SARS Outbreak Research Articles

Cytokines in acute respiratory viral infections

Human Respiratory syncytial virus (hRSV) and human metapneumovirus (hMPV) are the two major etiological viral agents of lower respiratory tract infections, affecting mainly infants, pediatric patients and the elderly. Although the infection by either of the viruses trigger an antiviral immune response that mediate viral clearance and disease resolution in immunocompetent individuals, the promotion of long-term immunity appears to be deficient and reinfection are common throughout life. Coronaviruses (CoVs) comprise a polymorphic group of respiratory viruses causing acute inflammatory diseases in human animals. Until recently, this infection in humans was mainly observed during the autumn-winter period and characterized by a mild, often asymptomatic, course. The situation changed dramatically in 2003, when SARS outbreak caused by pathogenic CoV (SARS-CoV) was recorded in China. A decade later, a new CoV outbreak occurred in the form of the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS-CoV), whereas in December 2019, SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) cases were recorded, which transformed within the first months of 2020 into the pandemic. Such events were accompanied by production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, with the magnitude elevating up to the state of cytokine storm.

Prevention of 21st Century Emerging Pandemics, Covid-19: Using Face Masks

Background: Emerging infections that are airborne or droplets infections, spread by inhalation or cotact with infected ‘Aerosols' or droplets. COVID-19 and TB are examples of infectious pathogens that are transmitted by inhalation of infected droplets or air. All human beings are at risk of breathing in infectious microbes in the air. Despite this fact and the negative impacts caused by infectious diseases, much attention is still not given to the use of face masks; as they were not recommended for preventing airborne/droplets infections in previous epidemics or pandemics. It was during the emergence of SARS in 2003 that droplets infections and the use of face masks were taken seriously by authorities, but most people are still reluctant to use them. The SARS outbreak was followed by Human swine influenza (H1N1) in 2009, also from zoonotic origin. Face masks were then found to be helpful in the prevention of epidemics/pandemics that can spread through airborne or droplets infections, during and after these two outbreaks. However, face masks have never been given any serious attention by the public, just like now; as some people still refuse to wear them despite warning that COVID-19 can be transmitted through infected droplets. From this project's objectives, we would be able to know whether people are complying with the wearing of masks or not. We will also know the weaknesses or strengths of wearing them, and give professional recommendations. Aside these the study will also benefit everyone, especially the vulnerable group in the COVID-19 Pandemic's transmission, like pregnant women. It will draw the attention of health workers, especially midwives, the pregnant women, the community and family heads to the prevention of stillbirth or preterm delivery due to COVID-19. This project's findings will serve as a guide to Regional, Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Health Directorates in their Every Newborn Action Plan (ENAP) strategy to curb stillbirth rate, especially soaring in the Tema metropolis. It may also serve as a source of reference for future researchers who would take up similar studies.Aim: To assess people compliance to the wearing of face masks and find out the strengths or weaknesses associated with it and give recommendations.Methodology: A checklist will be used to observe how two thousand, seven hundred (2,700) people (above 18 years who are not incapacitated) are wearing face/nose masks. This will be started after approval. Then, questionnaires will be given out to one thousand, three hundred and fifty (1,350) consented individuals (health workers, patients and the general public) who are above eighteen (18) years to answer. Published and grey literatures will be reviewed using related online publications from any year that is related to this project. Three strategical search approaches will be used to search for literature: data from health and social issues would be reviewed, custom Google seacrhes; then experts would be consulted for validation of results. Hypothesis: Some people are not wearing face/nose masks; others wear them wrongly.Expected Outcome: Our expectations are that the project would reveal whether people are complying the directive from experts and national presidents to wear face masks. Findings of this projects are expected to reveal the strengths or weaknesses associated with the wearing of face masks and give professional recommendations. The project is an emergency one started in April, 2020 and will end in October, 2020. Findings of the projects are expected to be submitted in October or November, 2020.

