New Coronavirus: SARS-COV-2
Celal Kurtuluş Buruk, Tevfik Özlü
Abstract
The World Health Organization reported in the early days of 2020 that the world was facing a new coronavirus, a potential pandemic agent. Its etiological agent is the SARS-CoV-2 from the Coronaviridae family, located in the same subfamily as the SARS-CoV, which also appeared in China in November 2002. The agent is an enveloped, positive-stranded RNA virus. It is thought to be of bat origin. While its disease has been initially described as a non-fatal pneumonia, it is now described as Covid-19 disease with a 3.4% mortality rate. The virus, hence the disease, which began in China in late 2019, has spread to 133 countries and autonomous regions, including Turkey in mid-March of 2020. High fever, following dry cough, fatigue, sputum production, respiratory distress, sore throat, headache, muscle and joint pain are the most common symptoms. It can be fatal in the elderly and those with some comorbid diseases. Although various antivirals are tried for its treatment, no approved specific treatment is found yet, and mostly symptomatic agents are used. Vaccine development studies are ongoing. Therefore, today the most effective way of protection is to be careful for the correct personal hygiene and to change of some social behaviors.