Clinical and Laboratory-based Diagnosis in Cases Suspected with COVID-19; An Updated and Comprehensive Systematic Review Study

Journal of Health Sciences 5 (2022): 126-158. Abstract Objectives A novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was identified in Wuhan , China , which quickly involved majority of the countries all around the world. Due to the high rate of mortality and morbidity, needless to say the importance of accurate and early diagnosis, especially in suspected and asymptomatic cases. Hence, in this article, authors tried to provide practical and standardized diagnostic approaches for cases suspected with COVID-19 infection. Data of this review study were collected from 7 search engine/databases, commencing from December 2019 to June 2021 by using 6 keywords according to Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms and our inclusion/exclusion criteria. Result Due to various clinical manifestations of COVID-19, and high potential for mutagenicity, identification of suspected patients is of great importance for effective control of infection, and improvement of clinical decisions. Therefore, medical history of the patients, clinical signs and symptoms, chest computational tomography, serological and molecular diagnosis can be effective in faster identification of mentioned patients. In spite of the fact that molecular tests have been considered as the gold standard for diagnosis of COVID-19, but there is still high rate of false-negativity. Then, combinative usage of the complementary tests can reduce any misinterpretations for suspected cases. Screening for suspected cases in the shortest possible turnaround time is dependent on the appropriate diagnostic approaches. Subsequently, this allows physicians immediately provide proper medical interventions for suspected patients who are at greater risk for developing more serious complications than COVID-19 like severe nosocomial infections.