Human coronaviruses that can cause emergencies

The first coronavirus NСoV-B814 was isolated from humans in 1965 and did not survive to the present time. For a long time, it was believed that coronaviruses were not pathogenic to humans. They were not included in the list of particularly dangerous infections and represented a serious problem exclusively in veterinary medicine. But in 2002, after the SARS outbreak, scientists’ opinions changed. A new subtype of the coronavirus called SARS-CoV penetrated the human population. In 2012, it was possible to discover natural foci of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome. The epidemic of a new coronavirus infection that emerged in late 2019 and early 2020 attracted the attention of scientists around the world. The priority was a detailed and close study of all the varieties of this virus. This review describes seven types of coronaviruses that can cause emergencies in populations around the world.

Taiwan's experience in fighting COVID-19.

Taiwan has leveraged its experience in containing the 2003 SARS outbreak by responding to the COVID-19 crisis with rapid measures, early deployment, prudent actions and transparency. Collectively, these actions have created the ‘Taiwan model’ for combating COVID-19.

Isatin-based virtual high throughput screening, molecular docking, DFT, QM/MM, MD and MM-PBSA study of novel inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 main protease

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is a rapidly growing health care emergency across the world. One of the viral proteases called main protease or Mpro, plays a crucial role in the replication of SARS-CoV-2. As the structure of Mpro of SARS-CoV-2 is similar to the Mpro of SARS-CoV-1 (responsible for SARS outbreak between 2002 and 2004), we hypothesize that the inhibitors of SARS-CoV-1 Mpro can also inhibit the Mpro of SARS-CoV-2. To test this hypothesis, a total of 79 isatin derivatives, which inhibited Mpro activity under in vitro conditions, were selected from the literature, and then screened through AutoDock Vina. The chemical features of the top 5 isatin derivatives with low binding energies (−8.5 to −8.2 kcal/mol) were used to screen similar types of compounds from several small-molecule libraries containing 15856508 compounds. A total of 1,609 compounds with similarity score ≥ 6 were screened and then subjected to docking as well as ADME analysis. Among the compounds screened, 4 ligands form Zinc drug-like library (ZINC000008848565, ZINC000009513563, ZINC000036759789 and ZINC000046053855) showed good ADMET properties, low binding energy (−8.4 to −8.6 kcal/mol), low interaction energy (−72.62 to −50.01 kcal/mol) and high structural stability with Mpro. Hence, the selected ligands might serve as the lead candidates for further wet laboratory validation, optimization and development. Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma

Establishing an Analogue Based In Silico Pipeline in the Pursuit of Novel Inhibitory Scaffolds against the SARS Coronavirus 2 Papain-Like Protease.

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has been a burden on the worldwide population, with mass fatalities and devastating socioeconomic consequences. It has particularly drawn attention to the lack of approved small-molecule drugs to inhibit SARS coronaviruses. Importantly, lessons learned from the SARS outbreak of 2002–2004, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 1 (SARS-CoV-1), can be applied to current drug discovery ventures. SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-CoV-2 both possess two cysteine proteases, the main protease (Mpro) and the papain-like protease (PLpro), which play a significant role in facilitating viral replication, and are important drug targets. The non-covalent inhibitor, GRL-0617, which was found to inhibit replication of SARS-CoV-1, and more recently SARS-CoV-2, is the only PLpro inhibitor co-crystallised with the recently solved SARS-CoV-2 PLpro crystal structure. Therefore, the GRL-0617 structural template and pharmacophore features are instrumental in the design and development of more potent PLpro inhibitors. In this work, we conducted scaffold hopping using GRL-0617 as a reference to screen over 339,000 ligands in the chemical space using the ChemDiv, MayBridge, and Enamine screening libraries. Twenty-four distinct scaffolds with structural and electrostatic similarity to GRL-0617 were obtained. These proceeded to molecular docking against PLpro using the AutoDock tools. Of two compounds that showed the most favourable predicted binding affinities to the target site, as well as comparable protein-ligand interactions to GRL-0617, one was chosen for further analogue-based work. Twenty-seven analogues of this compound were further docked against the PLpro, which resulted in two additional hits with promising docking profiles. Our in silico pipeline consisted of an integrative four-step approach: (1) ligand-based virtual screening (scaffold-hopping), (2) molecular docking, (3) an analogue search, and, (4) evaluation of scaffold drug-likeness, to identify promising scaffolds and eliminate those with undesirable properties. Overall, we present four novel, and lipophilic, scaffolds obtained from an exhaustive search of diverse and uncharted regions of chemical space, which may be further explored in vitro through structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies in the search for more potent inhibitors. Furthermore, these scaffolds were predicted to have fewer off-target interactions than GRL-0617. Lastly, to our knowledge, this work contains the largest ligand-based virtual screen performed against GRL-0617.

