What is New in COVID-19 and What We Need to Do Against This Pandemic Infection? A Comparative Review

Abstract

Background: Initially, large number of COVID-19 cases reported from Wuhan City, China, reflected that this is likely the zoonotic origin of COVID-19. In March, 2020; it has since been declared a serious pandemic infection by the World Health Organization (WHO). 

Objective: The main objective of this review was to addressed what gaps still exist. Many researchers have reported the many common characteristics of COVID-19 virus in comparison with other pandemic viruses, while the major differences are discussed in this review.

Method: In this review, we investigated the general characteristics of COVID-19 its diagnosis and other preventive measures in comparison with other pandemic viruses that we know or we need to know.

Results: All reported corona viruses belong to the one genus and family Coronavirus and Coronaviridae. The COVID-19 virus spreads easily and exponentially multiple times compares to other viruses. It can be divided into four antigenic groups, HKU1, NL63, 229E and OC43. The case mortality rate of this pandemic is 1.68%, compared to other pandemics in their first outbreaks, including the great pandemic influenza (0.2%), SARS-CoV (10%), MERS-CoV (34%), and Ebola (50%). Laboratory findings related to COVID-19 include elevated levels of D-dimer, Alanine transaminase (ALT), LDH (lactate dehydrogenase), C-reactive protein (CRP), creatine kinase and prothrombin times.

Conclusion: This comparison based review will help to understand the biology, potential risk and preventive measures of COVID-19 and provide cognizance about what we need to do against this pandemic which victimized more than 200 countries up to the present time.