TY - JOUR
AR - CDM-2020-1-107
TI - Epidemiological and Clinical Features of 156 Cases of COVID-19: A Prospective Study in Algerian Population
AU - Amel , Mammeri
AU - M. , Ammi
AU -  M. , Aouadi
AU - I. , Khedairia
AU - W. , Djafour
AU - A. , Bouriah
AU - N. , Raaf
AU - H. , Brahimi
AU - A. , Tebaibia
JO - Cardiovascular Disorder and Medicine
PY - 2020
DA - Mon 21, Dec 2020
SN - 
DO - http://dx.doi.org/10.31487/j.CDM.2020.01.07
UR - https://www.sciencerepository.org/epidemiological-and-clinical-features-of-156-cases-of-covid-19_CDM-2020-1-107 
KW - COVID-19, epidemic, hydroxychloroquine, SARS CoV-2
AB - Background: COVID-19 is an emerging disease caused by SARS-CoV-2. It has caused millions of infected
cases and thousands of deaths since January 2020. In Algeria, the situation seems less alarming with 58,272
confirmed cases and 1,973 deaths as of November 1, 2020.
Aim of Study: To describe the clinical, biological and radiological profiles of our patients with COVID-19
during the first two months of the epidemic.
Methods: Our study is prospective over two months (April 12-June 10, 2020) including 156 patients based
on clinical, radiological and/or immunological criteria.
Results: The study involved 77 men and 79 women with COVID-19 having a mean age of 48.97 ± 14.350
years. Common symptoms included asthenia (54.5%), anorexia (26.9%), fever (19.9%) and dry cough
(52.6%). Biological inflammatory syndrome occurred in 32% of patients and Lymphopenia in 46%. Chest
computed tomographic scans showed minimal to moderate lesions in 85.9% of cases. 56% of patients
present at least one comorbidity: diabetes (25.6%), arterial hypertension (23.7%), obesity (21%), asthma
(3.1%) and cancer (1.9%). The rapid serology test was positive in only 29% of 76 patients tested while RtPCR was positive in 35 of 55 patients tested. Length of hospital stay was 10 days for a half of patients while
the rest received outpatient care. All patients were treated with hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and
preventive heparin and were followed closely until the end of treatment. The use of another antibiotic or
corticosteroid was rare (3.8% and 1.3% respectively). Only one death was recorded and no transfer to an
intensive care unit.
Conclusion: Our study showed that the situation was not very worrying in our population during the first
two months of the epidemic. A very close surveillance of new infected cases and the analysis of their
clinical profile during the following months are the subject of work in progress.