JOURNAL OF MARINE MEDICINE
Year:2020 | Volume:2 | Issue:1|Papers Count:14

Background and Aim: Due to serious psychological effects of COVID-19 like stress, anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder on people, patients, medical staff, families and those quarantined, the purpose of this review was to investigate, identify and provide evidence based psychological interventions. Methods: This narrative review investigated the studies conducted in the field of psychological interventions and consequences during coronavirus pneumonia from January 1 to May 11, 2020 using the keywords SSARSCoV-2, pneumonia, psychological interventions in crises, mental health, COVID-19, pandemic. The search was done in databases of Pubmed, Sciencedirect, Scopus, Google Scholar, ProQuest, as well as the most famous Iranian databases, SID, Iranmedax and Magiran. In addition, articles published online by the China National Health Commission, the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and the World Health Organization were reviewed. Results: In total, 75 out of 102 articles were reviewed. The findings showed that during the COVID-19 pandemic, negative psychological effects such as post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, stress, sleep disorders and anger in the medical staff and other people involved with Covid-19 were significantly increased. Stressors include health anxiety, conspiracy theories, prolonged quarantine, fear of disease transmission, frustration, fatigue, lack of protective equipment, insufficient information, financial loss, rumors, negative beliefs about vaccination, and stigma. In addition, the findings showed that online cognitive-behavioral therapy approach is effective at the time of COVID-19 outbreak. Conclusion: According to a review of studies, a decrease in mental health of people, especially medical staff was found, so it is necessary to provide fast, continuous and timely psychological interventions, especially online services. It seems that online psychological services is better than face-to-face psychological services.

The respiratory system is the first pathogenic place for SARS-CoV-2 virus. According to the experimental evidence, the virus enters into the lung cells through type-2 isoform of angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE2), which is expressed at high level in the alveolar cells. The disease induced by the virus was officially named as COVID-19 that by development of the diffused injuries in lung results in acute respiratory failure. Histopathological findings obtained from lung biopsy in patients with COVID-19 showed the diffuse alveolar damage, chronic inflammatory exudates and severe edema in the lung. Accordingly, during severe state of disease, which the diffuse damages are observed in respiratory membrane in accompany by reduction of lung diffusing capacity, gases transfer is not even possible by using mechanical ventilator. In this situation, using extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) could be a helpful method for the respiratory gases exchange and blood oxygenation. ECMO as a rescue therapy could prevent long-term hypoxia and the tissues damages when a decrease in the respiratory gases transfer in respiratory membrane is observed in severe state of COVID-19.

The World Health Organization announced a state of emergency to deal with the new coronavirus on January 30, 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic started in Wuhan, China in December 2019, and due to the high contagiousness and rapid spread of the virus, it quickly involved the whole world in multiple problems. Efficient management has minimized the damage in some countries. In this review, we investigate the management practices of different countries. Rapid action, utilization of experience, forecasting and equipping of required infrastructure and use of all capabilities seem to be effective factors in controlling the new coronavirus pandemic in some countries.

In late December 2019, SARS-CoV-2 caused the outbreak of pneumonia, COVID-19, in Wuhan, China. COVID-19 is still a major health threat worldwide and has claimed many lives. It has infected about 220 countries, including Iran. According to world statistics, its fatality rate is 4. 3-5. 3%. The virus is classified on the Virus Classification Committee as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. The early symptoms of COVID-19 include: pneumonia, fever, muscle aches and fatigue. To date, unfortunately, there are no approved vaccines or antiviral drugs to control this infection. Therefore, prevention, infection control, and compliance with health principles are still a top priority for people. People with this infection develop significant respiratory problems from pneumonia, and consequently symptoms such as decreased oxygen levels, shortness of breath, irritable and dry cough, pharyngeal irritation, sputum, and risk of pulmonary fibrosis. The purpose of this review is to evaluate the role of respiratory physiotherapy in the treatment of patients with COVID-19 based on available evidence.

The new coronavirus, known as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), causes an infectious disease called coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19). This disease is highly contagious, and it damages organs due to the high affinity of Spike protein for the human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) cell receptor, which is highly expresses in organs such as the lungs, heart, liver, kidneys, brain, and bladder. These organs seems a probable host for the virus although the main target tissue of the virus is the lungs. In general, the virus enters the host cell by Spike protein, which it is a good candidate for the vaccine design. Inhibition or blockade of ACE2 receptors using antibodies that neutralize this receptor can be a hope to prevent the virus from invading the cell and causing damage.

Background and Aim: In late 2019, a new viral disease, called COVID-19, caused by SARS-CoV-2, began in China and soon became a pandemic. COVID-19 is a threat to human health and causes human and financial losses in societies. Therefore, researchers are working to identify and control it more quickly. This review provides the newest information on COVID-19. Methods: The data in this review are extracted from the latest articles related to COVID-19 and include the origin of the virus and its transmission routes, eco-epidemiology, incubation period and the symptoms of the disease, and perspectives on its control and prevention. Results: SARS-CoV-2 is known as a zoonotic agent with high gene mutation. COVID-19 symptoms are numerous and the most important mode of transmission is respiratory droplets. Therefore, the patient's history, diagnosis of general symptoms, laboratory findings, chest imaging, serological and molecular diagnosis, can be effective in identifying patients as soon as possible, controlling and preventing. Conclusion: There is still no effective drug or vaccine to prevent the disease and investigation in this field is ongoing. The only way to prevent and control the disease is adherence to the health protocols.

The capacity and efficiency of the COVID-19 surveillance system in diagnosis patients by epidemiologic indicators are critical for system utility and practice. Policymakers and health managers can make effective plans to control the COVID-19 outbreak by having valid and appropriate data surveillance ability. They can also review and revise the plan, if necessary. Sensitivity, specificity, positive, and negative predictive value are important indicators for assessing the capacity of the surveillance system to diagnose cases. However, due to the low sensitivity of COVID-19 diagnostic tests and the high false-negative percentage and the long interval between the diagnosis and the confirmed result, it is better to evaluate the capacity of the surveillance system to take care of reliability indicators such as Percent Positive Agreement (PPA) and KAPPA statistics.