More on #COVID19 - Three members of #China's central taskforce for the #coronavirus epidemic showed up at a press conference to share their clinical findings. Here are some main takeaways -
1. Deputy Chief of Beijing's Chaoyang Hospital, Tong Chao-Huei, said serious symptoms usually happen to patients in their 50s and 60s and many of them already have pre-existing medical conditions like high blood pressure or diabetes.
Tong said many of these patients suffered from getting enough oxygen, which accelerates the deterioration of their symptoms. Additionally, #coronavirus not only attacks patients' lungs, like SARS, but it also attacks patients' hearts and kidneys.
2. The experts found that many patients with serious symptoms have high troponin, which ultimately leads to them suffering from respiratory failure and eventually multi-organ failure.
4. The experts point out that once infected, the progression of patients' symptoms is slower than SARS patients. Many may not present serious symptom even 5 or 6 days after contracting the virus and when they attend gatherings, they could transmit the virus to others.
5. While many old people have contracted the virus, many of them were confirmed when they were being examined for other health issues. However, when that happens, they remain contagious.
6. There are now six designated hospitals to treat patients with serious symptoms and major medical teams have been assigned to these hospitals too.
7. Medical experts in #China have figured out that they need to move forward the timing for rescuing and treating patients. They also need to have experts from other specialties to stand by because many patients suffer from multi-organ failure.
8. Meanwhile, they are also closely monitoring the changes in patients with light or normal symptoms. Some of these patients' symptoms could suddenly become severe and when that happens, doctors will closely monitor any changes.
9. Medical staff are now ensuring that patients will have a good environment to rest and use the combination of western and Chinese medical treatments to help the patients. These approaches can potentially prevent normal patients' symptoms from worsening.
Here is the link to the original article on @CCTV - news.cctv.com/2020/02/21/ART…
