Coronavirus 2019 Infectious Disease Epidemic: Where We Are, What Can Be Done and Hope For

Abstract

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spreads mainly by means of aerosols (microdroplets) in enclosed environments, especially those in which temperature and humidity are regulated by means of airconditioning. About 30% of individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2 develop coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) disease. Among them, approximately 25% require hospitalization. In medicine, cases are identified as those who become ill. During this pandemic, cases have been identified as those with a positive SARS-CoV-2 polymerase chain reaction test, including approximately 70% who were asymptomatic-this has caused unnecessary anxiety. Individuals more than 65 years old, those affected by obesity, diabetes, asthma, or are immune-depressed owing to cancer and other conditions, are at a higher risk of hospitalization and of dying of COVID-19. Healthy individuals younger than 40 years very rarely die of COVID-19. Estimates of the COVID-19 mortality rate vary because the definition of COVID-19-related deaths varies. Belgium has the highest death rate at 154.9 per 100,000 persons, because it includes anyone who died with symptoms compatible with COVID-19, even those never tested for SARS-CoV-2. The United States includes all patients who died with a positive test, whether they died because of, or with, SARS-CoV-2. Countries that include only patients in which COVID-19 was the main cause of death, rather than a cofactor, have lower death rates. Numerous therapies are being developed, and rapid improvements are anticipated. Because of disinformation, only approximately 50% of the U.S. population plans to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. By sharing accurate information, physicians, health professionals, and scientists play a key role in addressing myths and anxiety, help public health officials enact measures to decrease infections, and provide the best care for those who become sick. In this article, we discuss these issues.

Factors Associated with Severe COVID-19 in an Epidemic Treatment Center at Dakar

“…In late December 2019, there was an outbreak of a new coronavirus, which emerged in the city of Wuhan, Hubei Providence in China, which was initially called by the World Health Organization (WHO) 2019-nCoV [1,2]. This virus, secondarily called severe acute respiratory syndrome virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is the cause of coronavirus infectious disease 2019 (COVID-19) [3].…”

An Insight into ACE2 Expression Associated Complexities of COVID-19 and the Possible Vaccine Strategies to Control Viral Entry into Host Cells

“…Nguyen and his coworkers proposed a new approach of using CRISPR/Cas13d technology, which employs RNase activity of Cas13d, to knockdown specifically targeted RNA [94]. They proposed to target the replicase-transcriptase (ORF1ab) and the spike (S) of the virus [95]. They have designed 10,333 guide RNAs to target 10 protein-coding regions of virus RNA genome [96].…”

Can commercial automated immunoassays be utilized to predict neutralizing antibodies after SARS-CoV-2 infection? A comparative study between three different assays

“…Following the emergence of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in China, the infectious agent of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID- 19), the world faced a global health crisis with over 121 million confirmed cases and 2.68 million deaths worldwide [1]. Since the release of the SARS-CoV-2 genome sequence in January 2020, all efforts were directed towards the development of effective anti-viral drugs and vaccines [2].…”

“…It was shown in several studies that SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals develop protective humoral immunity that persists for at least six months following infection [9][10][11][12]. Although not suited for early diagnosis, serological assays have been widely used to detect antibody responses against SARS-CoV-2 and identify the disease prevalence in populations [1,13]. Also, serological assays are important for measuring the efficacy of containment measures and screening convalescent sera for therapeutic and prophylactic purposes [12].…”