Abstract
Background: An outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant infection occurred in Pingtung, Taiwan, in June 2021. In this study, we aimed to elucidate the clinical characteristics of the Delta-variant SARS-CoV-2 infection and the treatment outcome of antiviral agents in patients from Pingtung County in Southern Taiwan.
Methods: A total of 11 patients with Delta-variant COVID-19 were consecutively admitted to a governmental hospital in June 2021. Baseline characteristics and treatment outcome were evaluated.
Results: All patients were symptomatic. The most common symptoms were cough (72.7%), followed by fever (54.5%), headache (18.2%) and dysosmia/dysgeusia (18.2%). Two patients developed pneumonia without mechanical ventilation requirement. Compared to patients without pneumonia, those with pneumonia had higher aspartate aminotransferase (AST) (21.0 vs. 126.0 IU/L, P = 0.03) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) (143.1 vs. 409.0 IU/mL, P = 0.03), and ferritin (0.2 vs. 2.0 mg/L, P = 0.046) levels. Pneumonia improved after 2-week treatment, and no mortality occurred after 30 days of diagnosis. The median duration of viral shedding duration of viral shedding was 16.5 days (range 11-42 days) (defined by time to repeated negative real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) or a cycle threshold (CT) value ≥ 30).
Conclusion: We demonstrated the clinical characteristics of Delta-variant COVID-19 and treatment outcome of antiviral agents. The risk factors attributed to pneumonia were higher serum AST, ferritin, and LDH levels.
Keywords: Coronavirus disease 2019; Delta variant; Pingtung; Pneumonia; Taiwan.
【저자키워드】 Coronavirus disease 2019, Pneumonia, delta variant, Taiwan, Pingtung, 【초록키워드】 COVID-19, Treatment, SARS-CoV-2, Treatment outcome, Mortality, mechanical ventilation, Clinical characteristics, SARS-COV-2 infection, hospital, Infection, viral shedding, Delta, Diagnosis, LDH, ferritin, Symptom, risk factor, cough, headache, RT-PCR, lactate dehydrogenase, serum, Characteristics, cycle threshold, outbreak, symptomatic, Fever, Antiviral agents, Patient, Aspartate aminotransferase, AST, antiviral agent, Taiwan, disease, repeated, polymerase chain, real-time reverse transcriptase, defined, occurred, evaluated, median, Two patient, demonstrated, 【제목키워드】 Treatment outcome, variant, Characteristics, outbreak, clinical, Taiwan, SARS-CoV-2 delta,