CATASTROPHE BY AN INVISIBLE GUEST- 2019 & ONGOING DRUG TRAILS ALONG WITH THE STATUS OF VACCINE PREPARATION

1. Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology, Aurora’s Degree & PG College, Hyderabad, India. 2. HOD, Department of Microbiology, Aurora’s Degree & PG College, Hyderabad, India. ...................................................................................................................... Manuscript Info Abstract ......................... ........................................................................ Manuscript History Received: 14 March 2020 Final Accepted: 16 April 2020 Published: May 2020


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infections in both humans and animals. There were 2 types of SARS outbreaks, which resulted in a highly contagious and potentially life-threatening form of pneumonia. These two outbreaks happened between 2002 & 2004 (2). An epidemic of SARS marked a huge decline by affecting nearly 26 countries and resulted in more than 800 cases and death of 774 took place in 2003 (3).

Origin OF SARS-COV & COVID-19:
The origin of the disease was observed by cataloging the genome from human cases ,when viruses related to the SARS-CoV were identified in animals like Himalayan palm civets (Paguma larvata) and raccoon dogs (Nyctereutes procyonoides) in a live animal market in Shenzhen, China. They collected the nasal secretions from palm civets and observed the viral genomes from nasal swabs and found 99.8% homologous to the human SARS CoV, and represented a distinct phylogenetic group from the human isolates. They also found out that in the early epidemic, open reading frame 8 sequences from human isolates were identical to those from palm civets, this suggested animal to human transmission (zoonotic).
COVID-19 is the infectious disease caused by the most recently discovered coronavirus. This new virus and disease were unknown before the outbreak began in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. COVID-19 is now a pandemic affecting many countries globally (4). In December 2019, many pneumonia cases appeared in Wuhan, China, caused by a newly identified β-coronavirus, occurred in. This coronavirus was initially named as the 2019-novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) on 12 January 2020 by the World Health Organization (WHO). WHO officially named the infection as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and Coronavirus Study Group (CSG) of the International Committee proposed the name of the new coronavirus as SARS-CoV-2, both issued on 11 February 2020. The Chinese scientists rapidly isolated a SARS-CoV-2 from a patient affected by COVID within a short time on 7 January 2020 and came out to genome sequencing of the SARS-CoV-2. As of 1 March 2020, a total of 79,968 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in mainland China including 2873 deaths. Studies estimated the basic reproduction number (R 0 ) of SARS-CoV-2 to be around 2.2 or even more (range from 1.4 to 6.5) , and familial clusters of pneumonia outbreaks add to evidence of the epidemic COVID-19 steadily growing by human-to-human transmission and making it a pandemic outbreak.
(Image is self designed).

Drugs on trail to treat covid-19 (sars-cov-2) till date:
The idea is that treating the symptoms will help prolong a patient's life and buy time for their own immune systems to kick in and remove the infection. While research into related coronaviruses over the last few decades has brought some promising looking drugs, only large clinical trials on patients with COVID-19 will be able to reveal precisely whether these interventions are safe and effective.
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared this disease as pandemic (20). Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention showed an increased mortality in people with diabetes (2.3% vs. 7.3%; overall vs. in patients with diabetes respectively) from a report of 72,314 cases of COVID-19 (21). People with diabetes and COVID-19 may need special attention and clinical care (22). In the absence of any known efficient therapy and because of the situation of a -public health emergency‖, many drugs have been tried recently in the treatment for COVID-19 that includes a low-cost antimalarial drug chloroquine and its derivative hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), along with several other antiviral drugs. Because HCQ has been approved in the treatment of type 2 diabetes in India since 2014 as a third-or fourth-line drug, it would be interesting to research its impact in patients with diabetes, infected with COVID-19.
While research into related coronaviruses over the last few decades has brought some promising looking drugs, only large clinical trials on patients with COVID-19 will be able to reveal precisely whether these interventions are safe and effective. Unfortunately, these kinds of large trials take time to carry out, but they are ongoing. The World Health Organization (WHO) announced it has helped to launch four "mega trials" on COVID-19 and there are countless smaller ones coordinated in countries worldwide.
The WHO-backed trials are focusing on drugs that are thought to directly block SARS-CoV-2the virus strain that causes COVID-19from replicating inside our lungs. Below are some of the main drugs these trials are looking at (23-26).

A detailed collection of vaccine study of covid-19:
Vaccines usually take years to develop. After research, it is tested on animals and then undergoes human trialsa controversial method of intentionally injecting the virus into people.
Each vaccine has to be tested for safety and efficacy in three phasesin phase one, small groups of people receive the trial vaccine; in phase two, it is administered to those who have characteristics similar to whom the new vaccine is intended; and in phase three, it is injected into several thousand people. Finally, Researchers worldwide are working around the clock to find a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing the COVID-19 pandemic. Experts estimate that a fast-tracked vaccine development process could speed a successful candidate to market in approximately 12-18 months, if the process goes smoothly from conception to market availability. This tracker lists COVID-19 vaccine candidates currently in Phase 1-3 trials, as well as major candidates in pre-758 clinical stages of development and research. The below information is listed as per reviews from various articles as reference numbering was given (27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34).

Phase 2/3: Organizations:
University of Melbourne and Murdoch Children's Research Institute (Australia); Radboud University Medical Center (The Netherlands); Faustman Lab at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) (United States) Vaccine candidate: Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) live-attenuated vaccine for COVID-19 Original indication: Tuberculosis (TB) pediatric vaccine Status: The randomized, controlled, Phase 3 BRACE trial in Australia is currently recruiting and aims to recruit 4,170 healthcare workers in hospitals in Australia. Researchers in The Netherlands launched the randomized, parallel-assignment, phase 3 BCG-CORONA trial on March 31 and plan to enroll 1,500 healthcare workers to receive the BCG vaccine or placebo. The Faustman Lab is currently evaluating the BCG vaccine's effectiveness in type 1 diabetes and is seeking funding to launch trial to assess whether the vaccine helps prevent COVID-19 in healthcare workers, according to independent reporting from the New York Times. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifiers: NCT04327206, NCT04328441  18 and 60 years old who will receive low, medium, and high doses of Ad5-nCoV. A planned Phase 2 trial has identical inclusion criteria. Institution: Tongji Hospital; Wuhan, China Status: Preliminary safety data from the Phase 1 trial allowed the company to plan to initiate a Phase 2 trial, according to an announcement.