Sir,
COVID-19 is a new emerging infection. This disease was first discovered in a province of China.[1] The disease already spread to several countries, including Thailand, Singapore, and Korea.[2] As a new disease, the clinical presentation of this new infection is an interesting topic. An important clinical presentation in respiratory disease is hemoptysis. In previous new emerging coronavirus infections such as MRES and SARS, hemoptysis has never been mentioned. Here, the authors would like to discuss on observation on hemoptysis in COVI-19.
From data on 35 patients in our setting (February 20, 2020), Thailand, no patient presents hemoptysis. From summarizing of available published data on 140 patients with COVID-19 from China,[3,4] two patients present hemoptysis, giving rate equal to 1.43% (95% confidence interval = 0.36%–5.66%). Here, it can show that hemoptysis might be a possible clinical presentation of COVID-19 although it is not common. A practitioner should recognize this clinical possibility.
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Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.
References
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