Clinical features of probable severe acute respiratory syndrome in Beijing.
OBJECTIVE
To summarize clinical features of probable severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in Beijing.


METHODS
Retrospective cases involving 801 patients admitted to hospitals in Beijing between March and June 2003, with a diagnosis of probable SARS, moderate type. The series of clinical manifestation, laboratory and radiograph data obtained from 801 cases were analyzed.


RESULTS
One to three days after the onset of SARS, the major clinical symptoms were fever (in 88.14% of patients), fatigue, headache, myalgia, arthralgia (25-36%), etc. The counts of WBC (in 22.56% of patients) lymphocyte (70.25%) and CD3, CD4, CD8 positive T cells (70%) decreased. From 4-7 d, the unspecific symptoms became weak; however, the rates of low respiratory tract symptoms, such as cough (24.18%), sputum production (14.26%), chest distress (21.04%) and shortness of breath (9.23%) increased, so did the abnormal rates on chest radiograph or CT. The low counts of WBC, lymphocyte and CD3, CD4, CD8 positive T cells touched bottom. From 8 to 16 d, the patients presented progressive cough (29.96%), sputum production (13.09%), chest distress (29.96%) and shortness of breath (35.34%). All patients had infiltrates on chest radiograph or CT, some even with multi-infiltrates. Two weeks later, patients' respiratory symptoms started to alleviate, the infiltrates on the lung began to absorb gradually, the counts of WBC, lymphocyte and CD3, CD4, CD8 positive T cells were restored to normality.


CONCLUSIONS
The data reported here provide evidence that the course of SARS could be divided into four stages, namely the initial stage, progressive stage, fastigium and convalescent stage.
Lu
Hai-Ying
HY
Beijing TongRen Hospital, 2 ChongNei Street, DongCheng District, Beijing 100730, China.
Xu
Xiao-Yuan
XY
Lei
Yu
Y
Wu
Yang-Feng
YF
Chen
Bo-Wen
BW
Xiao
Feng
F
Xie
Gao-Qiang
GQ
Han
De-Min
DM
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002681:China; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D011859:Radiography; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D045169:Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology*
D010100:Oxygen