Abstract
Background: An outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 infections began in Wuhan, China, and quickly spread to the entire country. We sought to delineate the time features of clinical symptoms, virological conversion, and chest radiological abnormalities in individuals infected with this virus in Zhuhai, China.Methods: In this retrospective study, we assessed 85 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the Fifth Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai, from the 17th of January to the 11th of February 2020. Outcomes were followed up until the 24th of February 2020.Results: The median age of the 85 patients with COVID-19 was 43 years (range, 1–80); 56.5% (48/85) were female. The median time from the last known contact to the first SARS-CoV-2 positive test result was 8 days (0–18). The time to throat swab negativity for SARS-CoV-2 ranged from 5 to 36 days after illness onset. Patients with abnormal chest imaging findings on admission were older than those with normal imaging findings (median age, 50 [3-80] vs. 37 [1-69], P = 0.031). Among patients with lung changes on admission, the risk of lesions was 13.8 times greater in the left lower lobe than in the right middle lobe. Most lung lesions appeared within 2 weeks of onset (median 4–5 days). The overall rates of lesions in the right upper/middle/lower lobe and left upper/lower lobe were 47.1, 30.6, 62.4% as well as 49.4 and 63.5%, respectively.Conclusions: The incubation period of SARS-CoV-2 may be longer than 14 days; thus, medical surveillance after contact is required for longer than this. The predominant sites of lung lesions are both lower lungs, whereas the lowest risk region is the right middle lobe.
Highlights
Beginning in December 2019, a series of patients with acute respiratory disease were presented to health practitioners in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China
A confirmed case was defined as a positive result for throat swab specimens on high-throughput sequencing or real-time reverse-transcriptase polymerasechain-reaction (RT-PCR) assay
One or more comorbidities were present in 43.5% (37/85) patients, the commonest being cardiovascular disease (45.9%, 17/37), endocrine disease (24.3%, 9/37), respiratory disease (10.8%, 4/37), and malignant tumors (10.8%, 4/37)
Summary
Beginning in December 2019, a series of patients with acute respiratory disease were presented to health practitioners in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. On the 7th of January 2020, a novel coronavirus named “2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-NCoV)” was isolated from a patient samples and officially named Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) by the International Committee for Taxonomy of Virus on the 11th of February 2020 [1]. Time Features and CT Imaging of COVID-19. An outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 infections began in Wuhan, China, and quickly spread to the entire country. We sought to delineate the time features of clinical symptoms, virological conversion, and chest radiological abnormalities in individuals infected with this virus in Zhuhai, China
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