COVID-19 pandemic: the biggest challenge for the 21st century

• Autor(a) principal: Pires Brito, Sávio Breno
• Data de Publicação: 2020
• Outros Autores: Braga, Isaque Oliveira, Cunha, Carolina Coelho, Palácio, Maria Augusta Vasconcelos, Takenami, Iukary
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por; eng
• Título da fonte: Vigilância Sanitária em Debate
• Texto Completo: https://visaemdebate.incqs.fiocruz.br/index.php/visaemdebate/article/view/1531
• topic: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; Pandemia; Betacoronavírus; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; Pandemic; Betacoronavirus

Introduction: The pandemic caused by the new coronavirus 2019, COVID-19 has severely impacted the global scenario, worsening the rates of morbidity and mortality. Given that scenario, there is an urgent need to train and qualify healthcare professionals in coping with this disease. Objective: This study carried out a narrative review on COVID-19, analyzing aspects related to epidemiology, etiology, clinical manifestations, diagnosis and treatment. Method: It is a narrative review of the literature, developed from scientific research indexed in the PubMed/MEDLINE database, from January to April 2020. The following search terms were used for the search, “COVID-19”, “SARS-CoV-2” and “2019nCoV”. Results: The articles showed that the origin of SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19, is uncertain. The rapid spread of the virus may be related to the form of transmission and its ability to survive in the external environment. Most hospitalized patients are over 60 years old, have immunosuppression and comorbidities such as hypertension and diabetes. The diagnosis is basically clinical and/or associated with molecular examination. There is no specific drug for the treatment of COVID-19. However, some drugs look promising and are in clinical trials phases. Conclusions: The results presented can guide strategy and practice of healthcare professionals in direct contact with the care of people with COVID-19. However, further studies are needed to better conduct pandemic coping strategies.