Imaging and Laboratory Findings
Baseline auscultation revealed abnormal chest in 14 (74%) of cases; 12 (63%) had bilateral rales or crepitations while two (11%) had bilateral wheezes. Radiologically, 15 patients (79%) had abnormal chest X-rays: 13 with bilateral chest infiltrates and 2 with unilateral infiltrates.
Median total leucocytes count was equal in patients who required O2 supplementation (n=11, 58%) to those who did not require O2. Besides, mdian glomerular filtration rate was 62 mL/min/1.73 m2. Serum urea, creatinine, AST, ALT, and total bilirubin revealed normal to elevated values; 39 mg/dL (12-129 mg/dL) and 1 mg/dL (0.6-2.2 mg/dL), 24 U/L (9-117 U/L), 50 U/L (16-147 U/L), and 0.5 mg/dL (0.2-1.6 mg/dL), respectively. The same pattern was observed for procalcitonin 0.12 ng/mL (0.02-0.64 ng/mL) in 15 cases. LDH and CRP were elevated in all patients at baseline investigations; 343 U/L (169-931 U/L) and 8 mg/dL (1-17 mg/dL), respectively. Creatine kinase was reported in seven cases; with 1,115 and 561 U/L in two cases and normal range in remaining five. Troponine was assessed in nine cases at baseline 13.09 (90.72-4.75) pg/mL. Moreover, ferritine level was evaluated in 7 patients, all of them revealed elevated values with an overall median of 824 (287-3429) ng/mL. Furthermore, the median segmented neutrophils and lymphocytes values for 15 cases were 72% and 15%, respectively. Median values for sodium, potassium, chloride, and calcium showed slight to no elevation, and they were 133, 3.9, 96.5, and 2.2 mmol/L, respectively (Table 2) .
Figure 2 displays median and range for three laboratory workups(Appendix 1) . The Median (range) for TLC was 6×109/L (4-10×109/L), 7×109/L (4-16×109/L), and 7×109/L (4-11×109/L) for first, second, and third workups, respectively. CRP reached its highest value on admission workup 8 mg/dL (1-17 mg/dL), then it decreased to 5mg/dL for both the second and third workups. Whereas LDH was higher in the second 363 U/L (151-596 U/L) than in the first 343 U/L (169-931 U/L) and third 305 U/L (196-523 U/L) workups. Median hemoglobin concentrations were higher in the first [13 g/dL (11-17 g/dL)] and second [13 g/dL (8-15 g/dL)] workups as opposed to the third workup [12 g/dL (7-14 g/dL)]. The highest median platelet count was recorded in the third workup [346×109/L (138-681×109/L)]; whereas it measured 216×109/L (85-487×109/L) and 317×109/L (84-585×109/L) in the first and second workups, respectively.