽  
Ming Yin ◽  
Yun Yang ◽  
Hongliang He ◽  
...  

AbstractThe outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection began in December 2019 in Wuhan, and rapidly spread to many provinces in China. The number of cases has increased markedly in Anhui, but information on the clinical characteristics of patients is limited. We reported 75 patients with COVID-19 in the First Affiliated Hospital of USTC from Jan 21 to Feb 16, 2020, Hefei, Anhui Province, China. COVID-19 infection was confirmed by real-time RT-PCR of respiratory nasopharyngeal swab samples. Epidemiological, clinical and laboratory data were collected and analyzed. Of the 75 patients with COVID-19, 61 (81.33%) had a direct or indirect exposure history to Wuhan. Common symptoms at onset included fever (66 [88.0%] of 75 patients) and dry cough (62 [82.67%]). Of the patients without fever, cough could be the only or primary symptom. The most prominent laboratory abnormalities were lymphopenia, decreased percentage of lymphocytes (LYM%), decreased CD4+ and CD8+ T cell counts, elevated C-reactive protein (CRP) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). Patients with elevated interleukin 6 (IL-6) showed significant decreases in the LYM%, CD4+ and CD8+ T cell counts. Besides, the percentage of neutrophils, CRP, LDH and Procalcitonin levels increased significantly. We concluded that COVID-19 could cause different degrees of hematological abnormalities and damage of internal organs. Hematological profiles including LYM, LDH, CRP and IL-6 could be indicators of diseases severity and evaluation of treatment effectiveness. Antiviral treatment requires a comprehensive and supportive approach. Further targeted therapy should be determined based on individual clinical manifestations and laboratory indicators.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 941 ◽  
Author(s):  
Israel Júnior Borges do Nascimento ◽  
Nensi Cacic ◽  
Hebatullah Mohamed Abdulazeem ◽  
Thilo Caspar von Groote ◽  
Umesh Jayarajah ◽  
...  

A growing body of literature on the 2019 novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) is becoming available, but a synthesis of available data has not been conducted. We performed a scoping review of currently available clinical, epidemiological, laboratory, and chest imaging data related to the SARS-CoV-2 infection. We searched MEDLINE, Cochrane CENTRAL, EMBASE, Scopus and LILACS from 01 January 2019 to 24 February 2020. Study selection, data extraction and risk of bias assessment were performed by two independent reviewers. Qualitative synthesis and meta-analysis were conducted using the clinical and laboratory data, and random-effects models were applied to estimate pooled results. A total of 61 studies were included (59,254 patients). The most common disease-related symptoms were fever (82%, 95% confidence interval (CI) 56%–99%; n = 4410), cough (61%, 95% CI 39%–81%; n = 3985), muscle aches and/or fatigue (36%, 95% CI 18%–55%; n = 3778), dyspnea (26%, 95% CI 12%–41%; n = 3700), headache in 12% (95% CI 4%–23%, n = 3598 patients), sore throat in 10% (95% CI 5%–17%, n = 1387) and gastrointestinal symptoms in 9% (95% CI 3%–17%, n = 1744). Laboratory findings were described in a lower number of patients and revealed lymphopenia (0.93 × 109/L, 95% CI 0.83–1.03 × 109/L, n = 464) and abnormal C-reactive protein (33.72 mg/dL, 95% CI 21.54–45.91 mg/dL; n = 1637). Radiological findings varied, but mostly described ground-glass opacities and consolidation. Data on treatment options were limited. All-cause mortality was 0.3% (95% CI 0.0%–1.0%; n = 53,631). Epidemiological studies showed that mortality was higher in males and elderly patients. The majority of reported clinical symptoms and laboratory findings related to SARS-CoV-2 infection are non-specific. Clinical suspicion, accompanied by a relevant epidemiological history, should be followed by early imaging and virological assay.


2013 ◽  
Vol 169 (5) ◽  
pp. 665-672 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Blanchard ◽  
Muriel Mathonnet ◽  
Frédéric Sebag ◽  
Cécile Caillard ◽  
Antoine Hamy ◽  
...  

Objective and backgroundMost primary hyperparathyroidism (pHPT) patients do not conform to the guidelines for parathyroidectomy established by an international panel of specialists and have a mild pHPT. This group is typically defined as ‘asymptomatic’. The primary aim of this study was to determine symptom improvement in this ‘asymptomatic’ group after parathyroidectomy. Secondly, we aimed to create a preoperative clinical score predicting postoperative symptom resolution.DesignA prospective nonrandomized study included patients with mild pHPT.MethodsA questionnaire (22 items) was given to ‘asymptomatic’ patients preoperatively and at 3, 6, and 12 postoperative months. A logistic regression was performed to create a preoperative clinical score.ResultsOne hundred and sixteen patients were included. Postoperatively, HPT was resolved in 98% of patients. Twelve of 22 nonspecific symptoms were improved at 1 year. Subgroups analysis showed a greater improvement in patients <70 years and those with a serum calcium level ≥2.6 mmol/l preoperatively. A clinical score, based on age and five symptoms, was established to predict the clinical improvement after surgery in mild pHPT patients with a positive predictive value of 81%.ConclusionPatients with asymptomatic pHPT have clinical improvement of their symptoms postoperatively even after 1 year. Younger patients and those with higher preoperative calcium levels show the best improvement.


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