Emergence of a New Zoonotic COVID-19 that Creates a Pandemic: Update on Current Pharmacotherapeutics and Future Prospective of Plasma Therapy

Abstract

The current decade started on an unexpected note, with almost the entire world grappling with a newly arisen pandemic. A novel coronavirus, tracing its first human host to a Chinese province, has spread to all geographical areas with human populations. The virus, named SARS-CoV-2, infects the lower respiratory tract, much like other coronaviruses, that caused the 2002 epidemic, to which it is eponymous . The severity of infection is seen in individuals with comorbidities like diabetes, cardiovascular disorders, chronic respiratory problems, hypertension, cancer, etc. This virus represents another incidence of zoonosis to humans and has infected over eighteen million people since December 2019, of its first human transmission. All the currently employed therapies are either aimed at alleviating the severity of the symptoms or being administered on a trial basis. This review attempts to summarize brief aetiology of the virus, epidemiology of the outbreak, clinical symptoms of the disease with a postulated mechanism of pathogenesis and several existing and approved drugs and therapeutics along with plasma therapy, which are being clinically reviewed for their activity, as well as safety, against the disease; none of which are approved yet. A few promising vaccine candidates, as per in vivo studies, are also underway, but their evaluation might take a year at least. Meanwhile, experts have come up with the concept of “social distancing” to stem the viral spread, as the medical research fraternity of the world strives hard to find a safe, successful and effective cure for it.