Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2020 Jul;92(7):719-725.
doi: 10.1002/jmv.25766. Epub 2020 Mar 28.

Coronavirus disease 2019: What we know?

Affiliations
Review

Coronavirus disease 2019: What we know?

Feng He et al. J Med Virol. 2020 Jul.

Abstract

In late December 2019, a cluster of unexplained pneumonia cases has been reported in Wuhan, China. A few days later, the causative agent of this mysterious pneumonia was identified as a novel coronavirus. This causative virus has been temporarily named as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 and the relevant infected disease has been named as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) by the World Health Organization, respectively. The COVID-19 epidemic is spreading in China and all over the world now. The purpose of this review is primarily to review the pathogen, clinical features, diagnosis, and treatment of COVID-19, but also to comment briefly on the epidemiology and pathology based on the current evidence.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; coronavirus.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there are no conflict of interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic model of SARS‐CoV‐2 life cycle. S protein binds to the cellular receptor ACE2 to facilitate the entry of the virus. After the fusion of viral and plasma membranes, virus RNA undergoes replication and transcription. The proteins are synthesized. Viral proteins and new RNA genome are subsequently assembled in the ER and Golgi, followed by budding into the lumen of the ERGIC. New virions are released through vesicles. ACE2, angiotensin‐converting enzyme 2; ER, endoplasmic reticulum; ERGIC, endoplasmic reticulum‐Golgi intermediate compartment
Figure 2
Figure 2
Chest CT Manifestations of COVID‐19. A, Single GGO; B, diffuse GGO; C, consolidation; D, both GGO and consolidation. COVID‐19, coronavirus disease 2019; CT, computed tomography; GGO, ground‐glass opacities
Figure 3
Figure 3
Mortality rates of different countries or regions, 27 February 2020. *A cruise ship currently in Japanese territorial waters

Comment in

References

    1. Wuhan Municipal Health Commission . Report of Clustering Pneumonia of Unknown Etiology in Wuhan City. 2019. http://wjw.wuhan.gov.cn/front/web/showDetail/2019123108989. Accessed December 31, 2019.
    1. Lu R, Zhao X, Li J, et al. Genomic characterisation and epidemiology of 2019 novel coronavirus: implications for virus origins and receptor binding. Lancet. 2020;395(10224):565‐574. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Zhou P, Yang XL, Wang XG, et al. A pneumonia outbreak associated with a new coronavirus of probable bat origin. Nature. 2020;579:270‐273. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Zhu N, Zhang D, Wang W, et al. A novel coronavirus from patients with pneumonia in China, 2019. N Engl J Med. 2020;382(8):727‐733. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Zumla A, Chan JF, Azhar EI, Hui DS, Yuen KY. Coronaviruses—drug discovery and therapeutic options. Nat Rev Drug Discov. 2016;15(5):327‐347. - PMC - PubMed

MeSH terms