Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which has infected millions of individuals in the world. However, the long-term effect of SARS-CoV-2 on the organs of recovered patients remains unclear. This study is to evaluate the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on the spleen and T lymphocytes. Seventy-six patients recovered from COVID-19, including 66 cases of moderate pneumonia and 10 cases of severe pneumonia were enrolled in the observation group. The control group consisted of 55 age-matched healthy subjects. The thickness and length of spleen were measured by using B-ultrasound and the levels of T lymphocytes were detected by flow cytometry. Results showed that the mean length of spleen in the observation group was 89.57 ± 11.49 mm, which was significantly reduced compared with that in the control group (103.82 ± 11.29 mm, p < 0.001). The mean thicknesses of spleen between observation group and control group were 29.97 ± 4.04 mm and 32.45 ± 4.49 mm, respectively, and the difference was significant (p < 0.001). However, no significant difference was observed in the size of spleen between common pneumonia and severe pneumonia (p > 0.05). In addition, the decreased count of T lymphocyte was observed in part of recovered patients. The counts of T suppressor lymphocytes in patients with severe pneumonia were significantly decreased compared with those with moderate pneumonia (p = 0.005). Therefore, these data indicate that SARS-CoV-2 infection affects the size of spleen and T lymphocytes.

中文翻译：

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SARS-CoV-2对脾脏和T淋巴细胞的影响

2019 年冠状病毒病 (COVID-19) 是由严重急性呼吸系统综合症冠状病毒 2 (SARS-CoV-2) 引起的，该病毒已感染全球数百万人。然而，SARS-CoV-2对康复患者器官的长期影响尚不清楚。本研究旨在评估 SARS-CoV-2 对脾脏和 T 淋巴细胞的影响。COVID-19康复患者76例，其中中度肺炎66例，重症肺炎10例。对照组由 55 名年龄匹配的健康受试者组成。用B超测量脾脏的厚度和长度，流式细胞仪检测T淋巴细胞的水平。结果显示，观察组脾脏平均长度为89.57±11.49 mm，p  < 0.001)。观察组与对照组脾脏平均厚度分别为29.97±4.04mm和32.45±4.49mm，差异有显着性意义（p  <0.001）。但普通肺炎与重症肺炎的脾脏大小无显着差异（p  >0.05）。此外，在部分康复患者中观察到 T 淋巴细胞计数减少。重症肺炎患者T抑制淋巴细胞计数较中度肺炎患者明显减少（p  =0.005）。因此，这些数据表明SARS-CoV-2感染会影响脾脏和T淋巴细胞的大小。