International Journal of General Medicine (May 2021)
Clinical Characteristics of Foreign-Imported COVID-19 Cases in Xi’an, China
Abstract
Li Zhang,1,2,* Minjie Liu,2,3,* Jianying Li,2,4,* Xiaoli Li,3,* Li Cheng,3 Yahong Ji,3 Na Li,3 Junning Wang2,3 1Department of Intensive Care Unit, Honghui Hospital, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, 710054, People’s Republic of China; 2Xi’an Public Health Center, Xi’an, Shaanxi, 710200, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Respiratory, Honghui Hospital, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, 710054, People’s Republic of China; 4The Department of Respiratory Medicine, Xi’an Central Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University College of Medicine, Xi’an, Shaanxi, 710003, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Junning WangDepartment of Respiratory, Honghui Hospital, Xi’an Jiaotong University, No. 555, Youyi East Road, Nanshaomen, Xi’an, Shaanxi, 710054, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86 02962818354Fax +86 02962818354Email [email protected]: Effective management of foreign-imported COVID-19 cases is a new and great challenge for China. Our study focused on the foreign-imported COVID-19 cases to provide detailed data for insights into the prevention, early diagnosis, treatment and control of imported COVID-19.Methods: For this observational and retrospective study, we investigated the clinical characteristics of imported COVID-19 cases that were confirmed by real-time RT-PCR in the Xi’an Public Health Center from 29 March 2020 to 31 August 2020.Results: Of the 79 patients with COVID-19, 19 (24.1%) had exposure to confirmed COVID-19 patients, 15 (19.0%) had exposure to suspicious COVID-19 patients, and 45 (56.9%) had an unclear history of exposure to confirmed patients. The mean age of the patients was 38 years, and 70 (88.7%) patients were male. Except for 2 severe cases, the remaining 58 (73.4%) cases displayed mild or moderate symptoms, and 19 (24.2%) infected patients were asymptomatic. Twenty-one (26.6%) patients were not diagnosed until a third or later nucleic acid test. Ten (12.7%) patients had chronic diseases. The most common manifestations of the patients were cough [18 (22.8%) cases], fever [9 (11.4%) cases] and sore throat [9 (11.4%) cases]. Forty-one (51.9%) cases showed abnormal chest CT images, To date, all patients have been discharged, and no patient has died.Conclusion: The imported COVID-19 cases in Xi’an were mainly young and middle-aged adults with mild or moderate symptoms who had a low rate of comorbidity, showed favourable laboratory and chest CT images, and had a better prognosis. Notably, for suspected COVID-19 cases, at least three consecutive nucleic acid tests should be carried out to avoid missed detection of infected patients. Except for severe cases, high-level medical resources are not necessary in most cases.Keywords: COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, clinical characteristics, foreign-imported cases, pneumonia
