Turk J Med Sci
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Coronaviruses (CoVs) cause a broad spectrum of diseases in domestic and wild animals, poultry, and rodents, ranging from mild to severe enteric, respiratory, and systemic disease, and also cause the common cold or pneumonia in humans. Seven coronavirus species are known to cause human infection, 4 of which, HCoV 229E, HCoV NL63, HCoV HKU1 and HCoV OC43, typically cause cold symptoms in immunocompetent individuals. The others namely SARS-CoV (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus), MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) were zoonotic in origin and cause severe respiratory illness and fatalities. ⋯ This virus was officially identified by the coronavirus study group as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), and the present outbreak of a coronavirus-associated acute respiratory disease was labelled coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19). COVID-19’s first cases were seen in Turkey on March 10, 2020 and was number 47,029 cases and 1006 deaths after 1 month. Infections with SARS-CoV-2 are now widespread, and as of 10 April 2020, 1,727,602 cases have been confirmed in more than 210 countries, with 105,728 deaths.
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In the Wuhan Province of China, in December 2019, the novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) has caused a severe involvement of the lower respiratory tract leading to an acute respiratory syndrome. Subsequently, coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) provoked a pandemic which is considered a life-threatening disease. The SARS-CoV-2, a family member of betacoronaviruses, possesses single-stranded positive-sense RNA with typical structural proteins, involving the envelope, membrane, nucleocapsid and spike proteins that are responsible for the viral infectivity, and nonstructural proteins. ⋯ Regretfully, the exact pathophysiology and treatment, especially for the severe COVID-19, is still uncertain. The results of preliminary studies have shown that immune-modulatory or immune-suppressive treatments such as hydroxychloroquine, interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-1 antagonists, commonly used in rheumatology, might be considered as treatment choices for COVID-19, particularly in severe disease. In this review, to gain better information about appropriate anti-inflammatory treatments, mostly used in rheumatology for COVID-19, we have focused the attention on the structural features of SARS-CoV-2, the host immune response against SARS-CoV-2 and its association with the cytokine storm.
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COVID-19 pneumonia has high mortality rates. The symptoms are undiagnostic, the results of viral nucleic acid detection method (PCR) can delay, so that chest computerized tomography is often key diagnostic test in patients with possible COVID-19 pneumonia. In this review, we discussed the main radiological findings of this infection.
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Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was firstly reported at the end of 2019. The disease rapidly spread all around the world in a few months and was declared a worldwide pandemic by WHO in March 2020. By April 9, there were 1,436,198 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the world, nearly with 6% mortality rate. ⋯ Severe illness is generally seen in patients smaller than 1 year of age and patients who have underlying disesases. The epidemiological and clinical patterns of COVID-19 and treatment approaches in pediatric patients still remain unclear although many pediatric reports are published. This review aims to summarize the current epidemics, clinical presentations, diagnosis, and treatment of COVID-19 in pediatric patients.
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Currently, there is not any specific effective antiviral treatment for COVID-19. Although most of the COVID-19 patients have mild or moderate courses, up to 5%–10% can have severe, potentially life threatening course, there is an urgent need for effective drugs. Optimized supportive care remains the mainstay of therapy. ⋯ Despite the urgent need to find an effective antiviral treatment for COVID-19 through randomized controlled studies, certain agents are being used all over the world based on either in-vitro or extrapolated evidence or observational studies. The most frequently used agents both in Turkey and all over the world including chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir/ritonavir, favipiravir and remdesivir will be reviewed here. Nitazoxanide and ivermectin were also included in this review as they have recently been reported to have an activity against SARS-CoV-2 in vitro and are licensed for the treatment of some other human infections.