Imaging Features of Familial Clustering of COVID-19

Abstract

COVID-19 has obvious family clustering, and clustering refers to the occurrence of 2 or more confirmed cases or asymptomatic infection in a small area within 14 days [1]. The clinical manifestations of familial clustering COVID-19 are related to exposure time, exposure degree, virus type, virus virulence, and patient age [2], which are mostly manifested as fever, chills, fatigue, occasional diarrhea, sore throat, or asymptomatic [3]. Symptoms are mild in children, and more severe in elderly or patients with chronic underlying diseases [4]. If there is an infected person in the family, it is easy to cause mutual infection; chest CT is helpful for the screening of suspected family cases, early diagnosis, early treatment, and early isolation. The CT findings of the family cluster COVID-19 cases are consistent with the typical manifestations of COVID-19. In the same group of family cases, the lesion density and degree are similar [5]. The number of lesions and the range of involvement of multi-generation infected persons are reduced compared with earlier generations. The chest CT of children may be negative, and the lung lesions of the elderly or patients with chronic underlying diseases may be more severe. In the follow-up after treatment, the vast majority of the lung lesions were absorbed to different degrees, and the residual shadows were mostly ground-glass opacities or fibrous shadows. The chest CT findings of most patients could finally return to normal.