DIAGNOSTIC AND PROGNOSTIC SIGNIFICANCE OF EOSINOPHIL COUNT COMPARED TO CRP AND IN ASSESSING SEVERITY OF ILLNESS IN COVID 19 CASES

*Dr. Diana David and Dr. Rajeev H.

ABSTRACT

• Coronaviruses are enveloped viruses. Inside the envelope, nucleocapsid proteins (N protein) are wrapped with a single-stranded, non-segmented, positive-sense RNA.[1] Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that are known to cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).[2] A novel coronavirus (COVID-19) was identified in 2019 in Wuhan, China. This is a new coronavirus that has not been previously identified in humans. The SARS-CoV-2 is currently causing the worldwide outbreak of infection (COVID-19).[2,3] • Due to high contagious power of the disease rapid and accurate diagnostic tools are required to rapidly identify potentially infected patients and that will help to manage moderate to severe symptomatic patients. Hence we conducted a restrospective study to assess role of Eosinophil count and CRP levels in diagnosing covid19 when highly suspicious and its prognostic significance and role in assessing severity of illness.

Keywords: covid 19, high contagious power, accurate diagnostic tool, rapidly identify, Eosinophils, CRP, prognostic significance, severity.