Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): Insights into the recent trends and the role of the primary care in diabetic patients

Diseases with viral etiology continue to emerge in the last years and may represent serious problems that affect various aspects of life. Coronaviruses are a large family of RNA viruses that cause illness affecting the respiratory tract ranging from common cold to severe respiratory distress syndrome. In the last weeks of 2019, enormous cases of unexplained pneumonia were reported in China. Few days later, a novel type of coronavirus was identified as the causative agent of these cases and the disease was named as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) by the World Health Organization. The disease was rapidly spreading in China and all over the world and now it is considered as pandemic catastrophe. It can be transmitted from animals to human and from human to human. Diabetes mellitus may represent a potential risk factor for the development of COVID-19, possibly due to the relative state of immunosuppression frequently encountered in diabetic patients. This review sheds light on COVID-19 based on the currently available data with reference to the role of the primary care in diabetic patients.