scholarly journals A snapshot on COVID-19: A review

Author(s):  
Mahfuz Al Mamun ◽  
Kaiissar Mannoor ◽  
Tahmina Shirin ◽  
Meerjady Sabrina Flora ◽  
Firdausi Qadri ◽  
...  

The emergence of novel SARS-CoV-2 virus in China in December 2019 has turned into a global pandemic through continued spread beyond borders. This review was aimed to extract up-to-date information on the evolution, transmission, clinical manifestations, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of COVID-19 to fight against this common enemy. PubMed, Scopus and Google Scholar were the sources of literature; whereas CDC, WHO and Worldometer provided updated information. Bats served as the reservoirs of this virus while pangolin is believed as an intermediate host to transmit the virus to humans. Direct human-to-human and indirect transmissions were involved. Major clinical manifestations included fever, cough, fatigue, sputum production and shortness of breath. Chest radiographs mostly showed bilateral ground-glass opacities. Aged patients and patients with comorbidities had higher case fatality ratios. Critical cases were vulnerable to develop pneumonia, multi-organ failure and deaths. Overall situation in China has improved substantially. The European region and region of the Americas were the worst hit out of six WHO global regions. PCR based methods are used for the diagnosis of COVID-19. Severe/critical cases essentially require supportive or intensive cares. Avoiding exposure to COVID-19 is the best way to prevent the disease. Thus, this review provides a snapshot on COVID-19.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bizhi Tu ◽  
Laifu Wei ◽  
Yaya Jia ◽  
Jun Qian

Abstract Background: New coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) poses a severe threat to human life, and causes a global pandemic. The purpose of current research is to explore the onset and progress of the pandemic with a novel perspective using Baidu Index.Methods: We collected the confirmed data of COVID-19 infection between January 11, 2020, and April 22, 2020, from the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU). Based on known literature, we obtained the search index values of the most common symptoms of COVID-19, including fever, cough, fatigue, sputum production, and shortness of breath. Spearman's correlation analysis was used to analyze the association between the Baidu index values for each COVID-19-related symptoms and the number of confirmed cases. Regional differences among 34 provinces/ regions were also analyzed. Results: Daily growth of confirmed cases and Baidu index values for each symptoms presented a robust positive correlation during the outbreak (fever: rs=0.705, p=9.623×10-6; cough: rs=0.592, p=4.485×10-4; fatigue: rs=0.629, p=1.494×10-4; sputum production: rs=0.648, p=8.206×10-5; shortness of breath: rs=0.656, p=6.182×10-5). The average search-to-confirmed interval is 19.8 days in China (fever: 22 days, cough: 19 days, fatigue: 20 days, sputum production: 19 days, and shortness of breath: 19 days). We discovered similar results in the top 10 provinces/regions, which had the highest cumulative cases. Conclusion: Search terms of COVID-19- related symptoms on the Baidu search engine can be used to early warn the outbreak of the epidemic. Relevant departments need to pay more attention to areas with high search index and take precautionary measures to prevent these potentially infected persons from spreading further. Baidu search engine can reflect the public's attention to the pandemic and regional epidemics of viruses. Based on changes in the Baidu index value, we can predict the arrival of the peak confirmed cases. The clinical characteristics related to COVID-19- including fever, cough, fatigue, shortness of breath, deserve more attention during the pandemic.


2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 89-97
Author(s):  
Fazila Tun Nesa Malik ◽  
- Md Kalimuddin ◽  
- Mir Ishraquzzaman ◽  
Mohammad Abdullah Al Mamun ◽  
Ashok Dutta ◽  
...  

