Clinico-morphological particularities of COVID-19 pneumonia

Abstract

Pneumonia is a condition characterized by inflammation of the lung tissue, often caused by viral or bacterial infections. According to WHO estimates, 450 million cases of pneumonia are recorded each year, of which 4 million people die as a result of this infection, representing 7% of total mortality [1, 2]. Many microorganisms are associated with pneumonia, but attention is now turning to the importance of viruses as pathogens. The emergence of the new SARS-CoV-2 in 2019 once again highlighted the important role of viruses as causes of severe pneumonia. First identified in Wuhan, China, COVID-19 has led to 753,823,259 cases of infection worldwide, with 6,814,976 deaths [3]. The clinical characteristics of COVID-19 are very diverse, ranging from asymptomatic patients to severe ARDS, with remarkable changes over time [1, 2]. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a colossal impact on health systems worldwide, generating over 6.5 million deaths. The global mortality rate of confirmed cases of COVID-19 is about 1%, with hospitalization rates ranging from 3% to 20%, and 15% of hospitalized cases developing serious complications, including COVID pneumonia [4, 5]. Although progress in clinical research has led to a better understanding of SARS-CoV-2, including COVID-19 management, slowing the spread of this virus and its variants remains an alarming problem, as the virus continues to create new outbreaks of infection in many countries around the world, attributed to multiple variants of the virus mutations.