Understanding the dynamics of COVID-19; implications for therapeutic intervention, vaccine development and movement control.

Understanding the dynamics of COVID-19; implications for therapeutic intervention, vaccine development and movement control. Br J Biomed Sci. 2020 Sep 17; Authors: Salvamani S, Tan HZ, Thang WJ, Ter HC, Wa MS, Gunasekaran B, Rhodes A Abstract The COVID-19 disease is caused by the recently identified SARS-CoV-2 virus, thought to have originated in bats (Rhinolophus affinis), the virus being highly infective within the human population and spread by respiratory droplets, contaminated surfaces and close person-to-person contact. The virus is now pandemic and widely disseminated to almost every continent and nation with globally over twenty-seven million infections and over ninety-thousand reported deaths attributed to the COVID-19 disease. SARS-CoV-2 is a single stranded RNA virus, similar in structure to that of other coronaviruses and comprising three main viral proteins; membrane (M), spike (S) and envelope (E). The clinical features of COVID-19 disease can be classified according to different degrees of severity, with some patients, particularly those of older age and with long-standing chronic illnesses, developing progressive respiratory failure and acute respiratory distress syndrome requiring mechanical ventilation. In these severe cases, the disease can frequently be fatal. In addition, many infections are asymptomatic or only cause mild symptoms. As there is no specific treatment for COVID-19 there is considerable scientific e...
Source: British Journal of Biomedical Science - Category: Laboratory Medicine Tags: Br J Biomed Sci Source Type: research