Significance of peripheral blood indexes in differential diagnoses of SARS-CoV-2 and New Bunia virus

We aimed to provide a laboratory basis for differential diagnosis of COVID-19 and severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS). Clinical data were collected from 32 COVID-19 patients (2019-nCoV group), 31 SFTS patients (SFTS group) and 30 healthy controls (control group). For each group of hospitalized patients, a retrospective analysis was performed on specific indices, including cytokines, T-lymphocyte subsets, routine blood parameters, C-reactive protein (CRP) and procalcitonin (PCT), and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves for the indices revealed the differences among groups. Compared with the 2019-nCoV group, the SFTS group had a significantly and greatly decreased counts of WBC, absolute lymphocyte, PLT and absolute CD4(+) T lymphocyte (P<0.05); the IL-6, TNF-, D-D and PCT levels of the SFTS group were higher than those of the 2019-nCoV group (P<0.05). Compared with those of the SFTS group, the CRP and FIB levels of the 2019-nCoV group were greatly increased (P<0.05). The ROC curves showed that area under the curves (AUCs) for FIB, PLT and TNF-alpha were greater than 0.85, demonstrating high diagnostic value. At the initial stage of SARS-CoV-2 or SFTS virus infection, PLT, FIB and TNF-alpha have definitive clinical value for the early and differential diagnosis of these two infections.

Automated summary

This study analyzed the clinical data of COVID-19 and SFTS patients, and found that PLT, FIB, and TNF-α have definitive clinical value for the early and differential diagnosis of these two infections. The findings suggest that these parameters could be important in distinguishing between COVID-19 and SFTS at an early stage of infection.