Chronic illness was fatal for COVID-19 infected patients

Ten of 28 deaths are accompanied by high blood pressure, diabetes, and mental illness

Patients with liver disease, such as transplants, are also among the dead

The number of deaths in COVID-19 in Korea increased to 28, with fatal underlying disease.

 

Much attention should be paid, especially if having heart disease and diabetes.

 

Investigating the characteristics of 28 deaths (as of March 3, 00:00) announced by the KCDC, most of the unhealthy patients, such as decreased immune function in old age, died shortly after infection.

 

First, the average age of the dead was 68.7 years.

 

Exceptionally, younger 40-year-olds and 35-year-olds were included on the list of deaths, which included mental and severe liver disease, respectively.

 

Medical staff are weighing the likelihood that their immune function was not normal in that a 40-year-old Korean male was young but had mental illness.

 

As they died at home, more precise epidemiological investigations are needed.

 

The 35-year-old man, who was a Mongolian, came to Korea for transplantation due to severe liver disease.

 

He was diagnosed with transplantation due to severe symptoms such as ascites and jaundice.

 

He died of infection with COVID-19 during palliative care.

 

In particular, the survey reported a number of deaths from mental illness.

 

Of the 28 deaths, eight were mentally ill (29%).

 

Medical staff are looking for the cause in hospitals vulnerable to infection control and in patients with compromised immune function.

 

Myung-don Oh, professor of the Infectious Diseases Central Clinical Committee, said, “All of the dead were mentally ill patients who were admitted to Cheongdo Daenam Hospital and being sedentary, and this is a very vulnerable environment for infection” and evaluated, “Infection of one person led to mass infection and low immunity patients seemed to have died”.

 

"In addition to the lack of immunity, I think the patient is generally in a bad condition.

 

The muscle mass is also estimated to be low, and there are a number of comorbidities, and this complex factor may have increased mortality", he said.

 

According to the KCDC, most of them developed fever shortly after infection and died of pneumonia as they worsened.

 

In addition, the chronic deaths were included in the list of deaths.

 

The survey found that 36 percent of 28 patients had high blood pressure and diabetes, and some also had strokes and dementia.

 

There were three patients with kidney disease (chronic renal failure or kidney transplant) and two patients with cancer who died shortly after infection.

 

Ji-hwan Bang, a professor of infection medicine at SNU hospital, said that in many cases, patients with chronic diseases are unmanaged, and kidney disease patients (implants) or cancer patients are likely to have died due to poor immune function".

 

According to this analysis, the KCDC orders thorough control of patients with chronic diseases with chronic illnesses.

 

The KMA also recommends social distance campaigns as a way to prevent the conversion of national infections.

 

Among these, children and healthy adults may be mildly infected with COVID-19, However, in case of an emergency, and it is recommended to pay attention to hygiene management in order to prevent an infection in case of emergency.

 

On the other hand, according to the KCDC, there were confirmed patients in children and adolescents, but there are no deaths.

 

There are 34 confirmed children aged 0-9 years, and 204, 10-19 years old.