Ordu Üniversitesi Hemşirelik Çalışmaları Dergisi

Yazarlar: Merve Ayşe ŞAHİN

Konular:Hemşirelik

DOI:10.38108/ouhcd.741640

Anahtar Kelimeler:COVID-19,Virus,Pandemic,Epidemic,Elderly

Özet: In the period when infectious diseases occur, all people are physically, socially, spiritually, economically and culturally affected. The fact that the disease is not fully known, and the uncertainties about treatment and care make the situation more serious. The COVID-19 virus first appeared in Wuhan, China's Hubei province, in December 2019. This epidemic that started in China spread rapidly to many countries and was declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020. Non-specific symptoms observed in adult individuals are symptoms of upper respiratory diseases such as fever, cough, and weakness, and symptoms develop in the form of pneumonia and severe respiratory failure as the condition becomes serious. Although the findings usually appear as an asymptomatic or very mild upper respiratory tract infection in children, the disease manifests with more severe findings in adults and especially elderly individuals. While pneumonia is rare in children, it is the most common symptom that causes mortality in the elderly. Physiological, psychological and social changes that occur with the advancement of age, the presence of a chronic disease or co morbid diseases of the elderly, and multiple drug use make the elderly more prone to this disease. As can be seen, precautions should be taken with more careful and confident steps in the elderly, as this disease causes severe symptoms and fatality in the elderly. Hand hygiene, droplet and social isolation measures are important in preventing disease. Careful and uninterrupted implementation of these measures is expected to reduce pandemics. Because the COVID-19 virus affects older individuals more and is a death-causing virus in the elderly, older individuals have gained an important position in the fight against the virus in this process.

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