Volume 10, Number 5—May 2004
Research
Laboratory Diagnosis of SARS
Paul K.S. Chan*
, Wing-Kin To†, King-Cheung Ng*, Rebecca K. Y. Lam*, Tak-Keung Ng†, Rickjason C. W. Chan* , Alan Wu*, Wai-Cho Yu†, Nelson Lee*, David S. C. Hui*, Sik-To Lai†, Ellis K. L. Hon*, Chi-Kong Li*, Joseph J. Y. Sung*, and John S. Tam*
, Wing-Kin To†, King-Cheung Ng*, Rebecca K. Y. Lam*, Tak-Keung Ng†, Rickjason C. W. Chan* , Alan Wu*, Wai-Cho Yu†, Nelson Lee*, David S. C. Hui*, Sik-To Lai†, Ellis K. L. Hon*, Chi-Kong Li*, Joseph J. Y. Sung*, and John S. Tam*
Table 4
Positive rates for SARS-CoV for various patient groupsa
| SARS-CoV result by RT-PCR/virus isolation | ||
|---|---|---|
| Patient characteristics (n)b |
No. (%) of positive patientsc (n = 128) |
No. (%) of negative patients (n = 214) |
| Sex |
||
| Female (210) |
83 (39.5) |
127 (60.5) |
| Male (132) |
45 (34.1) |
87 (65.9) |
| Age group (years) |
||
| ≤16 (8) |
4 (50.0) |
4 (50.0) |
| 17–64 (271) |
96 (35.4) |
175 (64.6) |
| ≥65 (63) |
28 (44.4) |
35 (55.6) |
| No. of specimens tested |
||
| 1–2 (116) |
39 (33.6) |
77 (66.4) |
| 3–5 (111) |
36 (32.4) |
75 (67.6) |
| ≥6 (115) |
53 (46.1) |
62 (53.9) |
| Time of first specimen collected (weeks after illness onset) |
||
| 1 (251) |
97 (38.6) |
154 (61.6) |
| 2 (57) |
21 (36.8) |
36 (63.2) |
| 3 (11) |
4 (36.4) |
7 (63.6) |
| 4 (23) |
6 (26.1) |
17 (73.9) |
| Disease outcome |
||
| Recovered, not requiring ventilation or intensive care (279) |
91 (32.6) |
188 (67.4) |
| Recovered after ventilation or intensive care (40) |
22 (55.0) |
18 (45.0) |
| Died (23) | 15 (65.2) | 8 (34.8) |
aSARS-CoV, severe acute respiratory syndrome–associated coronavirus.
bOnly patients with their first specimens collected within 4 weeks of onset of illness are included
cPatients with one or more specimen(s) positive for SARS-CoV by RT-PCR and/or virus isolation.
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