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Face Masks and Hand Sanitizers
Published in Hanadi Talal Ahmedah, Muhammad Riaz, Sagheer Ahmed, Marius Alexandru Moga, The Covid-19 Pandemic, 2023
Shahzad Sharif, Mahnoor Zahid, Maham Saeed, Izaz Ahmad, M. Zia-Ul-Haq, Rizwan Ahmad
COVID-19 pandemic began in the Chinese city “Wuhan” as the number of cases were reported at the end of December 2019 [1]. COVID-19 is a disease like pneumonia occurs because of SARS-COV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) infection. The disease has similarity with Severe acute respiratory syndrome and Middle East Respiratory disease, also known as MERS [2]. As the spreading risk of coronavirus enhanced in China, WHO announced a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on 30-01-2020. In the announcement, WHO reported about 170 deaths due to viral disease which was later named “COVID-19.” As the COVID-19 spread continued, WHO referred to it a “Pandemic” [3].
Synthesis and Characterization of Nanoparticles as Potential Viral and Antiviral Agents
Published in Devarajan Thangadurai, Saher Islam, Charles Oluwaseun Adetunji, Viral and Antiviral Nanomaterials, 2022
Deepthi Panoth, Sindhu Thalappan Manikkoth, Fabeena Jahan, Kunnambeth Madam Thulasi, Anjali Paravannoor, Baiju Kizhakkekilikoodayil Vijayan
New viruses are spreading worldwide at a faster pace as a result of high globalization, infecting people and even causing death to millions of human beings throughout the world. The continued emergence of novel viruses has posed a major threat to public health, and these sudden uncontrollable outbreaks have the potential to hamper the health-care system and derail the global economy. In 2020, the severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARs Cov-2) pandemic spread all over the world, taking the lives of millions of people and dramatically changing our day-to-day life. The modern history has witnessed the spread of various viral pandemics, including influenza A Virus subtype H2N2 (H2N2 flu, 1956), H3N3 flu (1968), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV, 2005-2012), severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS, 2009), whereas Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and the Ebola viruses are still in the pre-pandemic phase (Zhou et al. 2021). Currently, one of the major challenges of the medical, biotechnological, and pharmaceutical sectors is the reemergence of resistance in different viruses and newly-emerging viruses, causing a global threat to human health. To reduce or avoid the risk of new pandemics, there is an urgency to develop new viral treatments and antiviral tools to efficiently stop the spread of the viruses, boost immunization, and enhance the survival of infected people (Reina et al. 2020).
Impact of Lockdown on Social and Mobile Networks During the COVID-19 Epidemic: A Case Study of Uttarakhand
Published in Ram Shringar Raw, Vishal Jain, Sanjoy Das, Meenakshi Sharma, Pandemic Detection and Analysis Through Smart Computing Technologies, 2022
Prachi Joshi, Bhagwati Prasad Pande
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a pandemic can be defined as an epidemic that occurs over a large geographical area, crossing international boundaries, and affects a substantially large mass of people [1]. Kelly [1] says that a real influenza epidemic occurs when contemporaneous transmissions take place globally. The potential impact of influenza pandemics can be visualized with two parameters: first is transmissibility, which is defined as the average number of humans infected by a single infectious carrier, and second, disease severity, which is estimated by the ratio of fatality [1]. In the present year, the whole world has been witnessing and enduring the threat of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This infectious disease is caused by a novel virus known as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first occurrence of this disease was identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, Hubei, China [2], and on 11thMarch 2020, the WHO declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic [3]. The dreadfulness of the COVID-19 enforced the governments all over the globe to adopt nationwide lockdowns to prevent the further spread of the deadly CoVs.
Use of genetically modified lactic acid bacteria and bifidobacteria as live delivery vectors for human and animal health
Published in Gut Microbes, 2022
Romina Levit, Naima G. Cortes-Perez, Alejandra de Moreno de Leblanc, Jade Loiseau, Anne Aucouturier, Philippe Langella, Jean Guy LeBlanc, Luis G. Bermúdez-Humarán
Recently, GM LAB strains have been also constructed to fight against respiratory virus infection. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus −2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a novel member of beta-coronavirus that causes a severe respiratory syndrome called coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19). The COVID-19 pandemic was declared by the WHO due to the rapid spread of the virus worldwide, which was associated with high morbidity and mortality.106 Vaccines and therapeutic agents are still being studied with the aim of preventing the spread of the virus and achieving mass immunity in order to restore social and economic activities.107 A mucosal vaccine was developed using a GL L. plantarum expressing on its surface the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. The immune response evaluated in mice after intranasal administration of the GM strain showed an induction of the humoral immune response at respiratory and gastrointestinal mucosal levels.80
Exploring the pathways of inflammation and coagulopathy in COVID-19: A narrative tour into a viral rabbit hole
Published in International Reviews of Immunology, 2022
Nitsan Landau, Yehuda Shoenfeld, Liat Negru, Gad Segal
COVID-19 is caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-CoronaVirus-2 (SARS-Cov2) infection, ranging clinically from mild, flu-like illness to a devastating pneumonia [1]. In selected patients, the initial viral stage is followed by overproduction of pro-inflammatory cytokines (e.g. IFN-γ, TNF-ɑ, IL-6, and IL-1) in what has been described as a “cytokine storm,” leading to vascular hyper-permeability, multi-organ failure, and death [2]. The inflammation is known to be accompanied by a hypercoagulable state, manifesting as increased risk for venous thromboembolic events, atrial events and microvascular target-organ damage [3]. This coagulopathy has a unique pattern; a marked increase in D-dimer, out of proportion to other markers of coagulation [3]. The association of marked inflammation and malignant coagulation play a crucial role in determining the fate of severe COVID-19 disease patients. It seems that inter-relations of thrombosis and inflammation cause a bilateral augmentation [4]. Therefore, in the current review, we describe the effect of the COVID-19 inflammation on coagulation, and form a conceptual module for the leading hypothesis based on the identified resultant histopathology of the disease.
Adverse rare events to vaccines for COVID-19: From hypersensitivity reactions to thrombosis and thrombocytopenia
Published in International Reviews of Immunology, 2022
Natalija Novak, Leticia Tordesillas, Beatriz Cabanillas
Four vaccines for the prevention of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) produced by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) have been authorized by European Medicines Agency (EMA) so far. Two are mRNA vaccines: BNT162b2 developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and mRNA-1273 developed by Moderna Therapeutics. The other two are DNA vaccines: ChAdOx1 nCov-19 produced by AstraZeneca and Ad26.COV2.S produced by Janssen-Johnson&Johnson. The approvals were based on randomized, blinded, controlled clinical trials [1–3, 52]. Both mRNA vaccines BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273 are based on a mRNA molecule that encodes the viral spike (S) glycoprotein of SARS-CoV-2. The mRNA molecule on these vaccines is surrounded by a lipid nanoparticle (LNP) that provides stability (Figure 1). In order to increase the vaccine efficiency and delivery, the LNP was subjected to a process of PEGylation, that is based on the chemical association of polyethylene glycol (PEG) to the LNP surface. On the other hand, the DNA vaccines ChAdOx1 nCov-19 and Ad26.COV2.S are based on adenovirus vectors (Figure 2). Ad26.COV2.S vaccine contains a replicant deficient human adenovirus type 26 vector and the ChAdOx1 nCov-19 vaccine (also named AZD1222, commercial name: Vaxzevria) is based on the replication-deficient chimpanzee adenovirus vector ChAdOx1 containing the gene that encodes the glycoprotein spike (S) antigen of SARS-CoV-2.