[Diagnostic steps and estimation of disease prognosis in COVID-19-infected patients].

Korsós, Anita; Kupcsulik, Szilvia; Lovas, András; Hankovszky, Péter; Molnár, Tamás; Szabó, Zsolt; Babik, Barna

In December 2019, a new coronavirus outbreak hit his head in Wuhan, China. The identified pathogen is a new coronavirus named "severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2," or SARS-CoV-2, and the respiratory syndrome it elicits was named "coronavirus disease 2019," or COVID-19. The World Health Organization (WHO) classified the epidemic as a pandemic in March 2020. We reviewed the currently available international literature on the COVID-19 epidemic. In this paper, we summarize the relevant information for the diagnosis and prognosis of the new coronavirus. Details of the anamnestic factors and initial test results required to raise a clinical suspicion, the method of microbiological sampling, the basic information on the molecular diagnostic test - the 'gold-standard' real-time 'reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) - in particular the diagnostic current public health regulations for testing. We also place emphasis on the parameters of high-risk patients and how to identify them. The COVID-19 pandemic may also have significant epidemiological and health consequences in Hungary. In addition to epidemiological measures to slow down the epidemic, the timely identification and adequate hospital care of already infected individuals is also a key issue in terms of mortality. The chances of critically ill patients can only be improved with high-quality, careful intensive care, and to be able to provide the best, it is useful to use the experience of medical colleagues already working in endemic countries. Orv Hetil. 2020; 160 (17): 667-671.