COVID-19 Threat to the World: Current and Possible Diagnostic/Treatment Strategies

Abstract

The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has resulted in a world-wide crisis. To contain the virus, it is important to find infected individuals and isolate them to stop transmission. Various diagnostic techniques are used to check for infection. With the havoc that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has created, it is imperative to work on alternative diagnostic techniques that can be used at both point of care with little or no expertise and at mass testing (i.e., when screening). Despite extensive research, to this date no specific effective treatment or cure is available to neutralize this viral infection. Globally, researchers are working to develop effective treatments, and several vaccines have been approved for public use. We found the studies that we explored for this review using appropriate key words for indexing in PubMed and Google Scholar from 2019 to 2020. We compile various techniques that have been used worldwide to diagnose and treat SARS-CoV-2 and discuss novel methods that may be modified for use in diagnosis and treatment. It is crucial to develop a more specific serological test for diagnosis that can rule out the possibility of COVID-19 and be used for mass testing. An affordable, safe, targeted, effective treatment must be developed to cure this disease, which has created a public health emergency of international concern.