Background:
COVID-19, a Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-Cov-2) was first
diagnosed in the patients from Wuhan, China in December 2019. Within couple of months of infection, it was declared as
pandemic by World health organization. COVID-19 has become the most contagious infection with a serious threat to
global health. In this review, we aimed to discuss the pathogenesis, diagnostics, current treatments and potential vaccines for
COVID-19.
Methods:
An extensive literature search was conducted using keywords “COVID-19”; “Coronavirus”; “SARS-Cov-2”;
“SARS” in public domains of Google, Google scholar, PubMed, and ScienceDirect. Selected articles were used to construct
this review.
Results:
SARS-Cov-2 uses the Spike (S) protein on its surface to recognize the receptor on angiotensin-converting enzyme
2 (ACE2) and bind with 10-folds greater affinity than SARS-Cov-1. Molecular assays and immunoassays are the most
frequently used tests whereas computed tomography (CT) scans, Artificial intelligence enabled diagnostic tools were also
used in patients. In therapeutic treatment, few drugs were repurposed and there are 23 therapeutic molecules including the
repurposed drugs are in different stages of clinical trial. Similarly, development of vaccines is also in the pipeline. Few
countries have managed well to contain the spread by rapid testing and identifying the clusters.
Conclusion:
Till now, the acute complications and mortality of COVID-19 has been linked to the pre-existing comorbid
conditions or age. Besides the development of therapeutic strategies that includes drugs and vaccine, the long term
implication of COVID-19 infection in terms of the disorder/disability in the cured/discharged patients is a new area to
investigate.
Re-positive Cases of Nucleic Acid Tests in Discharged Patients With COVID-19: A Follow-Up Study