Background: The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is a significant challenge particularly for low and middle-income countries like Bangladesh. Interventions such as home isolation, frequent hand washing, wearing face mask, maintaining social distancing are difficult to implement in densely populated areas. The aim of the study was to delineate demographics, clinical manifestations, treatment modalities and outcomes of COVID-19 affected patients of our hospital. Methods: This prospective observational study was carried out at National Heart Foundation Hospital & Research Institute of Bangladesh between 08 March 2020 to 07 March 2021. During this period all admitted patients who subsequently were diagnosed as COVID positive and health care personnel of this hospital, who experienced fever or respiratory symptoms or came in close contact with COVID-19 patients at home or their workplace & become COVID positive were included. Results: During this one-year period a total of 769 COVID positive patients were detected in our hospital. Mean age of the patients was 48.16 ±15.63 years (range 1-92 years). Two third were male (64.9% vs 35.1%) and had multiple co-morbidities. One fifth of the patients were (19%) asymptomatic. The mean duration of onset of symptoms to test was 3.72±3.7 days. Most common symptoms were fever (65.3%), cough (37.1%), shortness of breath (33.6%) and fatigue (27.8%). Other symptoms were bodyache (18.6%), headache (16.6%), anosmia 16%), sore throat (12.1%), diarrhoea (6.8%), dizziness (5.3%), generalized itching (3.8%). Nearly two third of the COVID positive patients (63.2%) had a diagnosed cardiovascular disease at onset and remaining 36.8% patients presented with only COVID-19 disease. About 75% patients received ivermectin, 5.1% patients received favipiravir and 4.4% patients received remdesivir. Three fourth (74.38%) of patients were hospitalized and remaining one fourth (25.62%) patients were treated either in home isolation or in institutional isolation. Most of the patients recovered, with a case fatality rate of 3.5%. Diabetes, hypertension and age ≥50 years were the independent predictors of mortality. Conclusion: Although most of the patients had good outcome the study revealed 3.5% case fatality. Male with multiple co-morbidities were predominantly affected by COVID 19. Fever, cough, shortness of breath and fatigue were common presenting symptoms. Bangladesh Heart Journal 2021; 36(2): 89-97


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bizhi Tu ◽  
Laifu Wei ◽  
Yaya Jia ◽  
Jun Qian

Abstract Background: New coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) poses a severe threat to human life and causes a global pandemic. The purpose of current research is to explore whether the search-engine query patterns could serve as a potential tool for monitoring the outbreak of COVID-19.Methods: We collected the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases between January 11, 2020, and c, from the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU). The search index values of the most common symptoms of COVID-19 (e.g., fever, cough, fatigue) were retrieved from Baidu Index. Spearman's correlation analysis was used to analyze the association between the Baidu index values for each COVID-19-related symptom and the number of confirmed cases. Regional distributions among 34 provinces/ regions in China were also analyzed. Results: Daily growth of confirmed cases and Baidu index values for each COVID-19 related symptoms presented a robust positive correlation during the outbreak (fever: rs=0.705, p=9.623×10-6; cough: rs=0.592, p=4.485×10-4; fatigue: rs=0.629, p=1.494×10-4; sputum production: rs=0.648, p=8.206×10-5; shortness of breath: rs=0.656, p=6.182×10-5). The average search-to-confirmed interval is 19.8 days in China. The daily Baidu Index value's optimal time lags were the fourth day for cough, third day for fatigue, firth day for sputum production, firth day for shortness of breath, and 0 days for fever. Conclusion: Search terms of COVID-19-related symptoms on the Baidu search engine have significant correlations with confirmed cases. Since the Baidu search engine can reflect the Public's attention to the pandemic and regional epidemics of viruses, relevant departments need to pay more attention to areas with high searches of COVID-19-related symptoms and take precautionary measures to prevent these potentially infected persons from further spreading.


2018 ◽  
Vol 147 ◽  
Author(s):  
F.Y. Alqahtani ◽  
F.S. Aleanizy ◽  
R. Ali El Hadi Mohamed ◽  
M. S. Alanazi ◽  
N. Mohamed ◽  
...  

