Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Jun:95:183-191.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2020.03.013. Epub 2020 Mar 12.

Patients of COVID-19 may benefit from sustained Lopinavir-combined regimen and the increase of Eosinophil may predict the outcome of COVID-19 progression

Fang Liu  1 , Aifang Xu  1 , Yan Zhang  2 , Weiling Xuan  3 , Tingbo Yan  3 , Kenv Pan  1 , Wenyan Yu  1 , Jun Zhang  4
Affiliations

Patients of COVID-19 may benefit from sustained Lopinavir-combined regimen and the increase of Eosinophil may predict the outcome of COVID-19 progression

Fang Liu et al. Int J Infect Dis. 2020 Jun.

Abstract

Objectives: To explore the epidemiological information, clinical characteristics, therapeutic outcomes and temporal progression of laboratory findings in 2019-coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients exposed to lopinavir.

Methods: We collected data from ten COVID-19 patients admitted between January 22, 2020 and February 11, 2020 at Xixi hospital in Hangzhou, China.

Results: Of ten patients, secondary, tertiary and quartus patients emerged; the incubation period was 3-7 days. Mainly initial symptoms were cough and low fever (37.3-38.0°C). An asymptomatic case presented normal radiography, the others had ground glass opacities. All cases (three transferred, seven discharged) were exposed to lopinavir on initial hospitalization. Three patients stopped lopinavir because of adverse effects, two of them deteriorated, one was hospitalized longer than others who with sustained lopinavir use. Levels of potassium, albumin, and lymphocytes were low, but increased persistently after treatment. Eosinophil values were low on initial hospitalization, then all returned to normal before discharge. Viral load of SARS-CoV-2, radiography and eosinophil improved continuously in 3-14, 6-8 and 7-9 days, respectively.

Conclusions: Increasing eosinophils may be an indicator of COVID-19 improvement. The COVID-19 patients may benefit from sustained lopinavir use. More research on a larger scale is needed to verify these points.

Keywords: 2019-Coronavirus disease; Asymptomatic infection; Eosinophil; Lopinavir.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Contact history and timeline of the onset of symptoms in COVID-19 patients.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Chest radiographs showing patchy ground-glass opacities (panel A: patient 3), patchy hyperdense areas (panel B: patient 1) and multifocal opacity changes over time (panel C: patient 8).
Figure 3
Figure 3
The temporal changes of laboratory indicators in COVID-19 patients after initiation of LPV-combined therapy.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The changes over time on eosinophil level and SARS-CoV-2 viral load in each COVID-19 patient.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Chan J.F.-W., Yuan S., Kok K.-H., To K.K.-W., Chu H., Yang J. A familial cluster of pneumonia associated with the 2019 novel coronavirus indicating person-to-person transmission: a study of a family cluster. Lancet. 2020 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Dous G.V., Grigos A.C., Grodman R. Elevated troponin in patients with acute stroke–is it a true heart attack? Egypt Heart J. 2017;69(3):165–170. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Dybul M., Fauci A.S., Bartlett J.G., Kaplan J.E., Pau A.K. Guidelines for Using Antiretroviral Agents among HIV-Infected Adults and Adolescents: The Panel on Clinical Practices for Treatment of HIV*. Ann Intern Med. 2002;51(RR-7):1–55. - PubMed
    1. Hamp D.B., Leženić R., Duper H.M., Goranović T. Respiratory failure as a result of chronic impaired ventilation in actualization of insufficient respiration: a case report. Trends Anaesth Crit Care. 2017;16:32–33.
    1. Huang C., Wang Y., Li X., Ren L., Zhao J., Hu Y. Clinical features of patients infected with 2019 novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China. Lancet. 2020 - PMC - PubMed