Characteristics of Respiratory Virus Infection During the Outbreak of 2019 Novel Coronavirus in Beijing

Background: 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) is spreading in China and the disease was named as COVID-19, short for “coronavirus disease 2019”. However, other respiratory viruses also cause similar symptoms as COVID-19 does. Here, we summarized the composition of pathogens in fever clinic patients and analyzed characteristics of different respiratory viruses infection. Methods: Retrospectively collected patients with definite etiological results using nasal and pharyngeal swabs in fever clinic. Epidemiologic features, clinical presentation, laboratory findings and image features were collected and analyzed. Results: Totally, 1860 patients were screened and 136 patients were enrolled in the study. 72 (52.94%) of them were diagnosed as influenza (Flu) A virus infection. 32 (23.53%) of the patients were diagnosed as Flu B virus infection. 18 (13.24%) and 14 (10.29%) of the patients were diagnosed as COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection respectively. COVID-19 group had a higher rate of contact with epidemic area within 14 days and clustering onset than other groups (P<0.05). Fever was the most common symptom in the respiratory virus infection patients. The ratio of fever and the highest temperature were higher in Flu A virus infection patients than in COVID-19 patients (P<0.05). COVID-19 patients had lower white blood cell (WBC) count and neutrophil count than Flu A virus and RSV infection group (P<0.05), but higher lymphocyte count than Flu A and B virus infection groups (P<0.05). C-reactive protein was higher in RSV infection group than in COVID-19 and Flu B infection group, but was not statistically different in Flu A and B infection and COVID-19 groups. COVID-19 group (83.33%) had a higher rate of pneumonia in chest CT scan than Flu A and B virus infection group (P<0.05). Conclusions: Influenza viruses accounted for a large proportion of respiratory virus infection even during the epidemic of 2019-nCoV. No single symptom or laboratory finding was suggestive of a specific respiratory virus, however, epidemic history was important to the screening of COVID-19. Funding Statement: The study was funded by CAMS Innovation Fund for Medical Sciences (2017- I2M-1-009). Declaration of Interests: The authors stated: "None." Ethics Approval Statement: This study was approved by the institutional review board committee of Peking Union Medical College Hospital and informed consent was taken from all the patients.