Severely ill human infection with avian influenza A (H7N9) virus firstly identified in Sichuan province: six cases report and clinical analysis

XIA Hongtao,etc,.al. Severely ill human infection with avian influenza A (H7N9) virus firstly identified in Sichuan province: six cases report and clinical analysis. Chinese Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care M
submited by kickingbird at Apr, 13, 2017 20:31 PM from Chinese Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care M

Abstract: Objective Since the first case of avian influenza A (H7N9) virus infection in humans identified in
Suining, Sichuan province on January 25th, 2017, there were other five severely ill patients confirmed in the following
3 weeks. It is urgent to find out the common clinical characters of these patients, so that to make sure the optimal ways for
early diagnosis and treatment for H7N9 virus infection in community hospitals or primary hospitals as soon as possible.
Methods The early symptoms, the data of early laboratory findings, the early imaging study, the early process of
diagnosis and treatment of these six patients were collected and analyzed. Results All six patients had high fever, dry
cough, hypocalcemia, and hypophosphatemia, with advanced CT image lesions manifested as consolidation and groundgrass
opacity in bilateral lower lung lobes. Some patients had typically leukopenia, lymphopenia, thrombocytopenia. And
most of them had a history of direct exposure to live poultry before complaining of flu-like syndromes. However, the flu
can not be effectively controlled by routine anti-infection. Conclusion The human infection with H7N9 virus can be
early identified by combining the epidemiology of live poultry exposure, the symptoms of high fever, dry cough,
dramatical leukopenia, lymphopenia, thrombocytopenia, the typical CT image, and the rapidly worsen clinical condition.