



After observing patients who had contracted the COVID-19, Chinese researchers found that some of them presented no symptoms of fever nor showed any abnormality from chest CT (computed tomography) scans, according to a recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.









The study focused on the clinical characteristics of COVID-19 infections based on 1,099 laboratory-confirmed patients from 552 hospitals in 30 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities across China.





While fever and cough were the most common symptoms found in such patients, diarrhea was not, claims the article, with respiratory expert and SARS hero Zhong Nanshan as its corresponding author.





After the outbreak had begun spreading, 43.8% of all studied patients had a fever when they were admitted to a hospital. That percentage skyrocketed to 88.7% as the disease became worse.





However, the absence of fever in COVID-19 patients is more common than in SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV infection cases, which poses a bigger risk as such patients may not be considered as potential risks if medical observations focus solely on detecting symptoms of fever.





Chest CT scans revealed that 56.4% of patients observed had ground glass opacity (GGO), a nonspecific finding that indicates a partial filling of air spaces in the lungs by exudate or transudate, as well as interstitial thickening or partial collapse of lung alveoli.





However, no radiographic or other CT abnormality has been found in 157 of the 877 patients (17.9%) who showed non-severe disease symptoms, and in 5 of all 173 patients (2.9%) with severe risks.





Lymphocytopenia, a condition of having an abnormally low level of lymphocytes in the blood, was found in most of the patients admitted for this study.





The median age of all studied patients was 47, with a median incubation period of four days. 41.9% of them were women.





The fatality rate of the studied cases was 1.4%, which is somewhat in line with official national statistics.





Only 1.9% of the patients had a history of direct contact with wildlife. Among the nonresidents of Wuhan, 72.3% had had contact with residents from Wuhan, including 31.3% who had been to the city.





The study also showed that the virus could be detected in some patients' gastrointestinal tract, saliva and urine, thus emphasizing personal hygienic care of the utmost importance.





The presence of "super-spreaders" can not be precluded, it said.









Source: xinhua



Editor: Crystal H

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