146 - SARS-CoV (COVID-19 and SARS)

Abstract

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV) is an ever-evolving and formidable virus that has been seen to adapt to various environments. In 2002, the world saw its first SARS outbreak. In 2012, a variant of SARS known as MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome or MERS) spread through several continents, causing over 1200 cases and almost 500 deaths. The world now faces its greatest challenge to date regarding SARS: COVID-19. In November 2019, the first case of COVID-19 appeared. Thereafter, this virus spread across the entire world, resulting in a pandemic. As of June 2021, there have been over 172 million confirmed cases with over 3 million deaths. Several medications and treatment regimens have been tried. Studies have concluded that the majority of medications and regimens have not proven to be effective at decreasing morbidity and mortality from COVID-19. This resulted in pharmaceutical companies creating a vaccine using messenger ribonucleotide acid (mRNA) against COVID-19’s spike protein with promising results. This chapter provides health care professionals with information regarding the virology of COVID-19, screening tools for patients, patient treatment, mental health concerns for health care professionals, and the imbroglio of the current pandemic. This chapter also discusses multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), which has emerged in the pediatric and adolescent populations. Keywords SARS; COVID-19; MIS-C; severe acute respiratory syndrome