Clinical implications of five cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus infection in South Korea Outbreak.

Clinical implications of five cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus infection in South Korea Outbreak. Jpn J Infect Dis. 2016 Jan 8; Authors: Rhee JY, Hong G, Ryu KM Abstract The first Korea Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) was confirmed on 20 May 2015, with a subsequent outbreak in Korea. Five patients suspected of MERS-CoA infection were admitted to our hospital during this outbreak. One patient had no symptoms at admission pneumonia was identified on chest X-ray. Two patients required ventilator-assisted respiration because of rapid progression to acute respiratory failure. One patient needed extracorporeal membrane oxygenation due to refractory hypoxemia. One patient died of shock with multiorgan failure. All patients had fever, myalgia, leucopenia, normal procalcitonine level, and pneumonia. Pneumonia should be considered in all patients with MERS-CoV infection, even in the absence of repiratory symptoms. Pneumonia usually affected the lower lobes. A shorter incubation period was associated with more severe disease and greater risk of mortality. Fever predicted the prognosis of pneumonia in the MERS-CoV infections. MERS-CoV infection should be considered in the case of lower lobe pneumonia without response to antibiotics during outbreak. PMID: 26743151 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Japanese Journal of Infectious Diseases - Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Tags: Jpn J Infect Dis Source Type: research