Emerging Infectious Diseases (Sep 2020)

Clinicopathologic and Immunohistochemical Findings from Autopsy of Patient with COVID-19, Japan

  • Takuya Adachi,
  • Ja-Mun Chong,
  • Noriko Nakajima,
  • Masahiro Sano,
  • Jun Yamazaki,
  • Ippei Miyamoto,
  • Haruka Nishioka,
  • Hidetaka Akita,
  • Yuko Sato,
  • Michiyo Kataoka,
  • Harutaka Katano,
  • Minoru Tobiume,
  • Tsuyoshi Sekizuka,
  • Kentaro Itokawa,
  • Makoto Kuroda,
  • Tadaki Suzuki

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2609.201353
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 26, no. 9
pp. 2157 – 2161

Abstract

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An autopsy of a patient in Japan with coronavirus disease indicated pneumonia lung pathology, manifested as diffuse alveolar damage. We detected severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 antigen in alveolar epithelial cells and macrophages. Coronavirus disease is essentially a lower respiratory tract disease characterized by direct viral injury of alveolar epithelial cells.

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