COVID-19 transmission, vulnerability, persistence and nanotherapy: a review

Abstract

End 2019, the zoonotic severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), named COVID-19 for coronavirus disease 2019, is the third adaptation of a contagious virus following the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus in 2002, SARS-CoV, and the Middle East respiratory syndrome virus in 2012, MERS-CoV. COVID-19 is highly infectious and virulent compared to previous outbreaks. We review sources, contagious routes, preventive measures, pandemic, outbreak, epidemiology of SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 from 2002 to 2020 using a Medline search. We discuss the chronology of the three coronaviruses, the vulnerability of healthcare workers, coronaviruses on surface and in wastewater, diagnostics and cures, and measures to prevent spreading.

Corona and polio viruses are sensitive to short pulses of W-band gyrotron radiation

“…Handling the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic requires various means to prevent person-to-person virus spread (Dai et al 2021 ). Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is not completely understood, but it is thought to occur via direct contact with an infectious person, exposure to respiratory droplets as well as indirect contact with various contaminated surfaces (Zhang et al 2020 ; Chia et al 2020 ; Choi et al 2021a ; Khan et al 2021 ; Chen et al 2021 ). Thus, decontamination means of surfaces and closed spaces are of need.…”

Electronic waste pollution and the COVID-19 pandemic

“…E-waste also contains organic and inorganic chemicals which pollute the environment upon waste dumping. Since the viability of the coronavirus on metals and plastics is nearly five days (Khan et al 2021), E-waste is very likely to have contributed to the contamination of a large population. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that the routes of both the virus and E-waste are similar, for example touching or breathing near a contaminated computer (Fig.…”

Nanozymes to fight the COVID-19 and future pandemics

“…Since viruses possess designed strategies to infect all living organisms, scientists have been inspired by viruses to design nanomaterials, in particular for targeted drug and gene delivery (Wen and Steinmetz 2016). In particular, it has been predicted that nanotechnology-based pharmaceutical formulations could be powerful to limit the COVID-19 pandemic (Campos et al 2020;Khan et al 2021;Rangayasami et al 2021). Nanoparticles can be tailored for prevention, diagnosis and treatments of the COVID-19 (Vahedifard and Chakravarthy 2021).…”