Objective To analyze the effective measures to intercept the infection chain of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), and to study the effective methods for prevention and control. Methods A total of 17 clinically diagnosed SARS cases, 6 suspect cases and 202 people closely contacted with case were dealt with differently according to appropriate criteria, and 144 medical staff was given timely safety measures. Results One of seventeenth cases was diagnosed after its death, and the rest were isolated and treated, and among them 1 died, 9 were cured, and 6 were improved obviously. Six suspect cases were separated and treated in hospital, 5 were cured and 1 improved obviously. Among 202 closely contacted people there were no the secondary infected cases, and neither among all the related medical staff and other people. Conclusion To analyze seriously the infection chain and take effective and feasible interceptive measures are the best approach to prevent and control the spread of SARS and avoid the occurrence of the secondary infected cases.
Objective To assess the effect of integrated traditional Chinese medicine with western medicine (ICWM) in the treatment of SARS. Methods We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Chinese BioMed Database ( CBM ) , and the Intemet performed handsearching in Chinese journals and reference lists. We included randomised controlled trials and prospective controlled studies of integrated Chinese medicine with western medicine versus western medicine alone in people with SARS. Three independent reviewers collected details of study population, interventions, and outcomes using a data extraction form. We conducted meta-analysis for similar data of studies.Results Nine studies (n =812) were included, all with the possibility of containing serious bias. ICWM in the treatment of SARS was associated with the following reductions: case fatality [ OR 0.32, 95% CI (0.14,0.71 ) ] , fever clearance time [ WMD -1.17, 95% CI ( -1.83, -0.50 ) , symptom remission time [ WMD-1.47, 95% CI ( - 1.96, - 0. 98) ] and the number of inflammation absorption cases [ MD 1.63, 95% CI(0.95, 2.80 ) ], having no significant difference in symptom scores of convalescents [ WMD -1.25, 95% CI ( -2.71, 0.21 ) ], cumulative dose of corticosteroids [ WMD - 236.96, 95% CI ( - 490.64, 16.73) ] and inflammation absorption mean time [ WMD 0.63, 95% CI ( - 1.33, 2.59) ] .Conclusions Due to the methodological limitations of the studies, the effect of ICWM for SARS is unclear. The apparent improvements in cases fatality, fever clearance time, syndromes remission time and numbers of inflammation absorption cases warrant further evaluation with high quality and large scale trials to be expected.
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 is characterized by a long incubation period, strong infectivity and general susceptibility to the population. At present, there are no specific medicines that can treat coronavirus disease 2019. In order to increase the understanding of the molecular biology of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 and try to find effective treatments, we used SnapGene Viewer to analyze the genomic sequences of five strains of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 that published by National Genomics Data Center. The results showed that the genome length of this virus was about 29.8 kb and twelve open reading frames were predicted, and five nucleotide change sites were found in the open reading frames. In addition, we analyzed drugs used during the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, current drugs for the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 and other possible drugs, to find some possible medicines with clinical treatment effects.
Objective To explore the clinical characteristics of patients who were infected by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) of different genotypes. Methods A retrospective study was conducted on 111 SARS-CoV-2 infected cases at home and abroad admitted to Chengdu Public Health Clinical Medical Center between January and September 2020. The basic information, gene sequencing results (Pangolin typing method), clinical typing, first laboratory examinations 24 hours after admission, and whether repositive after discharge were collected. According to Pangolin typing, patients were divided into five groups: A, B, B.X, B.1.X and B.1.1.X. The basic information (age, sex, and origin), laboratory test results (lymphocyte count, C-reactive protein, serum amyloid A, CD3+ T lymphocytes, CD4+ T lymphocytes, and CD8+ T lymphocytes), clinical classification and whether repositive were compared among different genotype infected patients. Results Among the 111 infected patients, 54 (48.6%) were males and 57 (51.4%) were females. Their ages ranged from 16 to 87 years, with a median age of 49 years. In terms of clinical classification, there were 10 asymptomatic cases (9.0%), 10 mild cases (9.0%), 64 ordinary cases (57.7%), 13 severe cases (11.7%), and 14 critical cases (12.6%). There were 75 domestic cases (67.6%) and 36 imported cases (32.4%). Eighty cases (72.1%) did not return to positive, and 31 cases (27.9%) returned to positive. There were 8 cases infected by type A virus, 18 cases infected by type B virus, 26 cases infected by type B.X virus, 5 cases infected by type B.1.X virus, and 54 cases infected by type B.1.1.X virus. Among patients infected by different genotype viruses, no statistically significant difference was found in sex, age, clinical type, laboratory examination, or whether repositive (P>0.05), but there was statistically significant difference in the distribution of domestic and imported cases (P=0.016). Type B virus infected patients were mostly domestic cases, while type B.X virus infected patients were mostly imported cases. Conclusion The distribution of domestic and imported cases is different among SARS-CoV-2 of different genotypes.
