Natural Course of Disease: Coronavirus

Natural Course of Disease
Student’s Name
Institution
Course Name and Number
Date
Natural Course of Disease
Natural Course of Coronavirus
           The first case of the novel coronavirus disease was reported in China in 2019, and the disease quickly became a global pandemic. The progress of the Coronavirus disease from symptomatic to severe disease can be described in the following stages:
* Exposure
A person gets into contact with an infectious agent, in this case, the coronavirus, and becomes a susceptible host. The exposure stage of coronavirus involves contact with respiratory droplets from an infected person (Sachithanandham et al., 2020). Individuals get exposed when they breathe in respiratory particles from an infected person or get into contact with contaminated surfaces.
* Infection
When the coronavirus enters the body through the respiratory mode of entry, the virus starts multiplying. According to Sachithanandham et al. (2020), there are no clinical manifestations of the novel coronavirus in this stage, although transmission from the infected person can still occur. Clinical manifestation of the novel coronavirus disease takes up to 14 days (the incubation period).
* Clinical Disease
The clinical manifestations of the coronavirus disease are present during this stage. The coronavirus disease manifests as an acute respiratory disease (Sachithanandham et al., 2020). The symptoms include cough, fever, loss of taste/smell, aches and pain, and headaches. As the disease progresses, individuals start experiencing more serious symptoms such as chest pain, shortness of breath, or difficulties in breathing.
* Outcome
Once an individual has been infected and has shown the symptoms, the outcomes of the disease are either death or recovery. Many people have died as a result of the novel coronavirus and continue to die even as more vaccines continue to be developed.
Modes of Entry
* Respiratory: COVID-19 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ...