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3.7.14 - The COVID-19 Pandemic

from Section 3.7 - Infection and Immunity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 July 2023

Ned Gilbert-Kawai
Affiliation:
The Royal Liverpool Hospital
Debashish Dutta
Affiliation:
Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust, Harlow
Carl Waldmann
Affiliation:
Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading
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Summary

Key Learning Points

  1. 1. Viral diseases continue to emerge and represent a serious issue to public health internationally.

  2. 2. A coronavirus is responsible for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Other notable coronaviruses include severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV).

  3. 3. COVID-19 binds via the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 receptor on type II alveolar cells and the intestinal epithelium in a similar manner to the SARS virus.

  4. 4. The World Health Organization’s strategy of controlling a pandemic was challenged by COVID-19.

  5. 5. Many lessons have since been learnt regarding our ability in the NHS to react to a pandemic. These include the need for adequate personal protective equipment, rapid diagnostic testing of patients and staff and use of methods to communicate with relatives of patients who were seriously ill or dying in the intensive care unit.

Type
Chapter
Information
Intensive Care Medicine
The Essential Guide
, pp. 292 - 296
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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References

References and Further Reading

Lipsitch, M, Donnelly, CA, Fraser, C, et al. Potential biases in estimating absolute and relative case-fatality risks during outbreaks. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2015;9:e0003846.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. 2020. COVID-19 rapid guideline: critical care in adults. NICE guideline [NG159]. www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng159Google Scholar
Siddiqu, HK, Mehra, MR. COVID-19 illness in native and immunosuppressed states: a clinical-therapeutic staging proposal. J Heart Lung Transplant 2020;39:405–7.Google Scholar
The Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine. 2020. FICM Position Statement and Provisional Guidance: Recovery and Rehabilitation for Patients Following the Pandemic. www.ficm.ac.uk/sites/ficm/files/documents/2021-10/ficm_recovery_and_rehab_provisional_guidance.pdfGoogle Scholar
World Health Organization. 2018. Managing epidemics: key facts about major deadly diseases. apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/272442Google Scholar
Wu, Z, McGoogan, JM. Characteristics of and important lessons from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in China: summary of a report of 72 314 cases from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. JAMA 2020;323:1239–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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