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. 2021 Feb 24;21(1):207.
doi: 10.1186/s12879-021-05897-z.

Clinical characteristics of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in patients out of Wuhan from China: a case control study

Hua Zhang #  1 , Feng Du  2 , Xiao-Jun Cao  1 , Xia-Long Feng  3 , He-Ping Zhang  1 , Zheng-Xia Wu  1 , Bao-Feng Wang  1 , Hong-Juan Zhang  1 , Rui Liu  1 , Jian-Jun Yang  2 , Bo Ning  2 , Kai Chen  4 , Zhen-Peng Huang #  5
Affiliations

Clinical characteristics of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in patients out of Wuhan from China: a case control study

Hua Zhang et al. BMC Infect Dis. .

Abstract

Background: A large-scale global outbreak of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) out of Wuhan, from China, occurred in January 2020. To examine the clinical characteristics of COVID-19 in infected patients out of Wuhan, from China.

Methods: Thirteen patients were confirmed to be infected with novel coronavirus-2019 (2019-nCoV) between January 27 and February 8, 2020, in Baoji city, Shannxi, northwestern China. Epidemiological and clinical information, and computed to morphology imaging data from all COVID-19 patients were collected; cases were divided into two groups according to the severity of infection (mild or severe).

Results: Nine (9/13) COVID-19 patients exhibited mild disease severity, and defined as second-generation human-to-human transmission cases. Most patients (11/13) had a history of travel to or from Wuhan. There were no differences in sex and age between the mild and severe cases (all P > 0.05). A moderate degree of fever (11/13), cough (13/13), and fatigue (8/13) were common symptoms; however, there was no statistical difference between mild and severe cases in this regard (all P > 0.05). Oxyhemoglobin saturation and oxygenation index decreased, and C-reactive protein (CRP) and serum amyloid A (SAA) levels were elevated in all patients with COVID-19 infection, with statistically significant differences between those with severe disease and mild infection (all P < 0.05). Twelve of 13 COVID-19 patients exhibited changes in chest CT imaging features, and time course changes were different between mild and severe cases (all P < 0.05).

Conclusion: Most cases of COVID-19 infection were second-generation human-to-human transmissions from Wuhan and were mild in severity. The clinical characteristics of COVID-19 varied. Oxyhemoglobin saturation, oxygenation index, CRP and SAA levels, and CT features were reliable parameters to evaluate the severity of COVID-19 infection. However, a few patients with mild COVID-19 disease lacked typical characteristics such as fever and changes in CT imaging features.

Keywords: 2019-nCoV; COVID-19; China; Clinical characteristics; Wuhan.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Chest CT scan image changes in COVID-19 Patients. At the day of confirm infection of 2019-nCoV, chest CT showed that multiple patchy sub-segmental or segmental ground-glass density shadow and consolidation were in bilateral lung (a severe cases & c mild cases); b Severe COVID-19 patient 5 days after confirm infection of 2019-nCoV, ground-glass density shadow and consolidation in bilateral lung was exacerbation; d Mild COVID-19 patient 5 days after confirm infection of 2019-nCoV, ground-glass density shadows in bilateral lung was absorbed
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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