Clinical Characteristics and CT Findings in 148 Non-COVID-19 Influenza-Like Illness Cases: A Retrospective Control Study

Abstract

Background: This study was to collect clinical features and computed tomography (CT) findings of Influenza-Like Illness (ILI) cases, and to evaluate the correlation between clinical data and the abnormal chest CT in patients with the Influenza-Like Illness symptoms.Methods: Patients with the Influenza-Like Illness symptoms who attended the emergency department of The Six Medical Center of The PLA General Hospital from February 10 to April 1, 2020 were enrolled. Clinical and imaging data of the enrolled patients were collected and analyzed. The association between clinical characteristics and abnormal chest CT was also analyzed.Results: A total of 148 cases were enrolled in this study. Abnormalities on chest CT were detected in 61/148 (41.2%) patients. The most common abnormal CT features were as follows: patchy consolidation 22/61(36.1%), ground-glass opacities 21/61(34.4%), multifocal consolidations 17/61(27.9%). The advanced age and underlying diseases were significantly associated with abnormal chest CT.Conclusions: Abnormal chest CT is a common condition in Influenza-Like Illness cases. The presence of advanced age and concurrent underlying diseases is significantly associated with abnormal chest CT findings in patients with ILI symptoms. The chest CT characteristic of ILI is different from the manifestation of COVID-19 infection, which is helpful for differential diagnosis.

Respiratory Syncytial Virus: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Tomographic Findings (2000–2022)

“…GGOs are a common feature of several viral infections, resulting from a previous invasion and viral replication in the alveolar epithelium, which in turn result in the alveolar cavity leaking under the pleural or around the peribronchovascular regions [45,46,65]. These findings were only partially expected; even though the high rate of GGOs, particularly among immunocompromised individuals, has been previously described [27,49,50,52,59,68], we were unable to report high rates of septal thickening and bronchial wall impairment, signs that were previously described as quite common in RSV cases compared to other viral pathogens [27,46,69]. Seasonal influenza was characterized by a higher occurrence of tree-in-bud opacities than in RSV cases, i.e., the opposite to that suggested by a more general approach to the collected data.…”