Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Journal of research in Pharmacy, cilt.24, sa.5, ss.602-616, 2020 (ESCI)
Severe acute respiratory
syndrome corona virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) which is the human coronavirus and a
member of the Coronaviridae family leads to fatal pneumonia cases. Severe acute
respiratory syndrome corona virus 2 attaches to the cells in the human body
through binding to the angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor with the
spike (S) protein. Firstly, SARS-CoV-2 arised in China in late 2019 and was
reported to the World Health Organization (WHO). The World Health Organization
named the disease caused by this virus as corona virus disease (COVID)-19.
SARS-CoV-2 which has human-to-human transmission through droplets, direct
contact and aerosol routes have affected more than 10 million people and caused
more than 500 thousand deaths. Clinical symptoms of COVID-19 are fever, dry
cough, sore throat, respiratory distress, lung damage, and diarrhea. In severe
cases, mechanical ventilation is required and multiple organ damage is
encountered. COVID-19 is diagnosed with real-time polymerase chain reaction
(PCR) technique which is applied to saliva and swab samples taken from the nose
or nasal cavity. Lung damage is detected by computerized tomography (CT).
COVID-19 develops more severely in patients with comorbidities such as
hypertension, diabetes and cancer. While vaccine and drug development studies
are continuing all over the world, available antiviral drugs such as
umifenovir, remdesivir, favipiravir are also tested against SARS-CoV-2.
Moreover, the plasma donated from the recovered patients are tested for
COVID-19 treatment. Additionally, treating the inflammatory conditions
developing due to COVID-19 and applying antimicrobial drugs against
co-infections are among the current approaches.