ObjectiveBy summarizing the clinical characteristics of perioperative patients with cross infection of novel coronavirus in thoracic surgery ward, to guide the prevention and treatment of nosocomial infection during the anti-epidemic period.MethodsThe clinical data of 451 patients with chest diseases in the Department of Thoracic Surgery of Tongji Hospital Affiliated to Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology from January 1st to 24th, 2020 were analyzed and followed up. There were 245 surgical patients and 206 non-surgical patients.ResultsIn the department, 7 patients (7/451, 1.55%) were infected with the novel coronavirus and all of them were surgical patients, whose preoperative imaging data did not reveal the imaging changes of novel coronavirus. There were 5 males and 2 females, aged 56 to 68 years. The patients with old age, smoking, surgery, coronary heart disease, chronic liver disease and tumor history were more susceptible to infection. From the spatial distribution of patient beds, it was found that the distance among infected patients was greater than 1 m, and no cross infection was found in the other patients of the same ward. During follow-up, two family members of noninfected patients were found to be infected one week after discharge. However, there was no overlap of spatiotemporal distribution between the family members and the infected patients during the hospitalization period.ConclusionThe novel coronavirus pneumonia rate in the department of thoracic surgery is low, which may be opportunistic infection. At the same time, a good control and prevention of epidemic disease can reduce the occurrence of cross infection in the department of thoracic surgery.
Objective To explore the immunopathologic mechanism underlying the inflammatory response after severe acute respiratory syndrome（SARS） invasion.Methods Pathway focused cDNA microarrays were employed for comparision of the gene expression patterns in 16HBEs treated with interferon-γ(IFN-γ) or the S protein of SARS-CoV.The S proteins were administered to BALB/c mice and the pathological changes of lung and spleen were observed.Results S protein activated JAK/STAT signal pathway in the 16HBEs with inducible protein 10（IP-10） gene expression，and the specific inhibitors of the JAK/STAT signal pathway were able to downregulate the induction of IP-10.The mice instilled intracheally with S proteins revealed obvious acute diffuse damage and increased IP-10 expression and CD68+ macrophages infiltration in both lung and spleen tissues.In contrast，the treatment with JAK3 inhibitors attenuated lung and spleen injury in the mice.Conclusion Our findings support that the activation of JAK/STAT pathway induced by SARS-CoV S protein plays a key role in promotion of an IFN -γ inducible chemokine cascade，which can help in the development of novel drug and therapeutics for prevention and treatment of SARS.
