Coronavirus disease 2019: What we know?

J Med Virol. 2020 Jul;92(7):719-725. doi: 10.1002/jmv.25766. Epub 2020 Mar 28.

Abstract

In late December 2019, a cluster of unexplained pneumonia cases has been reported in Wuhan, China. A few days later, the causative agent of this mysterious pneumonia was identified as a novel coronavirus. This causative virus has been temporarily named as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 and the relevant infected disease has been named as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) by the World Health Organization, respectively. The COVID-19 epidemic is spreading in China and all over the world now. The purpose of this review is primarily to review the pathogen, clinical features, diagnosis, and treatment of COVID-19, but also to comment briefly on the epidemiology and pathology based on the current evidence.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; coronavirus.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Age Factors
  • Animals
  • Betacoronavirus / genetics
  • Betacoronavirus / pathogenicity*
  • COVID-19
  • COVID-19 Testing
  • China / epidemiology
  • Chiroptera / virology
  • Clinical Laboratory Techniques / methods
  • Coronavirus Infections / diagnosis
  • Coronavirus Infections / epidemiology*
  • Coronavirus Infections / mortality
  • Coronavirus Infections / transmission
  • Europe / epidemiology
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • North America / epidemiology
  • Pandemics*
  • Pneumonia, Viral / diagnosis
  • Pneumonia, Viral / epidemiology*
  • Pneumonia, Viral / mortality
  • Pneumonia, Viral / transmission
  • RNA, Viral / blood*
  • RNA, Viral / genetics
  • Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • Severity of Illness Index
  • South America / epidemiology
  • Survival Analysis
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed

Substances

  • RNA, Viral