Biomechanical characterization of SARS-CoV-2 spike RBD and human ACE2 protein-protein interaction

The current COVID-19 pandemic has led to a devastating impact across the world. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) (the virus causing COVID-19) is known to use the receptor-binding domain (RBD) at viral surface spike (S) protein to interact with the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor expressed on many human cell types. The RBD-ACE2 interaction is a crucial step to mediate the host cell entry of SARS-CoV-2. Recent studies indicate that the ACE2 interaction with the SARS-CoV-2 S protein has a higher affinity than its binding with the structurally identical S protein of SARS-CoV-1, the virus causing the 2002–2004 SARS outbreak. However, the biophysical mechanism behind such binding affinity difference is unclear. This study utilizes combined single-molecule force spectroscopy and steered molecular dynamics (SMD) simulation approaches to quantify the specific interactions between SARS-CoV-2 or SARS-CoV-1 RBD and ACE2. Depending on the loading rates, the unbinding forces between SARS-CoV-2 RBD and ACE2 range from 70 to 105 pN and are 30–40% higher than those of SARS-CoV-1 RBD and ACE2 under similar loading rates. SMD results indicate that SARS-CoV-2 RBD interacts with the N-linked glycan on Asn90 of ACE2. This interaction is mostly absent in the SARS-CoV-1 RBD-ACE2 complex. During the SMD simulations, the extra RBD-N-glycan interaction contributes to a greater force and prolonged interaction lifetime. The observation is confirmed by our experimental force spectroscopy study. After removing N-linked glycans on ACE2, its mechanical binding strength with SARS-CoV-2 RBD decreases to a similar level of the SARS-CoV-1 RBD-ACE2 interaction. Together, the study uncovers the mechanism behind the difference in ACE2 binding between SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV-1 and could help develop new strategies to block SARS-CoV-2 entry.

Nucleoside Inhibitors of Coronaviruses

Coronaviruses (CoVs) belong to a large family of zoonotic supercapsid viruses, including about 40 species of RNA-containing viruses with several strains capable of causing damage to the lungs and respiratory tract. The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) was responsible for the worldwide SARS outbreak in 2003. The rapid global spread of SARS-CoV-2 has been the cause of significant health concern and thousands of deaths in 2019-2020 and outlined the need for novel antivirals. The present review is devoted to the development of effective and selective nucleoside drugs for the treatment of coronavirus infections. To date, about half of antivirals have been created based on nucleosides. The majority of drugs based on nucleosides have been approved by FDA. This indicates a fruitful area for the development of novel antivirals based on nucleosides. The review describes the main features of pathogenic SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and SARS-CoV-2 strains, presents their comparison, considers promising approaches to creating nucleoside drugs for the treatment of coronavirus infections, and provides a systematic evaluation of all the known nucleoside derivatives, which inhibit the reproduction of coronaviruses in cells. To date, two known nucleoside drugs (Ribavirin, Favipiravir) have been recommended for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infection and nine hit compounds based on nucleosides and their analogues have been found, one of which efficiently suppressing SARS-CoV-2 replication and eight others inhibiting SARS-CoV replication.

COVID-19 and Its Current Trends with Long Term Implication

BACKGROUND
 The coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19 is a serious medical threat that is posed before since more than a year. Scientists and researchers from all over the world are working on the solution on the ongoing problem.
 SUMMARY
 The mutated strain of the novel coronavirus has been successful in creating a buzz around the circuit of concerned people. The COVID-19 is being uncertain throughout its stay and any prediction would possibly go wrong. Long term implications may lack some major study but many lessons and parallels can be drawn from the previous similar outbreaks of SARS and MERS.
 CONCLUSION
 More fact based along with broad based study is needed to understand and correlate the COVID-19 and its long-term implications.