AbstractThe Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is a life-threatening respiratory disease with a high case fatality rate; however, its risk factors remain unclear. We aimed to explore the influence of demographic factors, clinical manifestations and underlying comorbidities on mortality in MERS-CoV patients. Retrospective chart reviews were performed to identify all laboratory-confirmed cases of MERS-COV infection in Saudi Arabia that were reported to the Ministry of Health of Saudi Arabia between 23 April 2014 and 7 June 2016. Statistical analyses were conducted to assess the effect of sex, age, clinical presentation and comorbidities on mortality from MERS-CoV. A total of 281 confirmed MERS-CoV cases were identified: 167 (59.4%) patients were male and 55 (20%) died. Mortality predominantly occurred among Saudi nationals and older patients and was significantly associated with respiratory failure and shortness of breath. Of the 281 confirmed cases, 160 (56.9%) involved comorbidities, wherein diabetes mellitus, hypertension, ischemic heart disease, congestive heart failure, end-stage renal disease and chronic kidney disease were significantly associated with mortality from MERS-CoV and two or three comorbidities significantly affected the fatality rates from MERS-CoV. The findings of this study show that old age and the existence of underlying comorbidities significantly increase mortality from MERS-CoV.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zeling Guo ◽  
Shanping Jiang ◽  
Zilun Li ◽  
Sifan Chen

COVID-19, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), has emerged as a global pandemic and poses a great threat to public health and society in general. SARS-CoV-2 invades cells via its spike protein, which initiates endocytosis via its binding to host receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and membrane fusion after being cleaved by the serine protease, TMPRSS2. The most common clinical manifestations are fever, dry cough, fatigue and abnormalities on chest computed tomography (CT). However, some patients rapidly progress to severe pneumonia and develop acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Furthermore, SARS-CoV-2 triggers a severe cytokine storm, which may explain the deterioration of pre-existing metabolic disorders. Interestingly, conversely, underlying metabolic-related diseases, including hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, etc., are associated with progression and poor prognosis of COVID-19. The putative mechanisms are dysregulation of ACE2, impaired immunity especially uncontrolled hyperinflammation, hypercoagulability, etc. In this review, we summarize the crosstalk between COVID-19 and metabolic diseases and propose that in addition to controlling COVID-19, more intensive attention should be paid to the symptomatic treatment and prevention of pre-existing and foreseeable metabolic comorbidities.


2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 8-12
Author(s):  
V. I. Egorov ◽  
◽  
D. M. Mustafaev ◽  
A. O. Kochneva ◽  
Zh. E. Komarova ◽  
...  

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global pandemic that affects millions of people and kills hundreds of thousands of people. Chinese researchers found that the most common clinical manifestations of the disease were: fever, dry cough, shortness of breath, muscle weakness, muscle pain and various degrees of respiratory disorders. But despite this, a more in-depth understanding of COVID-19 revealed many other clinical manifestations. Cough, shortness of breath, sore throat, rhinorrhea, nasal congestion, acute tonsillitis, enlarged cervical lymph nodes, or dizziness are symptoms that an otolaryngologist may encounter when examining patients with COVID-19. And olfactory dysfunction has recently been recognized as an important symptom of COVID-19 and is increasingly being used as a tool to identify patients with COVID-19, particularly in cases of asymptomatic carriers who may unknowingly be the main cause of the spread of the disease. The analysis of detected cases of coronavirus infection and the diagnosis of upper respiratory pathologies in these patients, including olfactory dysfunction, allowed us to understand the frequency of their occurrence in the Moscow region, to compare with world data, and to evaluate their role, in the aspect of early diagnosis of COVID-19.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Probir Kumar Sarkar ◽  
Kinkar Ghosh ◽  
Reaz Mobarak ◽  
Md Kamruzzaman ◽  
Rizwanul Ahsan ◽  
...  

