Differential diagnosis of illness in patients under investigation for the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), Italy, February 2020 (original) (raw)
Related papers
Medicina
Background and Objectives: During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, patients with chronic diseases suffering exacerbations have required acute medical care. The purpose of our study was to determine useful criteria for the differentiation of patients with acute clinical syndromes and suspicion of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Materials and Methods: This was an observational retrospective study, conducted in an internal medicine clinic from April to May 2020. We collected clinical, biological, and computed tomography (CT) data on patients with exacerbations of chronic diseases and clinical suspicion of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Patients with an already-positive real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test for SARS-CoV-2 on presentation at the emergency department were excluded from our study. Results: Of 253 suspected cases, 20 were laboratory-confirmed as having SARS-CoV-2 infection by RT-PCR, whereas C...
Dear Editor, Two recent flights from Beijing and Shanghai to Milan brought near about 100 severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)-infected passengers to Italy on 26 December 2022. All the arrivals were tested and sequenced to ensure the detection of possible variants of the virus amid China's surge in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases after it nullified the stringent zero-COVID-19 policy following mass public protests. About 38% (35/92) of the travellers on the first flight landed at Milan's airport, and 52% (62/120) of those on the second flight were positive. Although COVID-19-positive travellers had already known Omicron variants, Italy plans to mandatorily test all arrivals from China henceforth [1]. Considering the uncertainty of the scale of spread, many countries like
Diagnosis Of Covid-19 In Symptomatic Patients: An Updated Review
Vacunas, 2021
A group of pneumonia patients was detected in Hubei Province, in China in December 2019. The etiology of the disease was unknown. Later, the researchers diagnosed the novel Coronavirus as the causal agent of this respiratory disease. On February 12th 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) officially named this disease Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Consequently, the disease spread globally and became a pandemic. As there is no specific treatment for the symptomatic patients and several vaccines are approved by WHO, the efficacy and effectiveness of these vaccines are not fully understood yet and the availability of these vaccines are very limited. In addition, new variants and mutants of SARS-CoV-2 are thought to be able to evade the immune system of the host. So, diagnosis and isolation of infected individuals is advised. Currently, real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) is considered the gold standard method to detect novel Coronavirus, however, there are few limitations associated with RT-PCR such as false-negative results. This demanded another diagnostic tool to detect and isolate COVID-19 early and accurately. Chest computed tomography (CT) became another option to diagnose COVID-19 patients accurately (about 98% sensitivity). However, it did not apply to the asymptomatic carriers and sometimes the results were misinterpreted as from other groups of Coronavirus infection. The combination of RT-PCR and chest CT might be the best option in detecting novel Coronavirus infection early and accurately thereby allowing adaptation of measures for the prevention and control of the COVID-19.
„To be or not to be“: How real is the diagnosis of COVID-19 infection
Romanian Journal of Infectious Diseases
The pandemic COVID-19, consecutive of the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, reveals large variability, both in terms of severity and forms of clinical manifestation. We present the case of a young patient, with respiratory syndrome associated with fever, dermatological and neurological manifestations, related to imaging features compatible with COVID-19 infection. The test RT-PCR SARS-CoV-2 remained negative in two distinct samples, but convalescent serological tests were positive for IgG-coronavirus, suggesting this etiology. In conclusion, pulmonary imaging, corroborated with clinical manifestations and epidemiological data, could disclose the diagnosis of COVID-19 infection, although RT-PCR SARS-CoV-2 is the standard test for confirmation. The use of serological tests for diagnosis should be used in cases with high clinical suspicion and negative RT-PCR SARS-CoV-2 results, in order to increase the identification rate of acute infections and to limit the spread of infection.
PLOS ONE, 2021
Background On 9th January 2020, China CDC reported a novel coronavirus (later named SARS-CoV-2) as the causative agent of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Identifying the first appearance of virus is of epidemiological importance to tracking and mapping the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in a country. We therefore conducted a retrospective observational study to detect SARS-CoV-2 in oropharyngeal samples collected from hospitalized patients with a Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) enrolled in the DRIVE (Development of Robust and Innovative Vaccine Effectiveness) study in five Italian hospitals (CIRI-IT BIVE hospitals network) (1st November 2019 – 29th February 2020). Objectives To acquire new information on the real trend in SARS-CoV-2 infection during pandemic phase I and to determine the possible early appearance of the virus in Italy. Materials and methods Samples were tested for influenza [RT-PCR assay (A/H1N1, A/H3N2, B/Yam, B/Vic)] in accordance with the DRIVE study prot...
Global Threat of SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 and the Need for More and Better Diagnostic Tools
Archives of Medical Research, 2020
We read with great interest the article by Rahimi and Abadi about the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) (1), discussing concerning questions, and particularly the urgent, evidence-based, and practical measures needed. We would like to compliment, and add a synthesis of the current technological advances on emerging approaches to improve control and particularly diagnosis of this emerging pandemic (Figure 1). Now with more than 2.1 million cases, the COVID-19 pandemic is leading to substantial economic losses, psychological and social impacts. Caused by the Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), this emerging disease has been extended to more than 200 countries facilitated by inappropriate and insufficient preventive measures along with unrestricted travel (2).
BMC Infectious Diseases, 2021
Background The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic continues to be a priority health problem; According to the World Health Organization data from October 13, 2020, 37,704,153 confirmed COVID-19 cases have been reported, including 1,079,029 deaths, since the outbreak. The identification of potential symptoms has been reported to be a useful tool for clinical decision-making in emergency departments to avoid overload and improve the quality of care. The aim of this study was to evaluate the performances of symptoms as a diagnostic tool for SARS -CoV-2 infection. Methods An observational, cross-sectional, prospective and analytical study was carried out, during the period of time from April 14 to July 21, 2020. Data (demographic variables, medical history, respiratory and non-respiratory symptoms) were collected by emergency physicians. The diagnosis of COVID-19 was made using SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR. The diagnostic accuracy of these characteristics for COVID-19 was evaluated by calculating the positive an...