COVID-19: A review of the ongoing pandemic

Abstract

In December 2019, cases of pneumonia of unknown etiology were reported in the Wuhan city in China. In January 2020, the causative agent for this outbreak was discovered to be a novel strain of coronavirus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2. With Wuhan being the epicenter, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) spread rapidly to other countries and soon took over every continent in the world except Antarctica. As the infection primarily presents as pneumonia, especially in patients with underlying comorbidities, radiological studies play an indispensable role in the early detection and further assessment of the course of COVID-19. The current pandemic is unprecedented with regard to the rate of spread, mortality rate, and palpable lack of our understanding of the mode of transmission and spread of the virus. This review is focused on the etiology, epidemiology, clinical symptoms, diagnosis, complications, and management of COVID-19. It emphasizes the need to integrate symptomatology, social history, and radiological findings, even in the absence of positive serological tests, to identify and isolate infected individuals.

Keywords

• chest x-ray
• coronavirus
• covid
• covid-19
• computed tomography
• imaging
• ncov
• severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2