COVID-19 | Corona Virus: Epidemiology, Pathophysiology, Diagnostics

What is Corona virus? What is COVID-19? Coronaviruses (CoV) are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV). Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused by SARS-COV2 is a new strain that was discovered in 2019 and has not been previously identified in humans.

Coronaviruses are zoonotic, meaning they are transmitted between animals and people. Detailed investigations found that SARS-CoV was transmitted from civet cats to humans and MERS-CoV from camels to humans. Several known coronaviruses are circulating in animals that have not yet infected humans. It is believed that COVID-19 was transmitted from pangolin to humans (current theory).

Common signs of infection include respiratory symptoms, fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties. In more severe cases, infection can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure and even death (WHO, 2020).

Ninja Nerd Lectures has compiled the most up to date and recent data on COVID-19 as of March 15, 2020. Please follow along with this lecture to understand the origin and zoonosis of COVID-19, the routes of transmission, epidemiology (current as of 3/15/2020), pathophysiology, and diagnostic tests used to identify COVID-19.