Caring for carers

The author conveys her concerns on the need for nurses to look after their own physical health and emotional wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic, with topics mentioned such as the resolutions of 12 Marie Curie nurses regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Health Service, and the SARS outbreak of 2003

Potential effect of Maxing Shigan decoction against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) revealed by network pharmacology and experimental verification

Ethnopharmacological relevanceSince the occurrence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Wuhan, China in December 2019, COVID-19 has been quickly spreading out to other provinces and countries. Considering that traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) played an important role during outbreak of SARS and H1N1, finding potential alternative approaches for COVID-19 treatment is necessary before vaccines are developed. According to previous studies, Maxing Shigan decoction (MXSGD) present a prominent antivirus effect and is often used to treat pulmonary diseases. Furthermore, we collected 115 open prescriptions for COVID-19 therapy from the National Health Commission, State Administration of TCM and other organizations, MXSGD was identified as the key formula. However, the underlying molecular mechanism of MXSGD against COVID-19 is still unknown. Aim of the studyThe present study aimed to evaluate the therapeutic mechanism of MXSGD against COVID-19 by network pharmacology and in vitro experiment verification, and screen the potential components which could bind to key targets of COVID-19 via molecular docking method. Materials and methodsMultiple open-source databases related to TCM or compounds were employed to screen active ingredients and potential targets of MXSGD. Network pharmacology analysis methods were used to initially predict the antivirus and anti-inflammatory effects of MXSGD against COVID-19. IL-6 induced rat lung epithelial type Ⅱ cells (RLE-6TN) damage was established to explore the anti-inflammatory damage activity of MXSGD. After MXSGD intervention, the expression level of related proteins and their phosphorylation in the IL-6 mediated JAK-STAT signaling pathway were detected by Western blot. Molecular docking technique was used to further identify the potential substances which could bind to three key targets (ACE2, Mpro and RdRp) of COVID-19. ResultsIn this study, 105 active ingredients and 1025 candidate targets were selected for MXSGD, 83 overlapping targets related to MXSGD and COVID-19 were identified, and the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network of MXSGD against COVID-19 was constructed. According to the results of biological enrichment analysis, 63 significant KEGG pathways were enriched, and most of them were related to signal transduction, immune system and virus infection. Furthermore, according the relationship between signal pathways, we confirmed MXSGD could effectively inhibit IL-6 mediated JAK-STAT signal pathway related protein expression level, decreased the protein expression levels of p-JAK2, p-STAT3, Bax and Caspase 3, and increased the protein expression level of Bcl-2, thereby inhibiting RLE-6TN cells damage. In addition, according to the LibDock scores screening results, the components with strong potential affinity (Top 10) with ACE2, Mpro and RdRp are mainly from glycyrrhiza uralensis (Chinese name: Gancao) and semen armeniacae amarum (Chinese name: Kuxingren). Among them, amygdalin was selected as the optimal candidate component bind to all three key targets, and euchrenone, glycyrrhizin, and glycyrol also exhibited superior affinity interactions with ACE2, Mpro and RdRp, respectively. ConclusionThis work explained the positive characteristics of multi-component, multi-target, and multi-approach intervention with MXSGD in combating COVID-19, and preliminary revealed the antiviral and anti-inflammatory pharmacodynamic substances and mechanism of MXSGD, which might provide insights into the vital role of TCM in the prevention and treatment of COVID-19.

