Singapore had 96 COVID-19 cases confirmed by real time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for SARS-CoV-2. We examined the peripheral blood films of 32 patients and found reactive lymphocytes as shown in the top images in 23 cases (72%). This is in stark contrast to the pattern with coronavirus responsible for the 2003 SARS outbreak where reactive lymphocytes of this type were not present in a review of 185 SARS cases in Singapore and were present in only 15Á2% of 138 cases in Hong Kong. 1,2 Reactive lymphocytes are commonly seen in other viral diseases such as dengue fever and infectious mononucleosis. They have varied morphological features. The most common subtype seen in our COVID-19 patients displayed a distinctive abundant pale blue cytoplasm that often abuts adjacent red blood cells (top left and right). Strikingly, lymphoplasmacytoid lymphocytes were present in 16 out of 23 patients (bottom images: left, right and centre). These are small mature lymphocytes with condensed chromatin and an eccentric nucleus, occasionally with a paranuclear hof. Lymphoplasmacytoid lymphocytes are also seen in dengue fever and in several B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas. Reactive lymphocytes of both types can coexist in a single peripheral blood film in COVID-19 patients.
The novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 which causes the acute respiratory illness known as COVID-19 has been characterized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a global pandemic since March 13, 2020. Despite a lower case-fatality rate, COVID-19 has resulted in significantly more deaths than SARS in 2003, largely in part due to its higher infectivity. As of May 21, 2020, more than 4,800,000 cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection have been confirmed worldwide, with more than 321,000 fatalities. Singapore confirmed its first case of COVID-19 on January 23, 2020. Since then, we have had a total of 29,342 cases and 22 fatalities. Majority of the hospitalized cases were treated at our center, the National Centre of Infectious Diseases (NCID).Recent studies have shown a decrease in peripheral lymphocytes in COVID-19 patients. [1][2][3] We sought to assess the lymphocyte subset alterations in COVID-19 patients, in particular the differences between critically ill patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) and general ward patients. As the number of SARS-CoV-2
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