J Biomed Transl Res.  2020 Dec;21(4):190-199. 10.12729/jbtr.2020.21.4.190.

Coronavirus disease 2019 as a systemic disease: a review

• Kang H
• Lee D
• Lee J

• KMID: 2510285
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.12729/jbtr.2020.21.4.190

Abstract

Since a cluster of pneumonia cases of unknown etiology was first reported in China in December 2019, the number of confirmed cases with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) (caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 [SARS-CoV-2]) worldwide has been increasing, and nearly two million patients are expected to have died by February 2021. Globally, COVID-19 is being considered a primary pulmonary disease, but it is more than a lung infection. This is because patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 present with a variety of clinical signs and symptoms involving many organs, ranging from fever, inflammation, myocardial injury, shock, and the development of coronary artery aneurysm. SARS-CoV-2 shows unique characteristics in its transmission, mortality, and stability in different environmental conditions. During COVID-19 pandemic, about 10 drugs have been clinically tried with none proven to be effective. With no prospect for effective drugs in the near future, there are currently possibilities of success with vaccines and convalescent plasma. Along with the prospect of vaccines and other therapeutic drugs, special precautions (isolation, testing, treating, and tracing) are strictly recommended until we return to normal situations. In this review we comprehensively analyzed the clinical presentations, characteristics, and outcomes of patients with COVID-19, and tried to assess the clinical effects of some drugs as part of the ongoing efforts to understand COVID-19 pandemic.

Keyword

coronavirus; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2); pandemic; pneumonia, systemic disease