1. Clinical and Laboratory Findings of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Infection
- Author
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Yoomi Jung, Young-Suk Park, Shin-Ae Park, Haesook Seo, Gang-Young Lee, Baeg-Ju Na, Youngsoo Cho, Sung-Ryul Kim, Ji-Yeon Seo, Eun-Hyang Song, Se-Min Hwang, Soon-Ja Kim, Jeong-Eun Seo, and Hyun-Suk Lim
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,Microbiology (medical) ,myalgia ,Adult ,Male ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus ,030106 microbiology ,medicine.disease_cause ,Disease Outbreaks ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Internal medicine ,Republic of Korea ,medicine ,Humans ,030212 general & internal medicine ,Coronavirus ,Aged ,Retrospective Studies ,business.industry ,Sputum ,Retrospective cohort study ,General Medicine ,Odds ratio ,Middle Aged ,medicine.disease ,Confidence interval ,Hospitals ,Pneumonia ,Diarrhea ,Infectious Diseases ,Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus ,Female ,medicine.symptom ,business ,Coronavirus Infections - Abstract
There is a paucity of data regarding the differentiating characteristics of patients with laboratory-confirmed and those negative for Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in South Korea. This hospital-based retrospective study compared MERS-CoV-positive and MERS-CoV-negative patients. A total of seven positive patients and 55 negative patients with a median age of 43 years (P = 0.845) were included. No statistical differences were observed with respect to their sex and the presence of comorbidities. At the time of admission, headache (28.6% vs. 3.6%; odds ratio [OR], 10.60; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.22-92.27), myalgia (57.1% vs. 9.1%; OR, 13.33; 95% CI, 2.30-77.24), and diarrhea (57.1% vs. 14.5%; OR, 7.83; 95% CI, 1.47-41.79) were common among MERS-CoV-positive patients. MERS-CoV-positive patients were more likely to have a low platelet count (164 ± 76.57 vs. 240 ± 79.87) and eosinophil (0.27 ± 0.43 vs. 2.13 ± 2.01; P = 0.003). Chest radiography with diffuse bronchopneumonia was more frequent in MERS-CoV-positive patients than in negative patients (100% vs. 62.5%; P = 0.491). The symptoms of headache, myalgia, and diarrhea, as well as laboratory characteristics, including low platelet counts and eosinophil, and chest X-ray showing diffuse bronchopneumonia might enhance the ability to detect patients in South Korea infected with MERS-CoV.
- Published
- 2018