covid-19 pneumonia

WKP

Definition : Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

The disease was first identified in 2019 in Wuhan, the capital of China’s Hubei province, and has since spread globally, resulting in the ongoing 2019–2020 coronavirus pandemic.

Pathology

The main pathological findings at autopsy (32198191, 32172546) are:

 Macroscopy: pleurisy, pericarditis, lung consolidation and pulmonary oedema
 Four types of severity of viral neumonia can be observed:

• minor pneumonia: minor serous exudation, minor fibrin exudation
• mild pneumonia: pulmonary oedema, pneumocyte hyperplasia, large atypical pneumocytes, interstitial inflammation with lymphocytic infiltration and multinucleated giant cell formation
• severe pneumonia: diffuse alveolar damage (DAD) with diffuse alveolar exudates
• healing pneumonia: organization of exudates in alveolar cavities, and pulmonary interstitial fibrosis
   plasmocytosis in BAL

See also

 coronavirus
 viral pneumonia