Horizontal gene transfer and recombination analysis of SARS-CoV-2 genes helps discover its close relatives and shed light on its origin

BackgroundThe SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is one of the greatest global medical and social challenges that have emerged in recent history. Human coronavirus strains discovered during previous SARS outbreaks have been hypothesized to pass from bats to humans using intermediate hosts, e.g. civets for SARS-CoV and camels for MERS-CoV. The discovery of an intermediate host of SARS-CoV-2 and the identification of specific mechanism of its emergence in humans are topics of primary evolutionary importance. In this study we investigate the evolutionary patterns of 11 main genes of SARS-CoV-2. Previous studies suggested that the genome of SARS-CoV-2 is highly similar to the horseshoe bat coronavirus RaTG13 for most of the genes and to some Malayan pangolin coronavirus (CoV) strains for the receptor binding (RB) domain of the spike protein.ResultsWe provide a detailed list of statistically significant horizontal gene transfer and recombination events (both intergenic and intragenic) inferred for each of 11 main genes of the SARS-CoV-2 genome. Our analysis reveals that two continuous regions of genes S and N of SARS-CoV-2 may result from intragenic recombination between RaTG13 and Guangdong (GD) Pangolin CoVs. Statistically significant gene transfer-recombination events between RaTG13 and GD Pangolin CoV have been identified in region [1215–1425] of gene S and region [534–727] of gene N. Moreover, some statistically significant recombination events between the ancestors of SARS-CoV-2, RaTG13, GD Pangolin CoV and bat CoV ZC45-ZXC21 coronaviruses have been identified in genes ORF1ab, S, ORF3a, ORF7a, ORF8 and N. Furthermore, topology-based clustering of gene trees inferred for 25 CoV organisms revealed a three-way evolution of coronavirus genes, with gene phylogenies of ORF1ab, S and N forming the first cluster, gene phylogenies of ORF3a, E, M, ORF6, ORF7a, ORF7b and ORF8 forming the second cluster, and phylogeny of gene ORF10 forming the third cluster.ConclusionsThe results of our horizontal gene transfer and recombination analysis suggest that SARS-CoV-2 could not only be a chimera virus resulting from recombination of the bat RaTG13 and Guangdong pangolin coronaviruses but also a close relative of the bat CoV ZC45 and ZXC21 strains. They also indicate that a GD pangolin may be an intermediate host of this dangerous virus.

Global Report on Business Continuity Planning and Management (BCP/BCM). Survey results

In the last twenty years, ERM has gained relevance in business management and was put to test in many “tail” situations, starting from the SARS outbreaks in 2003 up to recent financial crises (subprime and sovereign debt crises) and regional pandemic. Notwithstanding the lesson learnt, prima facie this new, global pandemic seems to have caught us off guard. Against this background, our main research question is whether business continuity planning and management has reached a maturity so as to make a difference in extreme environments as the one we are experiencing nowadays, helping organizations to weather this perfect storm.To answer this question, we launched a global survey through digital channels during a period of major lockdown for many countries (April – May 2020). This report analyzes the results of the global survey from two main points of view. We present responses from a global perspective, by taking the entire sample into account and separately high-income (HI) and middle-income (MI) countries.

Improved dynamics of sharing research findings in the COVID-19 epidemic compared with the SARS and Ebola epidemics

BackgroundWhen a new or re-emergent pathogen, such as SARS-CoV-2, causes a major outbreak, rapid access to pertinent research findings is crucial for planning strategies and decision making. We researched whether the speed of sharing research results in the COVID-19 epidemic was higher than the SARS and Ebola epidemics. We also researched whether there is any difference in the most frequent topics investigated before and after the COVID-19, SARS, and Ebola epidemics started.MethodsWe used PubMed database search tools to determine the time-period it took for the number of articles to rise after the epidemics started and the most frequent topics assigned to the articles.ResultsThe main results were, first, the rise in the number of articles occurred 6 weeks after the COVID-19 epidemic started whereas, this rise occurred 4 months after the SARS and 7 months after the Ebola epidemics started. Second, etiology, statistics & numerical data, and epidemiology were the three most frequent topics investigated in the COVID-19 epidemic. However, etiology, microbiology, and genetics in the SARS epidemic, and statistics & numerical data, epidemiology, and prevention & control in the Ebola epidemic were more frequently studied compared with other topics. Third, some topics were studied more frequently after the epidemics started.ConclusionsThe speed of sharing results in the COVID-19 epidemic was much higher than the SARS and Ebola epidemics, and that there is a difference in the most frequent articles’ topics investigated in these three epidemics. Due to the value of time in controlling epidemics spread, the study highlights the necessity of defining more solutions for rapidly providing pertinent research findings in fighting against the next public health emergency.

