ABSTRACT
Despite the recent announcement of the new pathogenic coronavirus to man, SARS-CoV2, a large number of publications are presented to the scientific community. An organized and systematic review of the epidemiological, etiological, and pathogenic factors of COVID-19 is presented. This is a systematic review using the databases MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science, SCIELO; the descriptors coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, etiology, epidemiology, pathophysiology, pathogenesis, COVID-19, with publications from December 2019 to January 2021, resulting in more than 800 publications and 210 selected. The data suggest that COVID-19 is associated with SAR-CoV-2 infection, with the transmission of contagion by fomites, salivary droplets, and other forms, such as vertical and fecal-oral. The bat and other vertebrates appear to be reservoirs and part of the transmission chain. The virus uses cell receptors to infect human cells, especially ACE2, like other coronaviruses. Heat shock proteins have different roles in the infection, sometimes facilitating it, sometimes participating in more severe conditions, when not serving as a therapeutic target. The available data allow us to conclude that COVID-19 is a pandemic viral disease, behaving as a challenge for public health worldwide, determining aggressive conditions with a high mortality rate in patients with risk factors, without treatment, but with the recent availability of the first vaccines.