Q. Wang¹

¹Nan Fang Hospital, First Military Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province 510515, PR China

Owing to the ignorance of the pathogen and lack of prevention, the epidemic of the infectious atypical pneumonia (IAP) swept over 30 countries around the world had caused a large scale of panicky, infection and even death in 2003. This article reviewed the diagnosis, treatment and prevention experiences of the medical staffs in Guangdong province, the epicentre of the outbreak of the disease, during the past year fighting against the disease. Firstly, the course of outbreak in Guangdong was reviewed and the epidemiological characteristics were summarized, including the distribution of age, occupation and time, the infectious ability, latent period, route of transmittion, the total incident rate and fatality rate. Secondly, the clinical symptoms were concluded. The common presentation included fever, cough, blood sputum, dizzy, panting, palpitation, headache, inertia, diarrhea, pharyngalgia, chest pain, et al.
The physical signs of the chest was unobvious, heart rate over 120/min could be seen individually, a few patients diarrhea more than ten times a day. Part of the patients who have chronic diseases or autoimmune disorders could develop easily to MODS and death. Chest radiographs predominately showed bilateral airspace shadowing, and were mostly in the lower lung zones. Thirdly, the treatment principle of IAP, especially the treatment of serious patients, summarized by the Guangdong medical staff was introduced. Fourthly, this article paid more attention to the characteristics of laboratory medicine of IAP, including blood routine, biochemistry, blood gas, clinical immunology, clinical pathology and the pathogen detecting methods, et al. Finally, this article pointed out the emerging problems in this battle against SARS, such as the research on the pathogen detecting methods and the biosafety protection, which should draw serious attention in the clinical laboratories.