A biography of coronaviruses from IBV to SARS-CoV-2, with their evolutionary paradigms and pharmacological challenges

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (SPL1) ◽  
pp. 208-218
Author(s):  
Kholhring Lalchhandama
Keyword(s):  
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Vaccine Development ◽  
Evolutionary Strategies ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
Recent Past ◽  
Evolutionary Mechanisms ◽  
Infectious Bronchitis ◽  
The World

Coronaviruses (CoVs) are a family (Coronaviridae) of viruses that cause respiratory disorders in birds and mammals. They were originally discovered as infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) of chickens in the early 20th century. A group of related viruses subsequently discovered from mice and humans led to the collective naming as coronaviruses, as they were all characterized by a solar corona-like ring on their surface, called the spikes. The first known human CoVs were among viruses that cause common cold and considered as modest threats to human health. But the emergence of zoonotic CoVs such as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV), Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), and Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) during every recent past decade resulted in pandemics with loss of human lives. With no vaccine to prevent, and no drug to treat the infections, the miniscule viruses evolve into behemoths of plagues. SARS-CoV-2 with its infection, COVID-19, is particularly rampant and malicious and is bound to cause colossal impacts not only on human health but also on global economy. Understanding of their evolutionary strategies and pathogenic adaptions had given us fair warnings. Yet, the world was ill-prepared. This article highlights the scientific messages that could have mitigated the COVID-19 pandemic, the evolutionary mechanisms in SARS-CoV-2 and related CoVs that bely drug and vaccine development, and above all, the possible epidemics in the future.

scholarly journals Sri Lanka and the Covid 19 Crisis: Strategies and Future Challenges

2020 ◽  
pp. 147-158
Author(s):  
Asantha Senevirathna
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Economic Impact ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Developing Nations ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Recent Past ◽  
Government Response ◽  
The World ◽  
Future Challenges

 COVID-19 pandemic has become a major crisis in 2020. The pandemic has claimed thousands of lives and is spreading a negative economic impact around the global economy. The pandemic has caused a devastating impact on human life in many of the countries without a clear distinction among developed or developing nations. Sri Lanka is facing the heat of the pandemic gradually since January and has taken various measures to combat the situation. The COVID-19 pandemic forwarded a greater challenge to Sri Lanka since the country has faced various disasters in the recent past and question marks remain about the government’s response. The Sri Lankan government response to the current COVID-19 crisis has been largely successful and is ranked among the best responsive countries in the world. This paper discusses Sri Lanka’s strategies in dealing with COVID-19 pandemic and possible future challenges related to the issue.

scholarly journals A Possible Path towards Rapid Development of Live-Attenuated SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines: Plunging into the Natural Pool

Biomolecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 1438
Author(s):  
German Todorov ◽  
Vladimir N. Uversky
Keyword(s):  
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽  
Respiratory Distress ◽  
Vaccine Development ◽  
Wide Spectrum ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Healthcare Systems ◽  
Severe Respiratory Distress ◽  
The World ◽  
Fast Development ◽  
Life Threatening

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the causative agent of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic spreading around the world, causing massive distress to the world’s economy and affecting healthcare systems worldwide. Although some exposed individuals have no symptoms and most symptomatic infections are not severe, COVID-19 cases span a wide spectrum, ranging from mild to critical and sometimes resulting in life-threatening complications, such as pneumonia, severe respiratory distress and cardiac problems. Currently, there is no curative drug for COVID-19 and vaccines are still under development. We are presenting here a strategy for the fast development of natural live-attenuated SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. Our proposed approach is based on screening for, identifying, analyzing and selecting naturally attenuated yet highly immunogenic SARS-CoV-2 strains, which may lead to a shorter cycle of vaccine development, as well as higher vaccine effectiveness.

scholarly journals INNOVATIONS IN VACCINE DEVELOPMENT: WHAT NEXT?

