Clinical analysis of 45 patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome.
OBJECTIVE
To explore the clinical and radiological features of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).


METHODS
Analysis of the clinical presentation, chest radiographs, course of disease and features of severe pneumonia in 45 SARS patients diagnosed at our hospital in Beijing between April 5 - 20, 2003. Also included is a summation of the clinical features of SARS.


RESULTS
(1) SARS appears to have high infectivity; (2) the most common symptom is fever; (3) the count of leukocyte is normal or decreased; (4) most patients (35/45, 77.8%) had experienced a 24-hour fever prior to the abnormal chest X-ray changes which showed progression of pulmonary infiltrates within 48 hours in 71.1% (32/45) of the patients and, (5) the percentage of patients who developed severe pneumonia (24.4%) is higher than those who developed typical pneumonia.


CONCLUSIONS
SARS is a disease with high infectivity and has its own clinical and radiological features. Early recognition, prompt isolation, and appropriate therapy are the key to combat this infection.
Xue
Xiaoyan
X
Department of Emergency Medicine, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing 100044, China. whd_mailbj@95777.com
Gao
Zhancheng
Z
Xu
Yu
Y
Ding
Xiulan
X
Yuan
Liping
L
Li
Wenjuan
W
Zhu
Jihong
J
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013902:Radiography, Thoracic; D045169:Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy