A Guide to COVID-19: a Global Pandemic Caused by the Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2

Overview

Journal FEBS J

Specialty Biochemistry

Date 2020 May 24

PMID 32446285

Citations 133

Authors

Cassandra L Atzrodt

Insha Maknojia

Robert D P McCarthy

Tiara M Oldfield

Jonathan Po

Kenny T L Ta

Hannah E Stepp

Thomas P Clements

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 strain of the human coronavirus has thrown the world into the midst of a new pandemic. In the human body, the virus causes COVID-19, a disease characterized by shortness of breath, fever, and pneumonia, which can be fatal in vulnerable individuals. SARS-CoV-2 has characteristics of past human coronaviruses, with close genomic similarities to SARS-CoV, the virus that causes the disease SARS. Like these related coronaviruses, SARS-CoV-2 is transmitted through the inhalation of droplets and interaction with contaminated surfaces. Across the world, laboratories are developing candidate vaccines for the virus - with vaccine trials underway in the United States and the United Kingdom - and considering various drugs for possible treatments and prophylaxis. Here, we provide an overview of SARS-CoV-2 by analyzing its virology, epidemiology, and modes of transmission while examining the current progress of testing procedures and possible treatments through drugs and vaccines.

Citing Articles

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