SARS-CoV-2: The Monster Causes COVID-19

Abstract

Coronaviruses are viruses whose particles look like crowns. SARS-CoV-2 is the seventh member of the human coronavirus family to cause COVID-19 which is regarded as a once-in-a-century pandemic worldwide. It holds has the characteristics of a pandemic, which has broy -55ught many serious negative impacts to human beings. It may take time for humans to fight the pandemic. In addition to humans, SARS-CoV-2 also infects animals such as cats. This review introduces the origins, structures, pathogenic mechanisms, characteristics of transmission, detection and diagnosis, evolution and variation of SARS-CoV-2. We summarized the clinical characteristics, the strategies for treatment and prevention of COVID-19, and analyzed the problems and challenges we face.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; pandemic; prevention; therapy.

Figure 1

The potential animal origin, transmission characteristics, structure and pathogenic mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2. (A) Some studies have suggested that COVID-19 may have originated in bats or snakes. (B) Turtles and pangolins may be potential intermediate hosts for transmission of COVID-19 to humans. (C) COVID-19 has the potential for sustained human-to-human transmission and has pandemic characteristics. (D). In terms of mechanism of action, COVID-19 mainly causes inflammatory responses characterized by deep airway and alveolar injury. (E) There are a large number of spike proteins on the surface of SARS-CoV-2. The spike protein on the surface of SARS-COV-2 is a trimer composed of three subunits with a triangular section. (F) Distribution of ACE2 on the cell surface of nonsmokers. (G) The distribution of ACE2 on the cell surface of smokers, and its expression is significantly up-regulated. (H) The binding receptor protein of spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 in human body is ACE2 protein. The SARS-CoV-2 has a high affinity for human ACE2.