The following is an extract from a study conducted in Wuhan back in February, quoted directly from the paper.
1. Asymptomatic infection: without any clinical symptoms and signs and the chest imaging is
normal, while the 2019-nCoV nucleic acid test is in a positive period.
2. Mild: symptoms of acute upper respiratory tract infection, including fever, fatigue, myalgia,
cough, sore throat, runny nose, and sneezing. Physical examination shows congestion of the
pharynx and no auscultory abnormalities. Some cases may have no fever, or have only digestive
symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhea.
3. Moderate: with pneumonia, frequent fever and cough, mostly dry cough, followed by
productive cough , some may have wheezing, but no obvious hypoxemia such as shortness of
breath, and lungs can hear sputum or dry snoring and / or wet snoring. Some cases may have no
clinical signs and symptoms, but chest CT shows lung lesions, which are subclinical.
4. Severe: Early respiratory symptoms such as fever and cough, may be accompanied by
gastrointestinal symptoms such as diarrhea. The disease usually progresses around 1 week, and
dyspnea occurs, with central cyanosis. Oxygen saturation is less than 92%, with other hypoxia
manifestations.
5. Critical: Children can quickly progress to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) or
respiratory failure, and may also have shock, encephalopathy, myocardial injury or heart failure,
coagulation dysfunction, and acute kidney injury. Organ dysfunction can be life threatening.
Both the laboratory-confirmed and suspected cases were included in the analysis. The
datasets were extracted from the electronic master database at the Chinese Center for Disease
Control and Prevention (China CDC). Data were entered into a computer and secured with a password at Shanghai Children’s Medical Center. Cross-check and data cleaning was performed
before the data analysis.
