SARS-CoV-2: the key issues

Abstract

At the end of 2019, in the industrial city of Wuhan, which is the capital of the Chinese province of Hubei, a new coronavirus disease (nCoV-19) began to erupt. At the beginning, the scale of the threat posed by the virus was underestimated, and the information coming from China was residual and does not provide a complete picture of the situation. Since then, nCoV-19 has spread to 183 different countries around the world, causing many cases and thousands of deaths. On March 11, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus officially declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic. This review work aims to provide some basic information about the virus (SARS-CoV-2) and the disease it causes (COVID-19). In addition, it covers diagnostic methods, recommended management and methods to reduce the extent of infection. This is a kind of summary of the state of knowledge at the end of April 2020. To summarize main observations based on the review of world literature on the subject is driving us into conclusion that the transmission mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2 are not fully recognized. The spread of the virus from human to human occurs mainly through respiratory drops; symptomatic infections spectrum ranges from mild to critical, with a significant prevalence of mild/asymptomatic cases. Molecular test for the SARS-CoV-2 virus RNA is currently recommend. Other test include rapid direct SARS-CoV-2 antigen or indirect antibody detection, lung CT and LUS. Recommendation for ENT surgical procedures are collected in The International Paediatric Otolaryngology Group (IPOG) statement published on the 14th of April 2020.Personnel involved in aerosol generating procedures should be fitted with PPE.