COVID-19: The full form of this disease is Coronavirus Infectious Disease 2019 which is caused by Coronavirus.
Coronavirus: It’s named that because it has a set of spikes that looks like a crown. The word corona means crown in Latin.
The coronavirus belongs to a family of viruses that can cause many symptoms such as pneumonia, fever, breathing difficulty, throat and lung infection. These viruses are common worldwide in animals but very few cases have been known to affect humans.
Three groups of coronaviruses exist:
Group 1 (HCoV-229E and HCoV-NL63)
Group 2 (HCoVOC43 and HCoV-HKU1),
Group 3 (no human CoVs as yet).
The term 2019 novel coronavirus was used by the World Health Organization (WHO) to refer to a coronavirus which affected the lower respiratory tract of pneumonia patients in Wuhan, China on 29 December 2019
“severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 ” is the name announced for the virus responsible for COVID-19 (previously known as “2019 novel coronavirus”) by International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV). In short, it is called as SARS-CoV-2.
Coronaviruses are enveloped single-stranded RNA viruses and zoonotic. RNA virus uses RNA (ribonucleic acid) as genetic material. Other examples of RNA virus are Ebola virus disease, SARS, COVID-19, rabies, common cold, influenza, hepatitis C, hepatitis E, West Nile fever, polio and measles.
The genome size of coronaviruses ranges from 27-34 kilobases(approx).
SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV are members of the coronavirus family.
“Laboratory results also indicated that SARS-CoV-2 is similar to some of the beta (β) coronaviruses genera identified in bats, which is situated in a group of SARS/SARS-like CoV”.
Many domestic and wild animals can serve as hosts for coronaviruses, including camels, cattle, cats and bats.
Animal coronaviruses generally are not known to spread among humans.
There are exceptions, such as SARS and MERS, which are transmitted by cough or sneezing primarily by close contact with infected people by respiratory droplets.
The trouble occurs when the body discovers a virus it hasn’t seen before. This is generally the case for viruses that reside under normal circumstances in animals or birds, e.g. pigs, chickens, and bats.
These viruses can sometimes “spill over” into humans, causing novel diseases.
One such illness is COVID-19. It is assumed that the virus for it originated in bats.
Research to combat coronavirus:
There is no approved drug/vaccine for treatment coronavirus but many drugs and treatment options are being evaluated:
Table of Contents
Remdesivir:
It works by premature termination of RNA transcription and has in-vitro activity against SARS-CoV-2 and in-vitro and in-vivo activity against related beta coronaviruses.
registered clinical trial:
https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04280705
https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04292899
https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04292730
Hydroxychloroquine and Chloroquine
Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine are used orally for the treatment of malaria and certain inflammatory conditions.
” Both drugs have in-vitro activity against SARS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2, and other coronaviruses, with hydroxychloroquine having relatively higher potency against SARS-CoV-2″
Lopinavir-ritonavir: These medications are HIV protease inhibitors. It is used for treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS
there are many studies related to coronavirus
you can follow the below link to US FDA registered studies.
https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?cond=&term=Corona+Virus&cntry=&state=&city=&dist=
https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?cond=&term=COVID&cntry=&state=&city=&dist=
Structure of the coronavirus:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/coronavirus
A best and most reliable source for COVID-19 information:
