Review Article
New threatening of SARS-CoV-2 coinfection and strategies to fight the current pandemic

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.medidd.2021.100089Get rights and content
Under a Creative Commons license
open access

Highlights

  • Covid-19 co-infection with microorganisms has drastically affected human health.

  • Sanitizers help to reduce the risk of coronavirus widespread but simultaneously increased risk of antimicrobial resistance.

  • Zinc supplements have been found to be an effective element to boost the immune system and prevent the virus entry.

  • Nanomaterials could be an important therapeutic option for the next generation antivirals.

Abstract

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a global pandemic. The COVID-19 outbreak caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has overloaded healthcare systems that need medication to be rapidly established, at least to minimize the incidence of COVID-19. The coinfection with other microorganisms has drastically affected human health. Due to the utmost necessity to treat the patient infected with COVID-19 earliest, poor diagnosis and misuse of antibiotics may lead the world where no more drugs are available even to treat mild infections. Besides, sanitizers and disinfectants used to help minimize widespread coronavirus infection risk also contribute to an increased risk of antimicrobial resistance. To ease the situation, zinc supplements’ potentiality has been explored and found to be an effective element to boost the immune system. Zinc also prevents the entry of the virus by increasing the ciliary beat frequency. Furthermore, the limitations of current antiviral agents such as a narrow range and low bioavailability can be resolved using nanomaterials, which are considered an important therapeutic alternative for the next generation. Thus, the development of new antiviral nanoagents will significantly help tackle many potential challenges and knowledge gaps. This review paper provides profound insight into how COVID-19 and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are interrelated and the possible implications and current strategies to fight the ongoing pandemic.

Keywords

COVID-19
antimicrobial resistance
nanomaterials
immune system
antiviral agents

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