The papain-like protease of coronaviruses cleaves ULK1 to disrupt host autophagy

The ongoing pandemic of COVID-19 alongside the outbreaks of SARS in 2003 and MERS in 2012 underscore the significance to understand betacoronaviruses as a global health challenge. SARS-CoV-2, the etiological agent for COVID-19, has infected over 50 million individuals’ worldwide with more than ∼1 million fatalities. Autophagy modulators have emerged as potential therapeutic candidates against SARS-CoV-2 but recent clinical setbacks urge for better understanding of viral subversion of autophagy. Using MHV-A59 as a model betacoronavirus, time-course infections revealed significant loss in the protein level of ULK1, a canonical autophagy-regulating kinase, and the concomitant appearance of a possible cleavage fragment. To investigate whether virus-encoded proteases target ULK1, we conducted in-vitro and cellular cleavage assays and identified ULK1 as a novel bona fide substrate of SARS-CoV-2 papain-like protease (PLpro). Mutagenesis studies discovered that ULK1 is cleaved at a conserved PLpro recognition sequence (LGGG) after G499, separating its N-terminal kinase domain from a C-terminal substrate recognition region. Over-expression of SARS-CoV-2 PLpro is sufficient to impair starvation-induced autophagy and disrupt formation of ULK1-ATG13 complex. Finally, we demonstrated a dual role for ULK1 in MHV-A59 replication, serving a pro-viral functions during early replication that is inactivated at late stages of infection. In conclusion, our study identified a new mechanism by which PLpro of betacoronaviruses induces viral pathogenesis by targeting cellular autophagy.

COVID-19 patients may become predisposed to pulmonary arterial hypertension

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is causing the current pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) that have killed over one million people worldwide so far. To date, over forty million people have officially been identified to be infected with this virus with less than 3% death rate. Since many more people are expected to have been infected with this virus without the official diagnosis, the number of people who have recovered from the SARS-CoV-2 infection should be substantial. Given the large number of people recovered from either the mild SARS-CoV-2 infection or more severe COVID-19 conditions, it is critical to understand the long-term consequences of the infection by this virus. Our histological evaluations revealed that patients died of COVID-19 exhibited thickened pulmonary vascular walls, one important hallmark of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). By contrast, such pulmonary vascular remodeling lesions were not found in patients died of SARS-CoV-1 during the 2002–2004 SARS outbreak or due to the infection by H1N1 influenza. The advancement in the treatment for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection has been remarkable that HIV-infected individuals now live for a long time, in turn revealing that these individuals become susceptible to developing PAH, a fatal condition. We herein hypothesize that SARS-CoV-2 is another virus that is capable to triggering the increased susceptibility of infected individuals to developing PAH in the future. Given the large number of people being infected with SARS-CoV-2 during this pandemic and that most people recover from severe, mild or asymptomatic conditions, it is imperative to generate scientific information on how the health of recovered individuals may be affected long-term. PAH is one lethal consequence that should be considered and needs to be monitored. This may also foster the research on developing therapeutic agents to prevent PAH, which has not so far been successful.

SARS-CoV-2 Ultraviolet Radiation Dose-Response Behavior.

Ultraviolet (UV) radiation in the wavelength range 200 nm ≤ λ ≤ 320 nm, which includes both the UV-C and UV-B portions of the spectrum, is known to be effective for inactivation of a wide range of microbial pathogens, including viruses. Previous research has indicated UV-C radiation to be effective for inactivation of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV), the virus that caused an outbreak of SARS in 2003. Given the structural similarities of SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2, the cause of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), it is anticipated that UV radiation should be effective for inactivation of SARS-CoV-2 too. Recently published data support this assertion, but only for a narrow set of exposure and matrix conditions. Models based on genomic and other characteristics of viruses have been developed to provide predictions of viral inactivation responses to UV exposure at λ = 254 nm. The predictions of these models are consistent with reported measurements of viral inactivation, including for SARS-CoV-2. As such, current information indicates that UV-C irradiation should be effective for control of SARS-CoV-2, as well as for control of other coronaviruses; however, additional research is needed to quantify the effects of several important process variables, including the wavelength of radiation, the effects of relative humidity on airborne and surface-associated viruses, and the effects of the medium of exposure.

