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We received a complaint of fever and tachypnea from a 6-year-old girl who came to our hospital. She was treated for 20 days with antibiotics and corticosteroids. She was admitted for 10 days with a diagnosis of pneumonia and was discharged after the fever subsided. Two days after her discharge, the respiratory symptoms returned, and she came to us because of the severity of her symptoms. We diagnosed her with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), performed the necessary radiographic and laboratory procedures, and the following outcomes were obtained: the computed tomography scan revealed consolidation between the right lung’s upper and middle lobes as well as an air bronchogram, but the chest ultrasound revealed no signs of pleural effusion. D‑dimer, white blood cell, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and C‑reactive protein were also high in the laboratory test results, indicating pulmonary inflammation. She was finally diagnosed with CAP, and although the cause of the illness is unknown, she underwent a 14-day course of common antibiotics. Two days after the medication began, the fever subsided, and the tachypnea decreased. We believe that the corticosteroid treatment during the initial hospital stay is what caused the disease agent to persist and cause the fever to recur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Patients with a history of COVID-19 infection may suffer from different physical problems. This study aimed to investigate the effect of corrective and breathing exercises on improving respiratory function among patients with a history of COVID-19 infection. Methods: In this clinical trial study, thirty elderlies with a history of COVID-19 disease were divided into two groups (mean age 63.60 ± 3.56 experimental, 59.87 ± 2.99 control groups) based on the study inclusion criteria. Exercise interventions included two sections- breathing exercises and corrective exercises in the cervical and thoracic spine. The spirometry test, craniovertebral angle, and thoracic kyphosis test were used. To evaluate differences between variables, paired-samples t-test and ANCOVA were used (p-value < 0.01). Also, Eta-squared was measured to assess the effect size. Results: Results showed a significant difference between the two groups in craniovertebral angle (P = 0.001), thoracic kyphosis (P = 0.007), and respiratory capacity including Forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) (P = 0.002), FEV1/FVC (P = 0.003), Peripheral oxygen saturation (SPO2) (P = 0.001), while no significant differences were observed between two groups in terms of chest anthropometric indices (P > 0.01). The Eta-squared value of 0.51 for the Craniovertebral angle and the SPO2 indicates a large effect size. Conclusions: The results showed the combination of corrective and breathing exercises could improve pulmonary function and correct cervical and thoracic posture in patients with a history of COVID-19 infection. Therefore, corrective and breathing exercises can be helpful as a complementary treatment along with pharmaceutical therapy to reduce chronic pulmonary complications in patients infected with COVID-19. Trial registration: This research was registered in the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (IRCT registration number: IRCT20160815029373N7, First trial registration: 23/08/2021, Registration date: 01/09/2021). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]