COVID-19

An exciting debate has emerged whether bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccination is effective for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Some advocated that BCG-vaccinated people are less suffered from the virus because BCG vaccination is recommendedin COVID-19 high burden countries. However, the others objected because this seemingly attractive relationship is explainable with confounding factors.

We investigated the clinical course of individuals with 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) who were transferred from the Diamond Princess cruise ship to 12 local hospitals. The conditions and clinical courses of patients with pneumonia were compared with those of patients without pneumonia. Among 70 patients (median age: 67 years) analyzed, the major symptoms were fever (64.3%), cough (54.3%), and general fatigue (24.3%). Forty-three patients (61.4%) had pneumonia. Higher body temperature, heart rate, and respiratory rate as well as higher of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels and lower serum albumin level and lymphocyte count were associated with the presence of pneumonia.

Recently, an increasing number of SARS-CoV-2 patients with COVID-19 syndrome, which overlaps with Kawasaki Disease (KD), have been reported, supporting the suggestion that infection is one of the triggers of KD.

We repurposed a general ward into an acute care unit for severe COVID‐19 patients taking into consideration airflow, the direction of movement of medical staff, and prevention of the spread of infection to medical staff and other patients. We checked the daily condition and body temperature of all medical staff for 60 days.