Potential treatment of COVID‑19

Abstract

Following the first reported cases of pneumonia of unknown etiology at the end of 2019 in Wuhan city,Hubei province, China, the causative agent was demonstrated to be a new coronavirus that has notbeen defined in humans before. The World Health Organization (WHO) named this virus as severeacute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), and the disease caused by the virus ascoronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19). The disease spread rapidly to other countries through humanto-human transmission, and WHO declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020. As of April 2020, thenumber of individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 related deaths continue to increaserapidly worldwide. The main reason for the increase in the rate of infection is person-to-persontransmission, while the main reason for the increase in mortality rate is the lack of a proven medicaltreatment specific to COVID-19 and the severe course of the disease in the elderly with low immunity.While a vast majority of individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2 are asymptomatic or recover afterdisplaying mild symptoms, hospitalization is required in 14% of cases and severe disease requiringintensive care admission is seen in 5% of the infected individuals. WHO and national guidelines donot make clear recommendations regarding treatments for symptomatic patients. Currently, thereis no vaccine or specific antiviral treatment for COVID-19, however supportive care, isolation andprotective measures and experimental drugs/treatments are being used for the management ofCOVID-19. Medical treatments being used for COVID-19, aim to prevent the entry of the virus intothe cell, to inhibit or reduce its replication, and to suppress the increased inflammatory response. Inaddition, “convalescent” plasma, which includes antibodies of patients who were completely recoveredfrom the infection, is among the treatment options.