Corona Virus 2019 ( Covid 19 )

Echevaria Jonille S.

BSP 2

I. Introduction

This review is all about how Covid 19 AKA corona virus 2019 affects our immune system and

study its pathogenesis. The outbreak was first identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019.

The World Health Organization declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of

International Concern on 30 January, and a pandemic on 11 March On January 7, a novel

coronavirus, originally abbreviated as 2019-nCoV by WHO, was identified from the throat

swab sample of a patient. This pathogen was later renamed as severe acute respiratory syndrome

coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) by the Coronavirus Study Group. COVID-19 is moderately

infectious with a relatively high mortality rate, but the information available in public reports and

published literature is rapidly increasing. The aim of this review is to summarize the current

understanding ofCOVID-19 including causative agent, pathogenesis of the disease, diagnosis and

treatment of the cases, as well as control and prevention strategies.

This paper sought to know the different study findings on Corona Virus 2019 ( Covid

19 ) and, moreover, this study would like to attain the following objectives:

1. Discuss the pathogenesis of the disease

2. Identify ways to Prevent COVID-19

3. Enumerate the basis of vaccines that are being developed on how they can stimulate

our immune system against the said virus

III. Literature Review

This study sought to achieve the above-mentioned objectives by looking and

searching for relevant and pertinent articles in the PubMed or other available

documents in the internet on ( Covid 19 ) Corona virus 2019

Pathogenesis of Covid 19

SARS-CoV-2 belongs to the coronavirus family, members of which have caused two

previous epidemics at the beginning of the 21st century; one named SARS-CoV and the other

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). Coronaviruses are large enveloped viruses with

a positive sense RNA genome. The lipid bilayer envelope of the virus contains several

proteins with different tasks. The spike or S glycoprotein (SP), has two domains of S1 and

S2, is responsible for invasion, attachment, and entry into human cells. The receptor-binding

domain (RBD) in S1 interacts with angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) on the human

host cell surface, which is a similar entry mechanism to SARS-CoV; however, the S2 domain

is responsible for virus-cell membrane fusion and viral entry with higher affinity. Higher

expression of the ACE2 receptor in adults compared to children may be a reason for the

higher infection rate seen in adults . Another noteworthy point is the increased level of

enzymes in the liver, heart, and kidneys in COVID-19 patients with pneumonia, which is

consistent with the tissue expression profile of the ACE2 receptor this could also explain the

occurrence of multi-organ failure in some patients.

COVID-19 is clearly a serious disease of international concern. By some estimates it has a

higher reproductive number than SARS and more people have been reported to have been

infected or died from it than SARS Similar to SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, disrupting the

chain of transmission is considered key to stopping the spread of disease. Different strategies

should be implemented in health care settings and at the local and global levels. Health care

settings can unfortunately be an important source of viral transmission. As shown in the

model for SARS, applying triage, following correct infection control measures, isolating the

cases and contact tracing are key to limit the further spreading of the virus in clinics and

hospitals. Suspected cases presenting at healthcare facilities with symptoms of respiratory

infections (e.g. runny nose, fever and cough) must wear a face mask to contain the virus and

strictly adhere triage procedure. They should not be permitted to wait with other patients

seeking medical care at the facilities. They should be placed in a separated, fully ventilated

room and approximately 2 m away from other patients with convenient access to respiratory

hygiene supplies. In addition, if a confirmed COVID-19 case require hospitalization, they

must be placed in a single patient room with negative air pressure a minimum of six air

changes per hour

An effective vaccine should generate long-lasting protective immunity against SARS-

CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. This can be by generating antibodies to

neutralise the virus and likely also by helping the immune system memorise and

quickly respond to infection.

Although much remains to be understood regarding the immune response to SARS-

CoV-2, and vaccine-induced protective immunity may differ from natural immunity

owing to the immune-evasion strategies of the virus, improved understanding of the

natural immune response will be instrumental in developing effective vaccine and

therapeutic strategies. It is particularly relevant to understand the difference in

immune responses between asymptomatic, mild and severe cases and at early and late

stages of infection, and to understand why seniors are particularly susceptible to

COVID-19, whereas the young are better protected. It is estimated that 40–75% of

infections may be mild or asymptomatic and asymptomatic individuals may have a

significantly longer duration of viral shedding than their symptomatic counterparts.

Furthermore, that asymptomatic and mildly ill individuals seem to develop low levels

of antibody-mediated immunity has important implications for understanding herd

immunity.
ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (also known as AZD-1222), which is being developed by Oxford

University, UK, and AstraZeneca, is the most clinically advanced COVID-19

vaccine. Humans have low seroprevalence for ChAd, hence its strong

immunogenicity and utility for heterologous prime–boost COVID-19 vaccination.

The development of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 is based on promising human studies with

ChAdOx1-MERS vaccine and ChAdOx1-TB vaccine. However, although

intramuscular delivery of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 reduced SARS-CoV-2 viral load in the

lungs and prevented pneumonia in rhesus macaques, it did not reduce viral loads in

the upper respiratory tract. A recently reported phase I/II study shows its safety and

the induction of potent neutralizing antibody and T cell responses following a single

parenteral injection, which are boosted further by a second homologous vaccination.

It remains unclear from this trial to what extent both CD4+ and CD8+ T cell subsets

were activated.
V. Conclusion

The current COVID-19 pandemic is clearly an international public health problem.

There have been rapid advances in what we know about the pathogen, how it infects

cells and causes disease, and clinical characteristics of disease. Due to rapid

transmission, countries around the world should increase attention into dis-ease

surveillance systems and scale up country readiness and response operations

including establishing rapid response teams and improving the capacity of the

national laboratory system.

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Preprint

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