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Coronaviruses

Editor-in-Chief

ISSN (Print): 2666-7967
ISSN (Online): 2666-7975

Review Article

Recent developments and opportunities in fighting COVID-19

Author(s): Vikram Rao and Subrat Kumar Bhattamisra*

Volume 2, Issue 7, 2021

Published on: 04 December, 2020

Article ID: e150721188721 Pages: 11

DOI: 10.2174/2666796701999201204120422

Abstract

Background: COVID-19, a Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARSCov- 2), was first diagnosed in the patients from Wuhan, China, in December 2019. Within a couple of months of infection, it was declared as pandemic by the World health organization. COVID-19 has become the most contagious infection with a serious threat to global health. In this review, we aimed to discuss the pathogenesis, diagnostics, current treatments and potential vaccines for COVID-19.

Methods: An extensive literature search was conducted using keywords “COVID-19”; “Coronavirus”; “SARS-Cov-2”; “SARS” in public domains of Google, Google scholar, PubMed, and ScienceDirect. Selected articles were used to construct this review.

Results: SARS-Cov-2 uses the Spike (S) protein on its surface to recognize the receptor on angiotensin- converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and bind with 10-folds greater affinity than SARS-Cov-1. Molecular assays and immunoassays are the most frequently used tests, whereas computed tomography (CT) scans and artificial intelligence enabled diagnostic tools were also used in patients. In therapeutic treatment, few drugs were repurposed and about 23 therapeutic molecules, including the repurposed drugs are at different stages of the clinical trial. Similarly, the development of vaccines is also in the pipeline. Few countries have managed well to contain the spread by rapid testing and identifying the clusters.

Conclusion: Till now, the acute complications and mortality of COVID-19 have been linked to pre-existing comorbid conditions or age. Besides the development of therapeutic strategies that include drugs and vaccine, the long term implication of COVID-19 infection in terms of the disorder/ disability in the cured/discharged patients is a new area to investigate.

Keywords: COVID-19, coronavirus, diagnostics, pharmacological management, vaccines, pathogenesis.

Graphical Abstract
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