The Clinical and Cellular Immune Features of 35 Patients with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)

ObjectiveTo explore the clinical and cellular immune features of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).The clinical features of 35 patients with SARS admitted and treated in our hospital during past 5 months were analyzed retrospectively and compared with 35 patients with common pneumonia . Consecutive blood samples were collected from 13 patients with SARS and 10 healthy volunteers. The CD 4 + and CD 8 + counts in their T cells of peripheral blood were detected by flow cytometry.The most common symptoms seen in patients with SARS included fever (100% of the patients); cough (74.3 %), headache and myalgia (45.7 %), lymphopenia (57.1%). The numbers of CD 4 + and CD 8 + in peripheral blood of 13 patients with SARS significantly decreased from the first to fourth week since the onset of disease, especially prominent in the second week. Serial chest X-ray films showed progressive multi-foci of infiltration in the lungs.[Conclusion]SARS is a serious disease of respiratory system. Its main clinical manifestations are fever, cough, headache, and generalized myalgia. Examination of peripheral blood displays lymphopenia and obvious decrease in CD 4 + and CD 8 + counts. In addition, multi-foci of infiltration in the lungs are usually found by X-ray chest films.