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Overview of The 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV): The Pathogen of Severe Specific Contagious Pneumonia (SSCP).
In late December 2019 a previous unidentified coronavirus, currently named as the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), emerged from Wuhan, China and resulted in a formidable outbreak in many cities in China and expanding globally, including Thailand, Republic of Korea, Japan, USA, Philippines, Viet Nam, and our country (as of 2/6/2020 at least 25 countries). The disease is officially named as the Severe Specific Contagious Pneumonia (SSCP) in 1/15/2019 and is a notifiable communicable disease of the 5 category by the Taiwan CDC, the Ministry of Health. SSCP is a potential zoonotic disease with low to moderate (estimated 2-5%) mortality rate. Person-to-person transmission may occur through droplet or contact transmission and jeopardized first-line healthcare workers if lack of stringent infection control or no proper personal protective equipment available. Currently, there is no definite treatment for SSCP although some drugs are under investigation. To promptly identify patients and prevent further spreading, physicians should be aware of travel or contact history for patients with compatible symptoms.
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