Pneumonia of Unknown Cause

Pneumonia of Unknown Cause

Pneumonia of unknown cause is a medical term coined by the Chinese health authorities for timely detection and treatment of SARS, human avian influenza and other infectious pneumonia. Patients of pneumonia of unknown cause have the following clinical signs and symptoms: fever (axillary temperature is 38 degrees centigrade or higher), imaging features of pneumonia, decreasing or normal leukocyte count or decreasing lymphocyte count in the early stage of the disease, and no significant improvement or even progressive aggravation after standard anti-microbial treatment for three to five days.

In December 2019, more than one case of viral pneumonia of unknown cause was reported in Wuhan. On December 31, Wuhan Municipal Health Commission announced that the clinical pictures of recent cases of "pneumonia of unknown cause" were mainly fever, and a small number of patients had breathing difficulties and infiltration in both lungs. The earliest onset of the disease was on December 8, 2019. On January 7, 2020, the pathogen of this pneumonia virus was identified as "novel coronavirus."

After the outbreak of the epidemic, Wuhan quickly took strict prevention and control measures, including case finding, isolation, admission to designated hospitals, medical observation of close contacts, and emergency monitoring. The principle of "early detection, early reporting, early isolation and early treatment" was also resolutely implemented.

不明原因肺炎

不明原因肺炎，是中国卫生部门为及时发现和处理SARS、人禽流感以及其他传染性肺炎提出的一种医学概念。不明原因肺炎送检需满足四个标准：发热（腋下体温≥38℃)；具有肺炎的影像学特征；发病早期白细胞总数降低或正常，或淋巴细胞分类计数减少；经规范抗菌药物治疗3～5天，病情无明显改善或呈进行性加重。

2019年12月以来，武汉出现多例不明原因病毒性肺炎病例。12月31日，武汉市卫健委发布通报称，武汉“不明原因肺炎”病例的临床表现主要为发热，少数病人呼吸困难，胸片呈双肺浸润性病灶，收治患者最早发病时间为2019年12月8日。2020年1月7日，该不明原因肺炎病毒病原体被确定为“新型冠状病毒”。疫情发生后，武汉市迅速采取严厉防控措施，包括病例搜索、隔离、指定医院收治、对密切接触者进行医学观察、应急监测等，并果断实施“早诊断、早隔离、早报告和早治疗”的收治方案。