A few days ago, at a press conference on the prevention and control of the outbreak of neocoronavirus pneumonia in Hubei Province, some experts pointed out that neocoronavirus pneumonia is actually a self-limiting disease. Subsequently, at a conference held by the State Council’s Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism on the prevention, control and treatment of neocoronavirus pneumonia on February 28, the experts emphasized once again that neocoronavirus pneumonia is in fact a self-limiting disease, but it is definitely not a disease which will get better without treatment or which will heal without being cured. Nowadays, some members of the public and the media, when mentioning that the new crown pneumonia is a self-limiting disease, mistakenly believe that it is delayed because it does not need treatment. SelfLimitingIllness refers to the disease that can automatically stop after development to a certain extent and gradually recover and heal, and does not require special treatment, only symptomatic treatment or no treatment, relying on autoimmunity can be cured, such as: certain viral infections, autoimmune diseases and so on. Self-limiting diseases are often categorized as benign self-limiting diseases and relatively self-limiting diseases. Common self-limiting diseases include roseola, chicken pox, colds and flu, and subacute thyroiditis. So why is neococcal pneumonia also a class of self-limiting disease? How is it different from other traditionally recognized self-limiting diseases? First, the self-limiting disease characteristics of neocoronavirus pneumonia, let’s take an example, the common cold is a self-limiting disease, when we suffer from cold (mostly caused by various types of respiratory viral infections), whether or not to take medication, usually about a week or so to heal themselves, because our body activates its own immunity, relying on immunity to clear the body of viruses. For the new crown pneumonia: 1, the new crown pneumonia belongs to the acute respiratory infectious diseases, not through the treatment, the pathogen can realize self-limiting, that is, through the body’s own immunity can effectively control the virus replication, and even ultimately remove the virus, do not extend the chronic; 2, the clinical symptoms, there are a very large number of patients do not need to be treated can be cured by themselves, the body will produce antibodies, through their own immunity, to overcome the virus. Second, the difference between the new crown pneumonia and other traditional cognitive self-limiting disease For the new crown pneumonia, even if it is a self-limiting disease, it is not the same as no treatment. About 80% of the new coronavirus infected patients are mild patients, generally there is no life-threatening situation, most of these people through their own immunity, can achieve self-cure, of course, the new coronavirus infection there is a feature of a small number of light patients with sudden and dramatic progression of the condition of the life-threatening; and the remaining 20% of the patients are seriously ill patients, the mortality rate of the serious patients is not low, even if you take active treatment, there are still a lot of patients die. Even with aggressive treatment, many patients die of neocoronavirus pneumonia, especially elderly patients with complications from underlying diseases. A more plausible explanation for the difference between neocoronavirus infection and other self-limiting diseases is that neocoronavirus may produce a violent inflammatory storm in the body of the patient (i.e., in mildly ill patients) (many patients with neocoronaviral pneumonia are suddenly on the verge of death because of it – the “inflammatory storm”), and so even in the management of mildly ill patients, it cannot be taken lightly. Therefore, even in the treatment of mildly ill patients, we should not take it lightly. Neocoronavirus infection is indeed a self-limiting disease, but it would be a mistake to not seek medical attention at the hospital because of this and just get over it at home. What we should emphasize is timely treatment. Once you have detected or suspected the infection, you should go to the hospital for standardized diagnosis and treatment, and follow the arrangement of effective isolation in the hospital or designated institutions to avoid the risk of further transmission. Even for patients with mild cases, we should not take it lightly. Early diagnosis, treatment and intervention are the most important to avoid the risk of mild cases progressing to severe ones.