Corona Viruses: A Review on SARS, MERS and COVID-19.

After the outbreak of SARS and MERS, the world is now in the grip of another viral disease named COVID-19 caused by a beta Coronavirus – SARS COV-2 which appears to be the only one with a pandemic potential. The case of COVID-19 was reported in the Hubei province of Wuhan city in Central China at the end of December 2019 and it is suspected that the sea food market played a role in this outbreak which was closed abruptly. Subsequently, a Public Health Emergency of International Concern was declared on 30 January 2020 by the World Health Organization. Both SARS and MERS corona viruses had its reservoir in bats and were transferred to humans from palm civets and camels respectively. This virus can be transmitted through airborne droplets. Natural reservoir and intermediate host of COVID-19 is yet to be identified. This paper reviews the occurrences of viral diseases in the recent times including SARS and MERS. As an addition to this, the paper will contain a detailed examination of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Self-Cognizant Bionic Liquid Sensor for Pathogen Diagnosis.

As observed in the outbreaks of SARS and swine flu, as well as many other infectious diseases, the huge volume of human traffic across numerous enclosed public venues has posed immense challenges to preventing the spread of communicable diseases. There is an urgent need for effective disease surveillance management in public areas under pandemic outbreaks. The physicochemical properties associated with ionic liquids make them particularly suited for molecular communications in sensing networks where low throughput is quite adequate for pathogen detection. This paper presents a self-cognizant system for rapid diagnosis of infectious disease using a bionic sensor such that testing can be supported without collecting a fluid sample from a subject through any invasive methods. The system is implemented for testing the performance of the proposed bionic liquid sensing network.

Identification of a Super-Spreading Chain of Transmission Associated with COVID-19 at the Early Stage of the Disease Outbreak in Wuhan

Background: The super-spreading events were associated with the outbreaks of SARS and MERS, but their association with the outbreak of COVID-19 was unknown before we first published a report in medRxiv preprint in March 2020. Here, we reported a super-spreading transmission chain of SARS-CoV-2 involving an index patient, seven cancer patients, 40 health care workers and four family members. Methods: We conducted a retrospective study to identify the index patient and the exposed individuals linked to a chain of transmission associated with COVID-19. We collected and analyzed the data on demographic features, exposure history, clinical presentation, laboratory investigation, radiological examination, and disease outcome of these patients. Results: We identified the index patient and another presumptive “super-spreader”, who initiated and amplified a super-spreading transmission chain associated with COVID-19, respectively. There were 31 female and 21 male patients in this cohort, and the median age was 37 years (range: 22-79 years). Each of them had an exposure history with the index patient or his close contacts. Approximately 87% (45/52) of the patients had fever or other symptoms, 96% (50/52) had abnormal chest CT-scan findings, 86% of the tested patients (39/45) were positive for SARS-CoV-2 in the nasopharyngeal or throat swab specimen, 85% of the tested patients (29/34) were positive for SARS-CoV-2-specific IgM and/or IgG, 15% of the RT-PCR positive patients were tested negative for the specific IgM and/or IgG at the convalescent phase, and 15% of the RT-PCR negative patients were tested positive for the specific IgM and/or IgG. The severe patients experienced a significant decrease in oximetry saturation, lymphocyte, and platelet counts, along with a significant increase in C-reactive protein, D-dimer, and lactate dehydrogenase. All six fatal cases had comorbidities and five of the seven cancer patients (71%) died within 2-20 days of the disease onset. Conclusions: Our findings suggested that the super-spreading events associated with COVID-19 took place at the early stage of the disease outbreak in Wuhan. The cancer patients appeared to be highly vulnerable to SASR-CoV-2 infection.