Death linked to human coronaviruses HKU1 infection in Guizhou province: a case report

  Objective  To analyze clinical manifestations and epidemiological characteristics of a death case linked to human coronavirus HKU1 (HCoV-HKU1) infection firstly reported in Guizhou province of China and to provide references for prevention of HCoV-HKU1 infection.

  Methods  We conducted field surveys on a HCoV-HKU1 infection-related death among medical staff and family members of the death case. Information on clinical manifestations, exposure history, and laboratory detection of the death case were collected and analyzed using descriptive statistics. Medical observations were performed among close contacts of the case.

  Results  A 51 years old female farmer visited a township hospital in Liupanshui city of Guizhou province on April 9, 2019 due to worsened pain, low fever, cough and sputum. The patient was then hospitalized and diagnosed with bilateral pulmonary inflammation change based on computed tomography at a municipal hospital in Liupanshui city on April 22. The patient were transferred to emergency department of the Third People′s Hospital of Kunming city, Yunnan province on April 27, 2019 and died of unexplained pneumonia and respiratory failure. Later on, the patient′s specimens of lower respiratory tract tissue were sampled and the specimens were HCoV-HKU1 nucleic acid positive according to the detection with real-time PCR performed at Kunming Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention and confirmed by the detection in Yunnan Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Major clinical manifestations of the case were fever, cough, and expectoration. Decrease in number of white blood cell (WBC, 2.4 × 10⁹/L) was detected firstly and then both counts of WBC and lymphocytes increased (14.66 × 10⁹/L and 5.86 × 10⁹/L). No definite source of the infection was found based on the results of epidemiological surveys. There was no second-generation case was reported among the close contacts of the death case.

  Conclusion  The case is the first death due to HCoV-HKU1infection reported in Guizhou province.