Precautions are Needed for COVID-19 Patients with Coinfection of Common Respiratory Pathogens

Quansheng Xing; Guoju Li; Yuhan Xing; Ting Chen; Wenjie Li; Wei Ni; Kai Deng; Ruqin Gao; Changzheng Chen; Yang Gao; Qiang Li; Guiling Yu; Jianning Tong; Wei Li; Guiliang Hao; Yue Sun; Ai Zhang; Qin Wu; Zipu Li; Silin Pan

The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not peer-reviewed) is the . https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.02.29.20027698 doi: medRxiv preprint the pathogenesis and outcome of severe acute respiratory illnesses like SARS and MERS. [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] Fortunately, SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected in all of our patients before other respiratory pathogens being detected. Otherwise these COVID- 19 It is notable that there are several limitations of this study. Two critically ill patients and one patient who died in the end were excluded due to lack of aetiological data other than SARS-CoV-2. As of February 16, 2020, there were 60 cases of confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection in Qingdao, however, we only analysed 30 non-severe cases whose complete aetiological and clinical information was available. The age of patients in Qingdao ranged from 1.5 years to 80 years; whereas patients in Wuhan were all adults as they were medical professional infected through work. Such age difference between the two groups might bring in bias to this study. We performed nucleic acid testing for the confirmation of SARS-CoV-2 infection, while coinfection with other pathogens was detected by serological testing of antibodies. In spite of superior accuracy, PCR-based molecular testing using throat swabs requires more complicated techniques of laboratory personnel with prolonged reporting time, which may not be suitable for emerging cases of SARS-CoV-2. 28,29 Thus, we applied rapid testing of aetiological agents by IIF in collected acute phase serum to guide clinical decision making. Since both the hospitals in Qingdao and Wuhan adopted the same protocol for the diagnosis of coinfection, we believe this will not affect the determination of final outcomes. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.