Clinical aspect of COVID-19

ABSTRACT

COVID-19, named by the World Health Organization in February 2020, is an infectious and fatal disease that first started in China in December 2019 by the determination of pneumonia cases secondary to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and has been rapidly spreading all over the world since then. Although COVID-19 was first thought to be a disease manifested only by respiratory symptoms at the beginning of the outbreak, we learned in time that it is a disease that can develop symptoms in a wide spectrum from asymptomatic infection to cardiovascular complications. Experience in the diagnosis, clinical characteristics and treatment of COVID-19 has been accumulating in the time since it is a new disease. The severity of the disease might be variable according to the viral load received and the immune response of the individual. The frequency of asymptomatic disease is substantially high. The most commonly seen complaints in symptomatic disease are fever, cough, fatigue, and myalgia, while nausea, vomiting, and loss of taste and smell can also be seen. The longer the duration of the symptoms, the higher is the risk of developing a more severe disease necessitating hospital admission and intensive care, and invasive ventilation. Solid knowledge of clinical symptoms and diagnostic tests is important since early diagnosis may prevent the spread and intensification of the disease. © 2021 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.