COVID-19: Risks Facing Doctors who Treat Infected Patients

Kok Kenneth Yy

doi:10.36959/719/563

Abstract

Coronaviruses are enveloped RNA viruses found in animals and humans. Currently, 6 coronavirus species are known which cause illnesses in humans. Four of the human coronaviruses, HCoV-229E, HCoV-HKU1, HCoV-NL63 and HCoV-OC43 are prevalent and are associated with a range of respiratory outcomes, including bronchitis and pneumonia

Highlights

On 31st December 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) was informed of a cluster of pneumonia cases of unknown aetiology in the city of Wuhan in Hubei Province, China [1]
Chinese health authorities and a team from the WHO reported on 24 February 2020 that 3,387 health care workers (HCWs) in China had been infected with COVID-19, more than 90% of whom were in Hubei province, the outbreak’s epicenter [15]
Doctors are vulnerable to COVID-19 for a number of reasons

Summary

Introduction

On 31st December 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) was informed of a cluster of pneumonia cases of unknown aetiology in the city of Wuhan in Hubei Province, China [1]. In an early series of 138 patients reported from a Wuhan hospital, 29% of the cases involved were HCWs. Among the affected HCWs, 77.5% worked on general wards, 17.5% in the emergency department and 5% in the intensive care unit [14]. Chinese health authorities and a team from the WHO reported on 24 February 2020 that 3,387 HCWs in China had been infected with COVID-19, more than 90% of whom were in Hubei province, the outbreak’s epicenter [15].

Results

Conclusion