Abstract Background To delineate the clinico-epidemiological characteristics of pediatric coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) patients was the objective of the study. Method: This observational study included 290 pediatric patients with a definite diagnosis of COVID-19 admitted to Dhaka Shishu Hospital, Bangladesh, from April 2021 to October 2021. Clinical and epidemiological characteristics were analyzed based on demographic data, medical history, laboratory tests, and outcome information. Data analysis was performed with SPSS 26. Ethical measures were taken in compliance with the current declaration of Helsinki, and final analysis was performed using SPSS 26. Result Of all, 42 (14.5%) were neonates (< 28 days), 88 (30.3%) were infants (28 days to < 1 year) and 160 (55.2%) were children (1–17 years). The median age of the children was 18 (0.3–204) months, 58.3% were male, 62% had malnutrition, and presented with various clinical presentations. The main symptoms were fever (5.7%) and breathlessness (20%). Approximately 22% of children were asymptomatic, and 57% had at least one comorbidity. Fever and abdominal pain were predominant presenting symptoms in children compared with neonates and infants (p < .01 for both), while cough and breathlessness were more frequent in infants (p < .01 for both). The infants suffered significantly from neutropenia and lymphocytosis than neonates and children (p < .001 for both). The discharge and death rates were 77.8% with 6.9%. Overall case fatality was higher among neonates than others. Conclusion Compared to other pediatric groups, neonatal case fatality was higher, and COVID-19 in neonates, infants, and children has similar epidemiological and clinical manifestations. The findings from this study might help to guide the development of measures to prevent and treat this ongoing global pandemic of these particular age groups.


Author(s):  
Fengyu Zhang ◽  
Claude Hughes

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a new infectious respiratory disease that has caused the ongoing global pandemic. The primary purpose of this article is to describe evolving clinical epidemiology of COVID-19, including 1) infection and testing, 2) clinical spectrum including classification of clinical type, asymptomatic cases, severe cases and comorbidity, and clinical and immunological response, 3) regional variation in clinical presentation, 4) population distribution by age, sex, and occupation, and finally, 5) case-fatality. This content may provide important information on detailed clinical type and presentation of the disease, in which appropriate clinical outcomes can be derived for developing prevention strategies and clinical studies or trials that aim to test potential therapeutics or products for different patient populations.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. e241485
Author(s):  
Priyal Taribagil ◽  
Dean Creer ◽  
Hasan Tahir

SARS-CoV-2 has resulted in a global pandemic and an unprecedented public health crisis. Recent literature suggests the emergence of a novel syndrome known as ‘long COVID’, a term used to describe a diverse set of symptoms that persist after a minimum of 4 weeks from the onset of a diagnosed COVID-19 infection. Common symptoms include persistent breathlessness, fatigue and cough. Other symptoms reported include chest pain, palpitations, neurological and cognitive deficits, rashes, and gastrointestinal dysfunction. We present a complex case of a previously well 28-year-old woman who was diagnosed with COVID-19. After resolution of her acute symptoms, she continued to experience retrosternal discomfort, shortness of breath, poor memory and severe myalgia. Investigations yielded no significant findings. Given no alternative diagnosis, she was diagnosed with ‘long COVID’.


Author(s):  
Jeffrey Kornitzer ◽  
Jacklyn Johnson ◽  
Max Yang ◽  
Keith W. Pecor ◽  
Nicholas Cohen ◽  
...  

Setting off a global pandemic, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been marked by a heterogeneous clinical presentation that runs the gamut from asymptomatic to severe and fatal. Although less lethal in children than adults, COVID-19 has nonetheless afflicted the pediatric population. This systematic review used clinical information from published literature to assess the spectrum of COVID-19 presentation in children, with special emphasis on characteristics associated with multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C). An electronic literature search for English and Chinese language articles in COVIDSeer, MEDLINE, and PubMed from 1 January 2020 through 1 March 2021 returned 579 records, of which 54 were included for full evaluation. Out of the total 4811 patients, 543 (11.29%) exhibited MIS-C. The most common symptoms across all children were fever and sore throat. Children presenting with MIS-C were less likely to exhibit sore throat and respiratory symptoms (i.e., cough, shortness of breath) compared to children without MIS-C. Inflammatory (e.g., rash, fever, and weakness) and gastrointestinal (e.g., nausea/vomiting and diarrhea) symptoms were present to a greater extent in children with both COVID-19 and MIS-C, suggesting that children testing positive for COVID-19 and exhibiting such symptoms should be evaluated for MIS-C.


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