ObjectivesTo systematically review the clinical characteristics of pregnant females, newborns, children and adolescents with SARS infection.MethodsThe clinical characteristics of patients with SARS infection were searched using PubMed, EMbase, Web of Science, The Cochrane Library, CNKI, WanFang Data and VIP databases. Descriptive analysis was performed to analyze the clinical characteristics of the patients, clinical manifestations, treatment and prognosis.ResultsA total of 13 studies including 19 pregnant females, 14 newborns, and 81 children and adolescents were identified. The ratio of male to female was 1 to 1.2 in children and adolescents patients aged 56 days to 17.5 years. Children under 12 years old accounted for 58.3% (28/48). Of the child patients, 34.0% (16/47) had close contact with patients with SARS. Fever (93.8%, 76/81) and cough (49.4%, 40/81) were the most common symptoms in children and adolescents with SARS infection, and 17.5% (11/63) occurred with shortness of breath or dyspnea. The positive ratio of nucleic acid detection for SARS-CoV was 9.2% (14/48), and the positive ratio of serum antibody was 92.9% (13/14). Peripheral blood lymphocyte reduction was approximately 65.7% (44/67). Approximately 70.8% (51/72) unilateral and 29.2% (21/72) bilateral lesions were found by thoracic X-ray or CT scan. No child fatalities were reported. As of maternal patients, aged 23 to 44 years, 10 cases (52.6%) were infected during early and middle pregnancy, and 9 cases (47.4%) during late pregnancy. Fever (100.0%, 19/19) and cough (78.9%, 15/19) were the main clinical symptoms, and shortness of breath/dyspnea occurred in 36.8% (7/19) of infected pregnant females. The positive ratio of nucleic acid detection for SARS-CoV was 50.0% (8/16), whereas the positive ratio of serum antibody was 93.3% (14/15). The ratios of thrombocytopenia, lymphopenia, and liver enzymes abnormalities were 38.9% (7/18), 61.1% (11/18) and 50.0% (3/6). All patients were identified for lesions by thoracic X-ray or CT scan examination. Seven cases were severe (36.8%). Five patients were treated with mechanical ventilation (26.3%). Three patients died (15.8%). Four patients were spontaneous abortion (40.0%, 4/10). Nine patients were cesarean sectioned (75.0%, 9/12). Six fetuses (46.2%, 6/13) with fetal distress, 7 cases (53.8%, 7/13) with premature delivery were identified. Three fetuses (23.1%) had intrauterine growth retardation. None of the fourteen newborns was diagnosed as SARS infection.ConclusionsThe clinical symptoms such as fever and cough in children and adolescents with SARS infection are similar to that of adult patients. However, children and adolescents are usually manifested as mild infection without reported death. There is no evidence to support that SARS-CoV could transmit vertically from infected mother to their fetuses.
Since the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019, hospital laboratories have become an important place for testing all kinds of specimens of patients with suspected or confirmed coronavirus disease 2019. There may be a high load of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 in clinical specimens of confirmed patients, and the biosafety risk is high, so it poses a challenge to the hospital laboratory testing process. This paper compares the microbial pre-processing, culture, identification and drug sensitivity analysis of the traditional clinical microbial detection process and the fully automated microbial pipeline, expounds the biosafety risks of the traditional manual detection process of pathogenic microorganisms in the epidemic situation, and discusses the role and dilemma of the fully automated microbial pipeline in the biosafety assurance of the epidemic situation. The purpose is to provide a basis for the promotion of fully automated microbial pipeline in the future.
Currently, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is still widely prevalent around the world, leading to a major threat to the global public health. COVID-19 mainly involves the respiratory system, but extrapulmonary manifestations including that of the nervous system also exist in the setting of COVID-19. Misdiagnosis and delayed treatment of the disease may easily cause when ocular, especially neuro-ophthalmological symptoms are the first symptoms in early COVID-19, as the neuroophthalmological manifestations are rarely reported. First-line clinicians need to ask about not only respiratory symptoms such as fever, cough and sore throat, but also diplopia, impaired vision, eye motion pain, abnormal gait or other neurological deficits at the first reception, as these extrapulmonary manifestations are often signs of serious infection. The neuroophthalmological manifestations and possible underlying etiology of COVID-19 were summarized in this review, hoping to provide an early identification and effective treatment of COVID-19 for clinicians. More extensive studies are needed in the future to confirm the causal relationship between COVID-19 and neuroophthalmological disease to provide a sufficient basis for a comprehensive understanding of COVID-19.
The diagnosis of coronavirus disease 2019 should not only depend on nucleic acid test, but also be based on clinical information such as medical history and radiographic findings. It’s critical to identify patients with high risk of rapid progression. Treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 should be individualized according to the underlying diseases and progression manner. For severely ill patients, oxygen and nutrition supplementation need to be strengthened, and for some highly selected cases, administration of glucocorticoids might be beneficial.