Remite Rubén Piacentini
The world is grappling with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the causative agent of which is severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). COVID-19 symptoms are similar to the common cold, including fever, sore throat, cough, muscle and chest pain, brain fog, dyspnoea, anosmia, ageusia, and headache.
- SARS-CoV-2
- COVID-19
1. Introduction
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a highly contagious communicable disease of the present time caused by a novel coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) [1]. It is believed that this viral infection was initiated with a zoonotic transfer from a seafood market in Wuhan, China [2]. Initially, the viral outbreak was considered endemic in China but, within a few weeks, the SARS-CoV-2 infection causing COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 11 March 2020 [3]. Till now, the virus has infected 535,863,950 individuals worldwide and is infecting new individuals consistently, developing new clusters of infection (https://covid19.who.int/, accessed on 16 June 2022). Researchers have lost 6,314,972 people and persons aged 65 and older with compromised immunity and with underlying medical conditions, such as chronic lung or liver disease, asthma, diabetes, severe heart problems, etc., are at significant risk of illness, morbidity, and mortality (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/clinical-care/underlyingconditions.html, accessed on 16 June 2022). The detailed chronology and epidemiology of the virus are discussed elsewhere [4]. After the identification of SARS-CoV-2 as the etiological agent of the illness, a race against time was started to develop rapid and efficient diagnostic methods, opening a new avenue for diagnostic innovations [5]. With the availability of the viral genome sequence, quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) was rapidly adopted as a reliable test for the diagnosis of infection [6]. Although exponential new studies propose novel therapeutic interventions and vaccines, there is a knowledge gap for understanding COVID-19 pathogenesis thoroughly and devising effective strategies to combat the virus in an attempt to alleviate human suffering. Read more…