Differential Cell Count and CRP Level in Blood as Predictors for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Infection in Acute Febrile Patients during Nosocomial Outbreak

Park, Ga Eun; Kang, Cheol-In; Ko, Jae-Hoon; Cho, Sun Young; Ha, Young Eun; Kim, Yae-Jean; Peck, Kyong Ran; Song, Jae-Hoon; Chung, Doo Ryeon

The Republic of Korea experienced the largest outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection outside the Arabian Peninsula in 2015, including 186 laboratory-confirmed cases (1, 2) . The reported data suggest that MERS-CoV is most likely to be transmitted as healthcare-associated infections and poses a serious risk for nosocomial outbreak (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) . During the nosocomial outbreak of MERS, many patients were identified and quarantined by means of active surveillance. Since MERS-CoV is still a fairly new disease, there is a paucity of data regarding the characteristics of and differences between suspected patients whose tests were subsequently negative and laboratory-confirmed cases (7) . Even though potential predictors of MERS-CoV infection among patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) were identified in the previous study performed in Saudi Arabia (7), information on possible predictors of infection during the nosocomial outbreak of MERS is still lacking. Therefore, we performed this study to identify possible clinical predictors which can differentiate MERS-CoV-positive patients from MERS-CoV-negative patients with acute febrile illness during the nosocomial outbreak.