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COVID-19 a quick review



What is the COVID-19?


The coronavirus belongs to a family of viruses that may cause various symptoms such as pneumonia, fever, breathing difficulty, and lung infection. On January 2020 The World Health Organization (WHO) used the term 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCov) to refer a coronavirus affected the lower respiratory tract of patients with pnuemonia reported in late December 2019 in Wuhan, China. The WHO named the disease as coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and Coronavirus Study Group (CSG) of the International Committee proposed to name the new coronavirus as SARS-CoV-2, both statements issued on February 2020.


Where did it come from?


The WHO confirmed that the outbrake of the coronavirus epidemic was associate with the Huanan South China Seafood Marketplace, but not specific animal association was identified.


Several studies suggested that bat may be a potential reservoir of SARS-Cov-2. So far there is not evidence that the origin of the coronavirus (SARS-Cov-2) was from the seafood market. Due to the fact bats are a natural reservoir for a wide variety of Coronaviruses (CoVs), the new coronavirus SARS-Cov-2 genome was analyzed throughout the Bat Cov RaTG13 and showed 96.2% overall genome sequence identity, suggesting that bat CoV and human SARS-CoV-2 might share the same ancestor, although bats are not avaible for sale in this seafood market. Besides, protein sequences alignment and phylogenetic analysis suggested that turtles, snakes and pangolins may act as the potential intermediate hosts transmitting SARS‐CoV‐2 to humans.


What are the sypmtoms of CoVid-19?


The following symptoms appear 2-14 days after exposure


  • Fever

  • Cough

  • Shortness of breath


Other symptoms are:

  • Rhinorrhoea

  • Sneezing

  • Sore throat

  • Diarrhoea


Who is at highest risk?


  • Older adults

  • Pregnant Women

  • Children

  • People with asthma, heart disease, diabetes and lung disease


How do I protect myself?


Currently is not a vaccine for the CoVid-19. The best way to prevent illness is to avoid being exposed to this virus.


  1. Some steps you cand do to protect yourself an other are:

  2. Clean your hands often

  3. Avoid close contact with sick people

  4. Stay home if you're sick

  5. Wear a mask if you're sick

  6. Cover coughs and sneezes

  7. Clean an disinfect


For more information you can read the following references.

  1. WMHC. Wuhan Municipal Health and Health Commission’s Briefing on the Current Pneumonia Epidemic Situation in Our City. 2020. http://wjw.wuhan.gov.cn/front/web/showDetail/2019123108989. Accesed 20 March 2020

  2. Li Q, Guan X, Wu P, Wang X, Zhou L, Tong Y, et al. Early transmission dynamics in Wuhan, China, of novel coronavirus-infected pneumonia. N Engl J Med. 2020.https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2001316.

  3. CDC. 2019 Novel coronavirus, Wuhan, China. 2020. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/summary.html.

  4. WHO. Novel Coronavirus–China. 2020. https://www.who.int/csr/don/12-january-2020-novel-coronavirus-china/en/.

  5. Giovanetti M, Benvenuto D, Angeletti S, Ciccozzi M. The first two cases of 2019-nCoV in Italy: where they come from? J Med Virol. 2020:1–4. https://doi.org/10.1002/jmv.25699.

  6. Paraskevis D, Kostaki EG, Magiorkinis G, Panayiotakopoulos G, Sourvinos G,Tsiodras S. Full-genome evolutionary analysis of the novel corona virus (2019-nCoV) rejects the hypothesis of emergence as a result of a recent recombination event. Infect Genet Evol. 2020;79:104212.

  7. Zhou P, Yang XL, Wang XG, Hu B, Zhang L, Zhang W, et al. A pneumonia outbreak associated with a new coronavirus of probable bat origin. Nature.2020. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2012-7

  8. Wu F, Zhao S, Yu B, Chen YM, Wang W, Song ZG, et al. A new coronavirus associated with human respiratory disease in China. Nature. 2020. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2008-3.

  9. Liu Z, Xiao X, Wei X, Li J, Yang J, Tan H, et al. Composition and divergence of coronavirus spike proteins and host ACE2 receptors predict potential intermediate hosts of SARS-CoV-2. J Med Virol. 2020. https://doi.org/10.1002/jmv.25726.

  10. CDC. Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Symptoms & Testing. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-testing/symptoms.html

  11. Hussin A. Rothan and Siddappa N. Byrareddy, Journal of Autoimmunity, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaut.2020.102433.

  12. CDC. Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). How to prepare. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prepare/prevention.html




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