ISSN: 2642-1143
Authors: Attapon Cheepsattayakorn* and Ruangrong Cheepsattayakorn
Objectives: The objectives of this study are to identify sources of the transmission, the starting date of outbreak, epidemic trend of the COVID-19 in China, risk of global spread, case definition for surveillance, detection, prevention, control, diagnosis, and treatment options. Study Method: A comprehensive search was carried out in mainstream bibliographic databases or Medical Subject Headings, including ScienDirect, PubMed, Scopus, and ISI Web of Science, including the websites of the news on the google scholar. The search was applied to the articles that were published between 2003 and February 2020. Study Results: With strict literature search and screening processes, it yielded 32 articles from 366 articles of initial literature database and websites of the news. Coronavirus were found in the mid-1960s that can infect both humans and animals (birds and mammals), whereas seven coronaviruses are known to infect humans, such as Betacoronavirus HCoV-OC43 and HCoVHKU1 and Alphacoronavirus HCoV-229E. These coronaviruses primarily target on epithelial cells in the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts through various routes of transmission, such as respiratory droplets, airborne, fecal-oral or fomites. On December 31, 2019, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission in Wuhan City, Hubei province, China reported a cluster of 27 pneumonia cases of unknown etiology, including 7 severe cases, with a common reported connection with Wuhan’s Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market (a wholesale fish and live animal market selling different animal species). These cases presented with several infectious respiratory disease, such as fever, dyspnea, and bilateral pulmonary infiltrates on chest roentgenograms. Nevertheless, on January 19, 2020, first COVID-19-infected case of 35-year-old man presented to an urgent care clinic in Snohomish County, Washington was detected and reported in the United States. Intravenous remdesivir (a novel nucleoside analogue prodrug in development) was administrated on the evening of day 7 of hospitalization due to the patient’s ongoing fevers, the persistent positive COVID-19 RNA at multiple sites, and notification of rales in both lungs at a period consistent with the development of roentgenographic pneumonia. On hospital day 8 (illness day 12), there is improvement of the patient’s clinical condition. Another recent study on COVID-19 inhibition in vitro by remdesivir and chloroquine demonstrated that these drugs were highly effective in the control of COVID-19 infection in vitro. These drugs should be evaluated in humans infected with COVID-19. Conclusion: Without implementation of proper infection prevention and control measures at the point of care for individuals under investigation, there will be a likelihood of disease outbreaks, particularly via traveler transmission, transmission on aircrafts, and healthcare-related transmission in the destination countries. Further investigations for COVID-19 are urgently needed due to its potentially global health threat.
Keywords: Case definition; COVID-19; Epidemic; Outbreak; Surveillance; Wuhan; China; Respiratory; Pneumonia; Prevention; Control; Diagnosis; Treatment
