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Review
. 2020 Apr;11(4):245-268.
doi: 10.4155/tde-2020-0035. Epub 2020 May 12.

COVID-19 pandemic: an overview of epidemiology, pathogenesis, diagnostics and potential vaccines and therapeutics

Haneen Amawi  1 , Ghina'a I Abu Deiab  2 , Alaa A A Aljabali  3 , Kamal Dua  4 , Murtaza M Tambuwala  5
Affiliations
Review

COVID-19 pandemic: an overview of epidemiology, pathogenesis, diagnostics and potential vaccines and therapeutics

Haneen Amawi et al. Ther Deliv. 2020 Apr.

Abstract

At the time of writing this review, severe acute respiratory coronavirus syndrome-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has infected more than 2,355,853 patients and resulted in more than 164,656 deaths worldwide (as of 20 April 2020). This review highlights the preventive measures, available clinical therapies and the potential of vaccine development against SARS-CoV-2 by taking into consideration the strong genetic similarities of the 2003 epidemic SARS-CoV. Recent studies are investigating the repurposing of US FDA-approved drugs as there is no available vaccine yet with many attempts under clinical evaluation. Several antivirals, antimalarials and immunomodulators that have shown activity against SARS-CoV and Middle East coronavirus respiratory syndromes are being evaluated. In particular, hydroxychloroquine, remdesivir, favipiravir, arbidol, tocilizumab and bevacizumab have shown promising results. The main aim of this review is to provide an overview of this pandemic and where we currently stand.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; infection; repurposed therapies; vaccine; viruses.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Schematic drawings of the SARS-CoV-2 structure showing the exterior envelop with its distinctive spike glycoprotein S, the virus capsid that is protecting the nucleic acid inside and the M and E proteins.
The right image was generated on ChemDraw.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.. Schematic representation of the novel SARS-CoV-2 viral capsid.
The coronavirus spike (S) protein mediates membrane fusion by binding to cellular receptors. With a magnification of S protein from the PDP with the ID entry 6VSB. The schematic drawings were generated from Biorender online application.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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MeSH terms