Successive onset of Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada syndrome in father and son.

BACKGROUND: Vogt‒Koyanagi‒Harada (VKH) disease is a multifactorial systemic autoimmune disorder against melanocytes that is characterized by panuveitis. Familial occurrence of VKH disease is rare. Here, we report two cases of a father and his son with characteristic manifestations of VKH disease. CASE PRESENTATION: A 53-year-old male with typical clinical symptoms of VKH disease was referred to Tangshan Eye Hospital. Examination showed the presence of ciliochoroidal effusion and exudative retinal detachment in both eyes. The patient was given intravenous methylprednisolone 120 mg for 2 days and intravenous methylprednisolone 80 mg for 1 day followed by 48 mg (1 mg/kg/day) oral methylprednisolone daily, accompanied by oral azathioprine 50 mg daily. Cycloplegic agent (0.5% tropicamide three times daily [TID]) was added. The patient was free of symptoms and recurrence within more than 1-year-follow-up period, the best corrected visual acuity (BVCA) was increased and maintained in both eyes with complete resolution of subretinal fluid. One year and nine months later, case 2 (his son) also presented with the typical clinical symptoms of VKH disease at 29 years of age. The son also recovered from VKH disease after routine and standard treatment. CONCLUSIONS: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first VKH disease case report of a father-son relationship. Although genetic factors have been demonstrated to be involved in the pathogenesis of VKH disease, the different inheritance modes of VKH patients need to be further explored and studied.

[Clinical efficacy and safety of different antiviral regimens in patients with coronavirus disease 2019].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinical efficacy and short-term and long-term adverse reactions for different antiviral regiments for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region during hospitalization and follow-up in 3 months. METHODS: A single-center retrospective study was conducted to enroll the COVID-19 patients in isolation ward of the only designated hospital to receive COVID-19 patients (the Fourth People's Hospital of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region) when the authors were assigned by the Ningxia Health Commission as experts from January 20, 2020 to March 15, 2020. According to the antiviral regimen, the patients were divided into conventional antiviral group and unconventional antiviral group. The conventional antiviral group received α-interferon combined with Lopinavir/Ritonavir (LPV/R). The unconventional antiviral group was given α-interferon combined with LPV/R and Abidor or Ribavirin or Chloroquine. The patients were divided into mild (13 cases), ordinary (45 cases), severe (14 cases) and critical (1 case) types. The clinical data, length of hospital stay, the first 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) nucleic acid negative recovery time, cost of hospitalization, 2019-nCoV nucleic acid positive reversal after 14 days of discharge, and the combination of hormones and antibiotics were collected. The differences in blood routine, liver function, blood lipid level and adverse reactions of antiviral drugs during hospitalization were compared between the two groups at 1, 3 and 7 days after admission and 1 and 3 months after discharge. RESULTS: (1) General information: a total of 75 patients with confirmed COVID-19 were admitted, and 73 patients were eventually enrolled, including 47 cases in the conventional antiviral group and 26 cases in the unconventional antiviral group. Patients with different clinical classification were analyzed, the higher the clinical classification and the patients' age, the higher the proportion of primary diseases and the cost of treatment, and the longer the length of hospital stay. Compared with conventional antiviral group, in unconventional antiviral group the percentage of severe and critical patients were higher [34.6% (9/26) vs. 10.6% (5/47), 3.8% (1/26) vs. 0 (0/47)], the length of hospital stay (days: 16.1±5.6 vs. 11.6±3.3), first nucleic acid negative recovery time (days: 12.4±4.5 vs. 10.0±3.5) were longer, and hospitalization cost was higher [Yuan: 11 984.2 (9 000.6, 24 424.7) vs. 8 140.4 (6 715.7,9 707.7)], with statistically significant differences (all P < 0.05). There were no significant differences in gender, age, proportion of patients with primary diseases and nucleic acid positive reversal rate after 14 days of discharge between the unconventional and conventional antiviral groups (all P > 0.05). (2) Laboratory tests: during the hospitalization, white blood cell count (WBC), platelet count (PLT), total bilirubin (TBil) and three acyl glycerin (TG) levels were first increased and then reduced, lymphocyte count (LYM) was first decreased and then increased in two groups. In the unconventional antiviral group, WBC [(6.53±2.78)×109/L], PLT [(250.77±96.12)×109/L], and TG [(1.94±0.96) µmol/L] all reached their peak values at 7 days after admission. TBil peaked at 3 days after admission, which was (23.69±12.14) µmol/L, and LYM reached the peak 1 month after discharge, which was (1.82±0.50)×109/L; however, there was no statistical significance among the above indicators between two groups. There were no statistically significant differences in alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and total cholesterol (TC) between the two groups at each time point. (3) The ratio of combined use of hormones in the non-antiviral group was significantly higher than that in the conventional antiviral group [26.9% (7/26) vs. 4.3% (2/47), P < 0.05]. CONCLUSIONS: Age and associated primary diseases are related to the severity of COVID-19 patients. Unconventional antiviral treatment regimens are mostly used for severe COVID-19 patients whose ucleic acid did not turn negative for a long time. Individual antiviral therapy can be used based on the patients' response and tolerance to drugs.