Published online Sep 26, 2020. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v8.i18.3920
Peer-review started: May 15, 2020
First decision: June 4, 2020
Revised: July 31, 2020
Accepted: September 1, 2020
Article in press: September 1, 2020
Published online: September 26, 2020
Processing time: 129 Days and 7.8 Hours
The severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (commonly known as SARS-CoV-2) is a novel coronavirus (designated as 2019-nCoV), which was isolated for the first time after the Chinese health authorities reported a cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan, China in December 2019. Optimal management of the Coronavirus Disease-2019 disease is evolving quickly and treatment guidelines, based on scientific evidence and experts’ opinions with clinical experience, are constantly being updated. On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak as a "Public Health Emergency of International Concern". The total lack of immune protection brought about a severe spread of the contagion all over the world. For this reason, diagnostic tools, patient management and therapeutic approaches have been tested along the way, in the desperate race to break free from the widespread infection and its fatal respiratory complications. Current medical knowledge and research on severe and critical patients’ management and experimental treatments are still evolving, but several protocols on minimizing risk of infection among the general population, patients and healthcare workers have been approved and diffused by International Health Authorities.
Core Tip: We describe the main epidemiological data and clinical features of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) human disease, analyzing principal signs and symptoms of its clinical manifestation and its current morbidity and mortality ratio. We also focus on the most important International Guidelines concerning both the recommended tests for COVID-19’s laboratory diagnosis and the acute patient’s management in the Emergency Room, paying attention to the appropriate personal protective equipment that medical staff must wear while in contact with infectious patients and to the current pharmacological approaches for hospitalized and symptomatic patients, such as use of antiviral drugs, immune enhancers, stem cells, and plasma therapy.