Novel coronavirus (COVID-19) infection: What a doctor on the frontline needs to know

Billy Down; Sagar Kulkarni; Ameer Hamid Ahmed Khan; Benjamin Barker; Ivan Tang

doi:10.1016/j.amsu.2020.05.014

Novel coronavirus (COVID-19) infection: What a doctor on the frontline needs to know

Ann Med Surg (Lond). 2020 May 13:55:24-29. doi: 10.1016/j.amsu.2020.05.014. eCollection 2020 Jul.

Authors

Billy Down¹, Sagar Kulkarni^{1

2}, Ameer Hamid Ahmed Khan³, Benjamin Barker¹, Ivan Tang¹

Affiliations

¹ Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Standing Way, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, MK6 5BY, United Kingdom.
² Oxford University Clinical Academic Graduate School, Medical Sciences Division, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headington, Oxfordshire, OX3 9DU, United Kingdom.
³ Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, Rom Valley Way, Romford, RM7 0AG, United Kingdom.

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a zoonotic respiratory infection originating from Wuhan, China. Rapidly spreading from Wuhan to all inhabited continents of the world, the World Health Organisation declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11, 2019. Infected patients present with fever and cough; radiological features include bilateral infiltrates on chest x-ray and computed tomography scanning. Management is supportive with oxygen supplementation, broad-spectrum antibiotics as well as careful fluid balancing. A number of drugs, both new and old, are currently in clinical trials and being used on an experimental basis in clinical practice. The COVID-19 pandemic is the greatest worldwide public health crisis of a generation, and has led to seismic political, economic and social changes. This review provides an overview of COVID-19 for junior doctors who find themselves on a new frontline of healthcare.

Keywords: COVID-19; Coronavirus; Junior doctor; Pandemic; Pneumonia.

Publication types

Review