COVID-19 and the Heart

We have been living with the new coronavirus pandemic since March 11, 2020. Initially, on January 1, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the new coronavirus infection a global emergency and proceeded to name the disease COVID-19. The Coronavirus Study Group of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses proposed the adoption of the name SARS-Cov-2. Genomic sequencing and phylogenetic analysis have indicated that it is a betacoronavirus from the same subgenus as the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) that caused an epidemic in China in 2003 and the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) that caused the same condition in the Middle East in 2012. It has 96.2% genetic identity with betaCoV/bat/Yunnan, a virus isolated in bats. The structure of the virus’s cell-binding receptor gene is very similar to that of the SARS coronavirus, and the virus appears to use the same angiotensive-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor to enter the cell.

The clinical picture of COVID-19 is similar to that of other respiratory viruses, namely, fever, generally dry cough, fatigue, and, in severer cases (5%), dyspnea, pulmonary bleeding, severe lymphopenia, and renal failure. Symptoms are mild in 80% of cases. Diagnosis of symptomatic cases should be confirmed by testing for the virus via polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of a nasal swab.

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