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The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not peer-reviewed) is the .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 COVID-19 patients was very rare. Our assumption was led support by two recent studies conducted in Wuhan showing that there was no coinfection of respiratory pathogens in COVID-19 cases. 3, 9 According to our data, the majority of COVID-19 patients in Qingdao were not from the endemic area; they were infected indirectly without a history of traveling to Wuhan. Despite the high coinfection rate in Qingdao patients who had more complicated clinical conditions Here we also compared the geographical and climatic characteristics of Qingdao and Wuhan. Wuhan is located in the centre of southern China and has a subtropical climate; 16, 17 while Qingdao is situated in the coastal area of northern China in the temperate zone, which has a relatively lower humidity than Wuhan. 18 Despite the difference in natural characteristics between the two cities, common respiratory pathogens circulate in Wuhan and Qingdao (including IFV-A, IFV-B, RSV, and ADV) have shown to be generally similar during the peak season of respiratory diseases in wintertime (from January to February). [19] [20] [21] [22] The incidence of coinfection in COVID-19 patients in Wuhan was rather low. Whereas in places with relatively low temperature like northern Qingdao, it is more common to find combined SARS-CoV-2 infection with other seasonal respiratory pathogens. It is not yet known whether this phenomenon also exists in other regions, leaving a gap for future studies. There are limited data to address whether coinfection with other respiratory pathogens would affect All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.