Shocking X-ray scans of 33-year-old woman, suffering from coronavirus, have revealed the presence of fluid in her lungs, whose presence increases with each passing day.
The virus has resulted in the deaths of over 259 people in the world’s most populous country-China- and a declaration of a global emergency from the world health body.
The revelation came after a woman arrived at a hospital in China’s Lanzhou city suffering from high fever, coarse breathing and continuous cough.
Doctors diagnosed her with the new strain of coronavirus after her white blood cell count was low which determined an infection.
Undergoing x-ray scans, the medics found white patches in the lower corners of the lungs which indicates what radiologists call ground-glass opacity – the partial filling of air spaces in the lungs.
The white patches appear more pronounced in the second X-ray of the coronavirus affected lungs, which was taken three days after the first and further into her treatment.
The images were presented by a group of researchers at The First Hospital of Lanzhou University to the journal Radiology.
A radiologist said that the patches in the lungs identify the presence of fluid in the lungs, that could at most lead to major lung infection.
The woman was treated by inhaling a protein used to treat viral infections called interferon.
The number of deaths from a coronavirus epidemic in China has risen by 46 to 259, the country’s health authority said on Saturday, as the United States and other nations announced new border curbs on foreigners who have been in China.
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The central province of Hubei, the center of the epidemic, is under a virtual quarantine, with roads sealed off and public transport shut down. Elsewhere in China, authorities have placed restrictions on travel and business activity in a bid to contain the spread of the virus.
In its latest figures, China’s National Health Commission said there were 2,102 new confirmed infections in China on Friday, bringing the cumulative total to 11,791. Around two dozen other countries have reported confirmed cases of the virus.
