ABSTRACT
During the last months of 2019, numerous cases of respiratory illness such as pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome were described in Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei province in China. At the same time, several research groups identified and reported the etiological agent, that included within the Coronaviridae family and the order Nidovirales, named SARS-CoV-2. Subsequently, the pathological and clinical status caused by the pathogen is commonly known as Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In a short period, the outbreak of emerging spread across the world. Therefore the World Health Organization declared a public health emergency of international concern on January 30, 2020, and as a pandemic on March 11, 2020. Many different public health and epidemiological studies have been published since the COVID-19 outbreak, but fatality rates (those that relate the number of cases to mortality) are difficult to assess with certainty. Mean and median case-fatality rates worldwide are near to 3% and 2%, respectively. The median infection fatality calculated from serologic prevalence varies from 0.00% to 1.63% but is mostly estimated between 0.27% and 0.9%. These indexes are influenced by geographic location, socioeconomic status, sex, age, and health conditions, among others. © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
SARS-COV-2 infection has spread worldwide since it originated in December 2019, in Wuhan, China. The pandemic has largely demonstrated the resilience of the world's health systems and is the greatest health emergency since World War II. There is no single therapeutic approach to the treatment of COVID-19 and the associated immune disorder. The lack of randomised clinical trials (RCTs) has led different countries to tackle the disease based on case series, or from results of observational studies with off-label drugs. We as rheumatologists in general, and specifically rheumatology fellows, have been on the front line of the pandemic, modifying our activities and altering our training itinerary. We have attended patients, we have learned about the management of the disease and from our previous experience with drugs for arthritis and giant cell arteritis, we have used these drugs to treat COVID-19. (C) 2020 Elsevier Espana, S.L.U. and Sociedad Espanola de Reumatologia y Colegio Mexicano de Reumatologia. All rights reserved.