Abstract
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a member of the Coronavirus family which caused the worldwide pandemic of human respiratory illness coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Presumably emerging at the end of 2019, it poses a severe threat to public health and safety, with a high incidence of transmission, predominately through aerosols and/or direct contact with infected surfaces. In 2020, the search for vaccines began, leading to the obtaining of, to date, about twenty COVID-19 vaccines approved for use in at least one country. However, COVID-19 continues to spread and new genetic mutations and variants have been discovered, requiring pharmacological treatments. The most common therapies for COVID-19 are represented by antiviral and antimalarial agents, antibiotics, immunomodulators, angiotensin II receptor blockers, bradykinin B2 receptor antagonists and corticosteroids. In addition, nutraceuticals, vitamins D and C, omega-3 fatty acids and probiotics are under study. Finally, drug repositioning, which concerns the investigation of existing drugs for new therapeutic target indications, has been widely proposed in the literature for COVID-19 therapies. Considering the importance of this ongoing global public health emergency, this review aims to offer a synthetic up-to-date overview regarding diagnoses, variants and vaccines for COVID-19, with particular attention paid to the adopted treatments.
Highlights
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the highly contagious infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has had a catastrophic effect on the world’s demographics, resulting in more than 5.8 million deaths worldwide and emerging as the most consequential global health crisis since the era of the influenza pandemic of 1918 [1]
Current therapies used for COVID-19 target the so-called “cytokine storm” (CS), known as cytokine release syndrome (CRS) [77]
The valuable beneficial effects of beta glucans, derived from two strains AFO-202 and N-163 of a black yeast Aureobasidium pullulans, were described. They were evaluated on the biomarkers for cytokine storm and coagulopathy in COVID-19 patients, in a randomized pilot clinical study, where the supplementation with these beta glucans helped to maintain the major biomarkers of clinical severity and mortality of COVID-19, such as IL-6, D-Dimer, neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) over 15 and 30 days, compared to those who underwent standard care alone [154]
Summary
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the highly contagious infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has had a catastrophic effect on the world’s demographics, resulting in more than 5.8 million deaths worldwide and emerging as the most consequential global health crisis since the era of the influenza pandemic of 1918 [1]. The outbreak of this novel disease has become a global health emergency and continues to rapidly spread around the world. This review aims to provide a quick update of the drugs, vaccines, and therapeutic treatments used today for this devastating disease
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