COVID-19, a worldwide public health emergency

M Palacios Cruz, E Santos, M A Velázquez Cervantes, M León Juárez, M Palacios Cruz, E Santos, M A Velázquez Cervantes, M León Juárez

Abstract

A new coronavirus outbreak emerged on the 31st of December 2019 in Wuhan, China, causing commotion among the medical community and the rest of the world. This new species of coronavirus has been termed 2019-nCoV and has caused a considerable number of cases of infection and deaths in China and, to a growing degree, beyond China, becoming a worldwide public health emergency. 2019-nCoV has high homology to other pathogenic coronaviruses, such as those originating from bat-related zoonosis (SARS-CoV), which caused approximately 646 deaths in China at the start of the decade. The mortality rate for 2019-nCoV is not as high (approximately 2-3%), but its rapid propagation has resulted in the activation of protocols to stop its spread. This pathogen has the potential to become a pandemic. It is therefore vital to follow the personal care recommendations issued by the World Health Organisation.

Keywords: Basic reproduction number; Clinical condition; Coronavirus; Cuadro clínico; Diagnosis; Diagnóstico; Número de reproducción básico; Prevención; Prevention; Transmisión; Transmission.

Copyright © 2020 Elsevier España, S.L.U. and Sociedad Española de Medicina Interna (SEMI). All rights reserved.

Figures

Figura 1
Figura 1
A) Partícula de coronavirus. Este tipo de virus contiene un material genético de ARN de hebra sencilla de polaridad positiva [(+) ssARN], con un tamaño de 27-32 kilobases. Está constituido por una nucleocápside y esta a su vez está compuesta por (+) ssARN y la Nucleoproteína; esta estructura está cubierta de una bicapa lipídica. Aquí se encuentran otras proteínas estructurales del coronavirus como es la proteína Spike que cubre esta partícula viral, así como dímeros de Hemaglutinina-Esterasa (HE); también consta la proteína de Envoltura (E) altamente hidrofóbica y la proteína de Membrana (M), la más abundante en la superficie del virión. B) Organización de los genes en el genoma 2019-nCoV. Los genes estructurales se muestran de color rosa y los genes no estructurales de color azul.
Figura 2
Figura 2
Propagación del 2019-nCoV. Se tienen diferentes hipótesis sobre la transmisión de animal a humano, la más fuerte es que su origen proviene de murciélagos; mientras que la transmisión entre humanos se ha reportado por vía respiratoria, por lo que eleva más fácilmente el contagio entre las poblaciones. El cuadro sintomático es muy común con fiebre, tos, dolor muscular y problemas respiratorios, entre otros.

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Source: PubMed

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