The novel coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19): Mechanism of action, detection and recent therapeutic strategies

Abstract

Novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, designated as COVID-19 by the World Health Organization (WHO) on the February 11, 2020, is one of the highly pathogenic β‐coronaviruses which infects human. Early diagnosis of COVID-19 is the most critical step to treat infection. The diagnostic tools are generally molecular methods, serology and viral culture. Recently CRISPR-based method has been investigated to diagnose and treat coronavirus infection. The emergence of 2019-nCoV during the influenza season, has led to the extensive use of antibiotics and neuraminidase enzyme inhibitors, taken orally and intravenously. Currently, antiviral inhibitors of SARS and MERS spike proteins, neuraminidase inhibitors, anti-inflammatory drugs and EK1 peptide are the available therapeutic options for SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals. In addition, Chloroquine, which was previously used for malarial and autoimmune disease, has shown efficacy in the 2019-nCoV infection treatment. In severe hypoxaemia, a combination of antibiotics, α-interferon, lopinavir and mechanical ventilation can effectively mitigate the symptoms. Comprehensive knowledge on the innate and adaptive immune responses, will make it possible to propose potent antiviral drugs with their effective therapeutic measures for the prevention of viral infection. This therapeutic strategy will help patients worldwide to protect themselves against severe and fatal viral infections, that potentially can evolve and develop drug resistance, and to reduce mortality rates.

Anxiety and Depression in Health Workers and General Population During COVID‐19 in IRAN: A Cross‐Sectional Study

“…The results of SARS outbreak showed that 18%‐57% of the treatment staff experienced emotional distress in the entire period of infection 30 . Huang et al studied the outbreak of generalized anxiety disorder and the depressive symptoms of COVID‐19 on 7,236 Chinese people; their results revealed the significant impact of COVID‐19 pandemic on the mental health of the participants 31 …”

Coalescence of co-infection and antimicrobial resistance with SARS-CoV-2 infection: The blues of post-COVID-19 world

“…Remdesivir, possessing an analogous structure to inhibitors of HIV reverse transcriptase, is reportedly under clinical trials for curing 2019-nCoV ailment [ 62 ]. For the prevention of coronavirus diseases such as acute influenza, the use of Ribavirin and Fabiravir in combination with Oseltamivir shows a greater impact than that of Oseltamivir alone [ 63 ]. In peracute hypoxaemia, symptoms can be successfully mitigated by combining antibiotics, lopinavir, alpha-interferon and providing mechanical ventilation [ 64 ].…”

Biflavonoid as potential 3-chymotrypsin-like protease (3CLpro) inhibitor of SARS-Coronavirus

“…Like some other coronaviruses, SARS-Coronavirus-2 is also a family of coronaviridae, which is genomically composed by the structural as well as non-structural proteins. This is an RNA virus in which on one hand, the structural protein contains S protein (spike), M protein (membrane), E protein (envelope), and N protein (nucleocapsid) [6] . On the other hand, the non-structural protein (NSP) is an open reading frame (ORF) consisting of NSP1-16 [7] .…”