INDIAN DRUGS ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 58 (06) ◽  
pp. 05-06
Author(s):  
ANANTH PANNALA ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Personal Protective Equipment ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Vaccine Development ◽  
Personal Hygiene ◽  
Protective Equipment ◽  
Safety Measures ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
The World ◽  
Dear Reader

Dear Reader, COVID-19 pandemic has affected the whole world in a way that is unprecedented. The origin of the SARS-CoV-2 and the true scale of number of cases and deaths in every country is debatable. Nevertheless, it is clear that the spread of the virus is continuing worldwide with a devastating effect on the global economy. The control of the pandemic was essentially by implementing strict measures such as social distancing, use of personal protective equipment, personal hygiene and sanitation. There were numerous occasions since the beginning of the pandemic when governments across the world had rejoiced that their measures to control the spread of the infections had worked. However, non-compliance of safety measures and new strains of the virus led to the rise of the next wave of infections.

scholarly journals Persistent or long-term coronavirus infection in Australian bats

2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig Smith
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
World Health ◽  
Financial Costs ◽  
The World ◽  
Natural Hosts ◽  
Coronavirus Infection ◽  
Health Organization

When the World Health Organization declared the end of the global outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) on the 5 July 2003, more than 8000 cases with over 800 fatalities had been reported in 32 countries worldwide and financial costs to the global economy were close to $US40 billion1,2. Coronaviruses were identified as being responsible for the outbreaks of both SARS and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS, the latter in 2013). Subsequently, bats (order Chiroptera) were identified as the natural hosts for a large number of novel and genetically diverse coronaviruses, including the likely ancestors to SARS-like and MERS-like coronaviruses3–8.

scholarly journals Nanotechnology-based approaches in the fight against SARS-CoV-2

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 368-398
Author(s):  
Alrayan Abass Albaz ◽  
◽  
Misbahuddin M Rafeeq ◽  
Ziaullah M Sain ◽  
Wael Abdullah Almutairi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽  
Infectious Virus ◽  
Vaccine Development ◽  
Present Review ◽  
Diagnostic Kits ◽  
The World ◽  
Innovative Solution ◽  
Speed Up ◽  
Prevention And Cure

<abstract> <p>The COVID-19 pandemic caused by highly-infectious virus namely severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has resulted in infection of millions of individuals and deaths across the world. The need of an hour is to find the innovative solution for diagnosis, prevention, and cure of the COVID-19 disease. Nanotechnology is emerging as one of the important tool for the same. In the present review we discuss the applications of nanotechnology-based approaches that are being implemented to speed up the development of diagnostic kits for SARS-CoV-2, development of personal protective equipments, and development of therapeutics of COVID-19 especially the vaccine development.</p> </abstract>

scholarly journals Development of highly potent neutralising nanobodies against multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants including the variant of concern B.1.351

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agnieszka M Sziemel ◽  
Shi-Hsia Hwa ◽  
Alex Sigal ◽  
Grace Tyson ◽  
Nicola Logan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽  
Effective Treatment ◽  
Vaccine Efficacy ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Vaccine Development ◽  
Modern Medicine ◽  
Economic Damage ◽  
Live Virus ◽  
Global Pandemic

The pathogenic severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has caused a global pandemic. During the years of 2020-2021, millions of humans have died due to SARS-CoV-2 infection and severe economic damage to the global economy has occurred. Unprecedented rapid investments in vaccine development have been made to counter the spread of SARS-CoV-2 among humans. While vaccines are a key pillar of modern medicine, SARS-CoV-2 has mutated as it spread among humans. Vaccines previously developed and approved by regulators are becoming less effective against new variants. One variant of SARS-CoV-2 known as B.1.351 that was first reported to be present in South Africa significantly reduces the efficacy of vaccines developed to date. Therapeutic options that work against the B.1.351 variant are therefore urgently needed to counteract reduced vaccine efficacy. We present here the discovery of recombinant alpaca antibodies that neutralise live virus of B.1.351 and other SARS-CoV-2 variants potently. The antibodies described here may be a useful tool for clinicians who are treating patients infected with B.1.351 and other SARS-CoV-2 for which there is currently no known highly effective treatment.

scholarly journals Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) pandemic: How Far or How Close is the Solution?

