Coronavirus disease ۲۰۱۹ (COVID-۱۹): A New Pandemic and its Challenges

Emerging of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus ۲ (SARS-CoV-۲) has caused a worldwide outbreak and a major public health problem. The present review was conducted to provide brief information about the origin, symptoms, transmission, pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment of the virus. A search was performed in the databases of PubMed, Scopus, Science Direct, and Google scholar with English keywords including ۲۰۱۹-nCoV, Coronavirus disease ۲۰۱۹ (COVID-۱۹), SARS-CoV-۲, and novel coronavirus from December ۲۰۱۹ to ۱۵ March ۲۰۲۰, and the search results were evaluated. Selected studies have shown that the virus may have originated from the bat. It has also been shown that the virus receptor is angiotensin-converting enzyme ۲ (ACE۲) which is also the SARS virus receptor and is expressed in most human tissues. The most common way of virus transmission was suggested through respiratory droplets and close contact. It is also transmitted by asymptomatic patients, but vertical transmission from mother to fetus has not been confirmed. Real-time reverse transcriptase (RT)-PCR is the gold standard for SARS-CoV-۲ detection, but chest computed tomography (CT) can be more sensitive to detect positive cases. Since no effective vaccine or drug for prevention and treatment of this disease has not yet been identified and also because of the high incubation and infection period, easy transmission, and the lack of complete recognition of the characteristics and stability in different environments, the best way to control of COVID-۱۹ is to prevent the spread of the infection in different ways and take seriously personal and public hygiene.