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On March 5, the New England Journal of Medicine published a study titled, “First Case of 2019 Novel Coronavirus in the United States.” We extracted the key sentences so our readers can get a general idea of its contents. To read the entire report, visit NEJM.
- On January 19, 2020, a 35-year-old man presented to an urgent care clinic in Snohomish County, Washington, with a 4-day history of cough and subjective fever.
- Although the patient reported that he had not spent time at the Huanan seafood market and reported no known contact with ill persons during his travel to China, CDC staff concurred with the need to test the patient for 2019-nCoV on the basis of current CDC “persons under investigation” case definitions.
- On days 2 through 5 of hospitalization (days 6 through 9 of illness), the patient’s vital signs remained largely stable, apart from the development of intermittent fevers accompanied by periods of tachycardia.
- The stool and both respiratory specimens later tested positive by rRT-PCR for 2019-nCoV, whereas the serum remained negative.
- A second chest radiograph from the night of hospital day 5 (illness day 9) showed evidence of pneumonia in the lower lobe of the left lung.
- On hospital day 6 (illness day 10), a fourth chest radiograph showed basilar streaky opacities in both lungs, a finding consistent with atypical pneumonia, and rales were noted in both lungs on auscultation.
- Treatment with intravenous remdesivir (a novel nucleotide analogue prodrug in development) was initiated on the evening of day 7, and no adverse events were observed in association with the infusion.
- On hospital day 8 (illness day 12), the patient’s clinical condition improved.
- Clinical specimens were tested with an rRT-PCR assay that was developed from the publicly released virus sequence.
- Key aspects of this case included the decision made by the patient to seek medical attention after reading public health warnings about the outbreak; recognition of the patient’s recent travel history to Wuhan by local providers, with subsequent coordination among local, state, and federal public health officials; and identification of possible 2019-nCoV infection, which allowed for prompt isolation of the patient and subsequent laboratory confirmation of 2019-nCoV, as well as for admission of the patient for further evaluation and management.
IMAGE SOURCE: Creative Commons
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