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 2945-2963
Keyword(s):  
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Combination Drugs ◽  
The World ◽  
Positive Sense ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
Immune Booster ◽  
Herbal Formulations ◽  
Transmissible Disease

Novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) is a transmissible disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The disease was first identified in December 2019 in the capital of China's Hubei province, Wuhan. It has spread globally, resulting in the ongoing 2019-20 coronavirus pandemic. The 2019-nCoV pandemic has evolved into a global health calamity bothering almost every country and territory in the world. Various countries are in different stages of the 2019-nCoV contagion. The virus has a positive-sense single-stranded RNA genome and a nucleocapsid of helical symmetry. The genome size (27 to 34 kb) of coronaviruses is the largest among all known RNA viruses. On January 22, 2020, 2019-nCoV has been proclaimed to be originated from wild bats and belonged to beta coronavirus that has Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Associated Coronavirus (SARS-CoV). This pandemic has taken a heavy toll in terms of loss in human life and the global economy. A few vaccines and medicines have been developed to combat the deadly pandemic to some extent. So far, medicines such as Remdesivir, Sofosbuvir, Lopinavir, and Ribavirin have been proposed as a possible remedy for novel coronavirus. Similarly, several combination drugs available in homeopathy, allopathy, and Ayurveda (herbal formulations) have been advocated either as immune booster or medicament against coronavirus. However, a permanent solution to this pandemic seems distant due to the re-occurrence of incidence and the ever-changing behavior of the virus and symptoms caused throughout the world.

scholarly journals SARS-CoV-2 RdRp is a versatile enzyme with proofreading activity and ability to incorporate NHC into RNA by using diphosphate form molnupiravir as a substrate

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maofeng Wang ◽  
Cancan Wu ◽  
Nan Liu ◽  
Fengyu Zhang ◽  
Hongjie Dong ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽  
Drug Development ◽  
Rna Polymerase ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Antiviral Drug ◽  
Polymerase Activity ◽  
Genome Replication ◽  
Rna Dependent Rna Polymerase ◽  
The World ◽  
Rna Polymerase Activity

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been ravaging throughout the world for almost two years and has severely impaired both human health and the economy. The causative agent, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) employs the viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) complex for genome replication and transcription, making RdRp an appealing target for antiviral drug development. Although the structure of the RdRp complex has been determined, the function of RdRp has not been fully characterized. Here we reveal that in addition to RNA dependent RNA polymerase activity, RdRp also shows exoribonuclease activity and consequently proofreading activity. We observed that RdRp and nsp14-ExoN, when combined, exhibit higher proofreading activity compared to RdRp alone. Moreover, RdRp can recognize and utilize nucleoside diphosphate (NDP) as substrate to synthesize RNA and can also incorporate β-d-N4-hydroxycytidine (NHC) into RNA while using diphosphate form molnupiravir as substrate.

scholarly journals COVID-19 and stroke: perspectives and concerns

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 4-5
Author(s):  
Marco Aurélio M Freire ◽  
Usaamah Khan ◽  
Daniel Falcão
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽  
World Health Organization ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Public Health Emergency ◽  
Personal Relationships ◽  
World Health ◽  
The Novel ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization

In December 2019, the first reports of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) emerged in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, caused by the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), with a subsequent outbreak rapidly spreading globally. Since then, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted society worldwide, and the SAR-CoV-2 virus continues to spread, by infecting more than 55 million people and causing over one million and three-hundred thousand deaths to date. On January 30th, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a Public Health Emergency of International concern, having a vast impact on people's behavior, personal relationships, jobs, and the global economy, besides causing a severe burden to the healthcare system.

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