Current Overviews on COVID-19 Management Strategies

Abstract

The coronavirus pandemic has hit the world lately and caused acute respiratory syndrome in humans. The causative agent of the disease was soon brought to focus by scientists as SARS-CoV-2 and later called a novel coronavirus by the general public. Due to the severity and rapid spread of the disease, WHO classifies the COVID-19 pandemic as the 6th public health emergency even after taking efforts like worldwide quarantine and restrictions. Since only symptomatic treatment is available, the best way to control the spread of the virus is by taking preventive measures. Various types of antigen/antibody detection kits and diagnostic methods are available for the diagnosis of COVID-19 patients. In recent years, various phytochemicals and repurposing drugs are showing a broad range of anti-viral activities with different modes of action have been identified. Repurposing drugs such as arbidol, hydroxychloroquine, chloroquine, lopinavir, favipiravir, remdesivir, hexamethylene amiloride, and dexamethasone, tocilizumab, interferon-β, neutralizing antibodies exhibit in vitro anti-coronaviral properties by inhibiting multiple processes in the virus life cycle. Various research groups are involved in drug trials and vaccine development. Plant-based anti-viral compounds such as baicalin, calanolides, curcumin, oxymatrine, matrine, and resveratrol exhibit different modes of action against a wide range of positive/negative sense-RNA/DNA virus, and future researches need to be conducted to ascertain their role, use in managing SARS-CoV-2. Thus, this article is an attempt to review the current understanding of COVID-19 acute respiratory disease and summarize its clinical features with their prospective control and various aspects of the therapeutic approach.

Target 2035 – update on the quest for a probe for every protein

“…Since the launch of Target 2035 in 2019, we have witnessed the success of the open science model in the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. The swift sharing of SARS-CoV2 viral sequences 45 and other data has led to extraordinarily rapid development of new vaccines 46 and small molecule antiviral trials. 47–50 A recent example is the fast development of anti-viral small molecules against the SARS-CoV-2 protease, as part of an initiative called the COVID Moonshot.…”

Does COVID-19 lockdowns have impacted on global dengue burden? A special focus to India

“…SARS-CoV-2 is included in the family COVID-19 viridae [58]. In addition, Table 1 proteins, spike (S), envelope (E), membrane (M), and 16 nonstructural proteins [1, 56,57,59,60] (Table 1). Attachment and internalization of the COVID-19 virus into the host is mediated by the presence of spikes on the virus surface (Fig.…”

“…When comparing the lifecycle of both the viruses (Fig. 2a and b), it is found that in the first phase of the COVID-19 virus life cycle, spike protein binds to the host cell ACE2 (angiotensin-converting enzyme 2) receptor [4,56,59,60,[62][63][64][65]. The first phase of the dengue virus life cycle binds to the heparan sulphate/DC-SIGN (dendritic cell-specific intercellular adhesion molecule-3-grabbing non-integrin) receptor present on the host cell with the help of protein E [22,41] (Table 1).…”

Host Response to SARS-CoV2 and Emerging Variants in Pre-Existing Liver and Gastrointestinal Diseases

“…These drugs are broad-spectrum antivirals (remdesivir, lopinavir, ritonavir, arbidol, baloxavir marboxil, favipiravir), antiparasitic drugs (chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, and ivermectin), immunomodulators (dexamethasone, tocilizumab, and interferon), antibiotics (azithromycin and doxycycline), and antitumor therapeutic (2-Deoxy-d-glucose, 2-DG) ( Andersen et al., 2020 ; Mesri and Lampidis, 2021 ). Besides antivirals, immunomodulators are aimed to block the cytokine storm in severe COVID-19, and neutralizing antibody cocktails have been employed to prevent subsequent virus entry ( Rai et al., 2021 ). Out of the abovementioned drugs, remdesivir and dexamethasone have shown promising clinical benefits in randomized controlled trials.…”