Alternative therapies in health and medicine
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RNA viruses exhibit an extraordinary ability to evolve in a changing environment and to switch from animal hosts to humans. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, recognized as a respiratory disease, is an example of zoonotic transmission of the RNA virus known as SARS-CoV-2. The development and regulatory approval of a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 pose multiple preventive and therapeutic challenges, especially during an ongoing pandemic. ⋯ Emerging and re-emerging pathogenic RNA viruses pose a serious threat to human health. Little is known about the human-host adoptive mechanism for zoonotic transmission. Deep insights into the molecular mechanism responsible for the switching of animal or bird viruses to humans could provide target molecules or events to prevent such transmissions in the near future. Fast development and approval of efficacious and safe vaccines is key to the effort to provide preventive measures against COVID-19 and future viruses. However, the development and availability of a vaccine candidate is a time-consuming process and often can't be completed during an epidemic. Currently, several types of vaccines are under development, and most of them won't realistically be available in time for the present COVID-19 pandemic.
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An outbreak of a novel, zoonotic coronavirus occurred in December 2019 in the city of Wuhan, China and has now affected almost the entire world, with the maximum confirmed cases being 1 521 252 as of April 10, 2020. The WHO named this coronavirus 2019-nCoV, with COVID-19 being the name for diseases allied with it. ⋯ First-level treatments include repurposing antivirals and antimalarials, and plasma infusion should help, but development of existing or new molecules into vaccines will take time. The unpredictable trajectory of this outbreak demands careful surveillance to monitor the situation, draw strategies, implement control measures, and create proper ethical laws and medical guidelines.