Intuition on virology, epidemiology, pathogenesis, and control of COVID-19

Abstract

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the etiological agent of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), and represents the causative agent of a potentially systemic disease that has drawn a global attention. Based on the study of large number of infected people who were exposed to the bat animal market in Wuhan city, China, they suggested that the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 (i.e., COVID-19) is likely to be associated with zoonotic transmission. The disease was declared as pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 11th of March, 2020. The clinical and genetic characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 support a similar pathogenesis pattern with Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle east respiratory syndrome (MERS-CoV). The infection is mainly transmitted from person to person through respiratory droplets generated during the course of coughing, sneezing and talking. Extensive measures to reduce the person to person transmission of COVID-19 have been implemented to control the current outbreak. Special attention and efforts reduce the transmission should be applied on the susceptible population including the children, health care providers and elderly people. Several control and preventive measures including; following hand hygiene, using face mask, avoiding person to person contact etc. are recommended to prevent the spread of this virus. To diagnose the viral infection, several methods have been established and recommended including the Real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), serological diagnosis, imaging technology etc. Up to the 31th August, 2020, there is no specific therapeutics or vaccines to control this viral infection. So, COVID-19 is posing a great threat for the global public health. The aims of this review were to highlight the current status of COVID-19 worldwide, and to give short notes about its possible prevention and treatment.