Measures for diagnosing and treating infections by a novel coronavirus responsible for a pneumonia outbreak originating in Wuhan, China

The SARS-CoV-2 outbreak: What we know

“…Identification of CoVID-19 mainly includes virus isolation and viral nucleic acid detection. According to the traditional Koch`s postulates, virus isolation is the "gold standard" for virus diagnosis in the laboratory [47] A variety of specimens (such as swabs, nasal swabs, nasopharynx or trachea extracts, sputum or lung tissue, blood and feces) should be retained for testing in timely manner, which gives a higher rate of positive detection of lower respiratory tract specimens [47] . Viral nucleic acids can also be used for early diagnosis, which is the most important thing.…”

“…Viral nucleic acids can also be used for early diagnosis, which is the most important thing. So, we should detect SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid: accurate RNA detection of SARS-CoV-2 is with diagnostic value [47] . The full gene sequence of SARS-CoV-2 has now been obtained and samples can be collected from the upper respiratory tract (oropharyngeal and nasopharyngeal) and lower respiratory tract (endotracheal aspirate, expectorated sputum, or bronchoalveolar lavage) of patients suspected SARS-CoV-2 infection for diagnosis by real time RT-PCR method [48] Also, in the early stage of the disease, the total number of leukocytes decreased or keeps normal, with decreased lymphocyte count or increased or normal monocytes also indicated the diagnosis of CoVID-19 [9] .…”

Pathogenicity and transmissibility of 2019-nCoV—A quick overview and comparison with other emerging viruses

“…However, more information on the biological and epidemiological features of the virus are urgently needed to further refine the risk assessment and response, which will ultimately benefit the 2019-nCoV control and prevention. Besides, because that anti-coronaviral drugs and vaccines are still under development [18,19], fear plays a role in the economic and social consequences, which was also a feature of SARS-CoV outbreak. Educating the communities and strengthening public confidence will thus be important.…”

Genetic diversity and evolution of SARS-CoV-2

“…The spike surface glycoprotein plays an essential role in binding to receptors on the host cell and determines host tropism (Fung and Liu, 2019). It is also the major target of neutralizing antibodies (Yu et al, 2020). Mutations in the spike surface glycoprotein might induce its conformational changes, which probably led to the changing antigenicity.…”