The SARS-CoV-2 Outbreak: an Epidemiological and Clinical Perspective
- PDF / 620,946 Bytes
- 9 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 53 Downloads / 193 Views
COVID-19
The SARS-CoV-2 Outbreak: an Epidemiological and Clinical Perspective Rebecca S. Y. Wong 1 Accepted: 23 September 2020 # Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Abstract The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) outbreak started with the detection of an increasing number of pneumonia cases of unknown origin in Wuhan, China, since December 2019. The disease caused by SAS-CoV-2 was subsequently named coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Currently, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic poses a global health concern with more than 28.9 million confirmed cases, taking away the lives of more than 900,000 people worldwide. To prevent further spread of the disease, an understanding of the clinical characteristics and how the disease spread is essential, especially for an emerging disease like COVID-19. Individuals who are infected with SARS-CoV-2 show diverse clinical features, and the disease severity can range from asymptomatic to death. The disease has been shown to affect not just the respiratory system but also other systems of the body. This review will discuss the pulmonary and extra-pulmonary clinical manifestations of COVID19 in general, as well as the clinical characteristics in different groups of patients such as children, the elderly, pregnant women, patients with comorbidities and those with a compromised immunity. It will also critically examine existing evidence from relevant studies and discuss the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak from an epidemiological perspective. With the easing of control measures in many countries after months of lockdown, it is important to revisit the lessons learnt from research, as the world enters a new normal with the coexistence of SARS-CoV-2. Keywords SARS-CoV-2 . COVID-19 . Outbreak . Pandemic . Epidemiological characteristics . Clinical characteristics
Introduction In public health, battling life-threatening emerging diseases is always challenging as much has yet to be learnt and discovered about these diseases. The recent ongoing coronavirus (CoV) outbreak is caused by a novel CoV initially named 2019-nCoV, first identified in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, with increasing number of pneumonia cases being detected in December 2019. The problem has escalated and drawn international attention due to the rapid spread of the disease in China and other parts of the world. As a result of the increasing magnitude of the global health threat, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared the 2019-nCoV as a This article is part of the Topical Collection on Covid-19 * Rebecca S. Y. Wong [email protected]; [email protected] 1
Faculty of Medicine, SEGi University, No. 9, Jalan Teknologi, Taman Sains Selangor, Kota Damansara, PJU 5, 47810 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
global health emergency on 31 January 2020 [1]. The virus was later renamed as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) and the WHO announced that the disease caused by the virus is to be called coronavirus disease 201
Data Loading...
