2 MATERIALS AND METHODS
2.1 Study and subjects . Patients with laboratory confirmed
COVID-19 infection, diagnosed using quantitative reverse
transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), and clinical
symptomatology of COVID-19 (history of fever, any respiratory symptom
and chest radiographs confirmed pulmonary lesions (for moderate and
severe cases), were included. The baseline characteristics of the
patients for their classification are shown in Table 1.
The patients were classified into two groups according to disease
severity considering the following parameters. I) Viremia: Patients with
fever (>38 oC), d-dimer (0.6-0.9 mg/ml),
lactate (˂2mmol/L), leukopenia, anosmia, myalgia, arthralgia, fatigue,
cough, sore throat, runny nose, and sneezing. II) Severe sepsis with
multi-organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS): Patients with d-dimer
(˃10mg/ml), creatinine (>1.5 mg/dl), procalcitonin (+),
lactate (˃2mmol/L), hypotension, electrolyte imbalance and who had any
of the following were considered in critical condition: acute
respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), respiratory failure requiring
mechanical ventilation, may have shock, encephalopathy, myocardial
injury, heart failure, coagulation dysfunction and acute kidney injury
or failure of other organs requiring admission to the intensive care
unit.
In addition, patients with respiratory problems similar to COVID-19
disease but with a negative confirmatory test, were included as damage
control.