Features of family clusters of COVID-19 patients: A retrospective study

Abstract

Background To investigate and compare the clinical and imaging features among family members infected with COVID-19. Methods We retrospectively collected a total of 34 COVID-19 cases (15 male, 19 female, aged 48 ± 16 years, ranging from 10 to 81 years) from 13 families from January 17, 2020 through February 15, 2020. Patients were divided into two groups: Group 1 - part of the family members (first-generation) who had exposure history and others (second-generation) infected through them, and Group 2 - patients from the same family having identical exposure history. We collected clinical symptoms, laboratory findings, and high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) features for each patient. Comparison tests were performed between the first- and second-generation patients in Group 1. Results In total there were 21 patients in Group 1 and 20 patients in Group 2. For Group 1, first-generation patients had significantly higher white blood cell count (6.5 × 10 9 /L (interquartile range (IQR): 4.9–9.2 × 10 9 /L) vs 4.5 × 10 9 /L (IQR: 3.7–5.3 × 10 9 /L); P = 0.0265), higher neutrophil count (4.9 × 10 9 /L (IQR: 3.6–7.3 × 10 9 /L) vs 2.9 × 10 9 /L (IQR: 2.1–3.3 × 10 9 /L); P = 0.0111), and higher severity scores on HRCT (3.9 ± 2.4 vs 2.0 ± 1.3, P = 0.0362) than the second-generation patients. Associated underlying diseases (odds ratio, 8.0, 95% confidence interval: 3.4–18.7, P = 0.0013) were significantly correlated with radiologic severity scores in second-generation patients. Conclusion Analysis of the family cluster cases suggests that COVID-19 had no age or sex predominance. Secondarily infected patients in a family tended to develop milder illness, but this was not true for those with existing comorbidities.

Moderate vs. mild cases of overseas-imported COVID-19 in Beijing: a retrospective cohort study

“…Figure 2 shows some typical examples of the CT images. The median CT score of the moderate group was 2 1 – 3 . In contrast, the mild group did not exhibit characteristic changes according to the CT images.…”

“…Population mobility between countries as well as between regions exacerbates the spread of COVID-19, resulting in unprecedented pressure from imported cases 1 . By 24:00 on June 2, 2020, a total of 1,762 overseas-imported cases had been reported in China, which were distributed in 28 provinces and cities in the country 2 .…”

The Global Trends and Regional Differences in Incidence of Dengue Infection from 1990 to 2019: An Analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

“…In South Asia, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Maldives and Nepal are the main countries endemic for dengue fever [ 5 , 35 ]. In East Asia, China [ 6 , 36 ], Japan [ 37 ] and Korea [ 24 ], all had dengue episodes. Except for Brunei in Southeast Asia, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and the Philippines have reported epidemic dengue in recent years [ 38 , 39 ].…”

“…Over the past 10 years, the emergence and re-emergence of dengue globally has posed great challenges for public health. Large-scale dengue outbreaks have occurred in many countries, such as the 2019 outbreaks in Nepal [ 5 ], 2012–2015 outbreaks in China [ 6 ] and 2014–2015 outbreaks in Taiwan (province of China) [ 7 ]. A predictive model speculated that populations with dengue infection will increase by 2.25 billion from 2015 to 2080 [ 8 ].…”

“…Non-vector transmission sometimes occurs in humans, such as through blood transfusion, organ transplantation and needle stick injuries [ 1 ]. Adolescents and adults are mostly affected by dengue in most hyperendemic areas [ 1 , 6 ]. However, according to some reported data from hospitals, dengue infection is also becoming a serious threat for older people in Thailand and China [ 13 , 14 ].…”