Coronavirus: Symptoms, Epidemiology, Complications, Prevention

Coronaviruses belong to a large virus family and can affect both animal and human beings. The consequence of Coronaviruses attacks leads to respiratory disease symptoms in humans. The intensity of respiratory infection symptoms varies. The effect could be common cold to more severe respiratory conditions such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, etc.

In December 2019, the first Corona-virus outbreak was reported in Wuhan, China. This is the most recent detection of coronavirus causing coronavirus disease COVID-19. This new variety of coronavirus (COVID-19) was unknown before the recent outbreak in China in December 2019.

Symptoms of COVID-19

Coronavirus (COVID-19) disease symptoms include fatigue, fever, general malaise, and dry cough. But apart from these general symptoms of coronavirus infection, other symptoms are individual patient-specific. Some Coronavirus affected patients have complaints of body ache, nasal congestion, sore throat, runny nose, and diarrhea. All these symptoms do not appear simultaneously, but at the initial stage, the mild symptoms appear and gradually the condition become worsens.

However, Coronavirus infection is asymptomatic in some cases. This means some Coronavirus infected patients do not feel any discomfort, as they do not develop any of these symptoms. It is necessary to mention that self-recovery has observed in almost 80% of Coronavirus infected patients and no special clinical treatment requires for them.

According to the World Health Organization report, one patient out of every six COVID-19 affected people had experienced breathing difficulty and develop serious illness. The risk of COVID-19 causing serious illness is higher in the elderly population and people with co-morbidity, such as hypertension, cardiac disease, diabetes, etc.

Approximately 2% of COVID-19 affected patients died due to the severity of the infection. Immediate medical attention requires for every affected individual who has symptoms of COVID-19 infection.

Epidemiology of COVID-19

Epidemiology of disease depends upon certain general factors such as the number of infected patients, transmissibility of the infection and the clinical severity range. COVID-19 infection first observed in China and the clinical severity of the condition is quite high. According to the report released by China on 31st December 2019, demonstrated that a certain number of pneumonia cases came together in people who worked at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, Hubei Province. On 7th January 2020, Chinese health authorities declared that the outbreak of the respiratory condition had an association with a novel coronavirus, 2019-nCoV. According to the released report, it was expected that the exposure to the seafood market in Wuhan had an association with the disease outbreak. However, recent epidemiological study result indicates the 2019-nCoV coronavirus transmission takes place from person to person. According to a report released on 8^th March 2020, a total of 105,586 cases of 2019-nCoV infections have been detected in almost 100 countries. However, the exact number of infected patients is yet now not clear. There have been 3584 deaths so far, bringing the fatality rate to 3.4%. But the exact ratio may not be calculated from the available data.

Complications of COVID-19

It has already mentioned that the coronaviruses belong to a vast variety of virus families. Therefore, the nature of coronaviruses varies. Yet now the identified groups of coronavirus lead to human and animal diseases, which causes gastrointestinal disorders, both upper and lower respiratory tract disease. The antigenic and genetic characteristics features are different in the variety of the coronaviruses.

The common cold symptom associated infection of coronavirus is considered a mild form of the disease. However, children or immunocompromised individuals have a higher risk to develop more severe form infections caused by SARS-related coronavirus. The outbreak of coronavirus infection and transmission of this disease from one country to another is high.

Findings of a Coronavirus specimen in lung and kidney tissue, bronchoalveolar-lavage specimens and sputum or upper respiratory tract swab demonstrate a direct involvement in the pathologic process. Diarrhea, respiratory illness, alveolar damage related to fetal outcome are the most serious complication of the coronavirus infection.

Preventive Measures for COVID-19

The awareness of the COVID-19 outbreak is very important to prevent this infection. People need to check the latest updates available on national and local public health authorities about this novel viral infection. Still, the risk of COVID-19 viral infection affects China and spread over other countries. Most of the COVID-19 viral infected patients had mild symptoms and recovered after a certain time. But these people may act as a carrier of the infectious material and spread the disease to others. Therefore, protection from other people is very important to prevent the spreading of this disease. Following are some precautionary measures to safe yourself:

• Thoroughly wash your hand with alcohol-based hand wash or use soap and water to wash your hand after a regular interval. This practice helps to kill viruses present in the hands. Thus, the possibility of transmitting the virus from hand to internal body parts minimizes.
• Keep at least 3 feet (1 meter) distance from a person who is suffering from coughing or sneezing. During coughing and sneezing droplets formed from nose or mouth secretion, which may contain the virus. In case of a close distance, the contaminated droplets carry the COVID-19 virus and will reach easily through breathing to other non-infected individuals nearby.
• You should avoid touching the mouth, nose, and eyes to restrict the entrance of the infectious coronavirus. You often touch many surfaces with our hand and during then unknowingly pick up infectious agents. When we touch our mouth, nose, and eyes with contaminated hands the virus gets easy access to enter into the body and cause infection.
• People around you should maintain respiratory hygiene by covering their nose and mouth during coughing and sneezing and safely disposed of the used tissue paper. This habit helps to prevent the spreading of infected droplets into others. Maintaining this respiratory hygiene not only prevents coronavirus infection but also prevents the spreading of cold and flu.
• Sick to medical help in case of fever, cough, and difficulty breathing and follow the directions of the local health authority. National and local health authorities regularly update the information, which helps to understand the current health status of any locality. Quick medical heal prevents to worsening of the condition and also the isolation of infected patients helps to prevent the spreading of infection to others.
• Knowledge of developments about COVID-19 is also an important step to take extra care against this infection outbreak. Even providing information about the spreading of COVID-19 in any local area to national and local authorities also helps to get advice on what people in the area should be doing to protect themselves.

Protective measures for persons who travel to or have a recent visit (within last 14 days) on the places where coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak occurs

• The above-mentioned protection guideline is applicable for every individual.
• Avoid going outside in case of feeling unwell or mild symptoms of headache, runny nose and stay home until symptoms completely recover.
• Seek medical help to prevent worsening of the condition.
• Stay isolated from others when any symptoms of infection occur. Avoid meeting visitors to prevent the spreading of the COVID-19 viral infections to others. Some visitors may act as a carrier of this virus.

References

1. https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/q-a-coronaviruses
2. https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019
3. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2001191
4. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2002125
5. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa030781?query=featured_coronavirus