Corona virus and its treatment

Corona virus 

Corona virus are the large family of viruses which cause diseases in humans and animals also.  They cause the respiratory infections, Middle East Respiratory syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute  Respiratory syndrome (SARS) in humans. The most recent diseases caused in humans is COVID-19.I.

Besides its virulency ; it also became a well wisher for plastic industry

Viral composition:

Corona viruses are enveloped, medium-sized, positive-stranded RNA viruses whose name derived from their crown-like appearance in the electron microscope.These viruses have viral RNA genomes, with a length of 27 to 32 kb. The host-derived membrane is covered with glycoprotein spikes that surround the genome. 

 COVID-19:

It is an outbreak of corona virus started from china and spread in the whole world. It comes from meat market in wuhan, china, in December. 

Symptoms:

COVID-19 symptoms takes 2-14 days to appear range from mild to severe ;
1) Fever
2) Cough
3) Shortness of breath
4) Chills
5) Repeated shaking with chills
6) Sore throat
7) Muscle pain
8) Headache
9) New loss of taste and smell 

Prevention for coronaviruses:

We can keep safe ourselves from coronavirus to adopt some things ;
1) Practice social distancing
2) Avoid people who are sick
3) Avoid meeting in large groups
4) Stay home if you are sick
5) Do not cough into your hands
6) Wash your hands frequently with soap for at least 20 seconds
7) Wash hands especially after going to bathroom, before eating , coughing, sneezing .
8) Used sanitizer with at least 60% of alcohol
9) Avoid touching your mouth, nose, and eyes. 

High risks of COVID-19 for those who are ..

1) Aged 65 years and older
2) Individuals living in nursing home
3) People with uncontrolled or severe health conditions
4) People with weakened immune system
5) People with severe obesity 

Treatment of COVID-19 patient:

A doctor may treat a person with severe COVID-19 symptoms with one or more of the following:
• Mechanical ventilation:  

This involves inserting a tube into a person’s lungs through their nose or mouth. The other end of the tube connects to a device called a respirator. The respirator uses pressure to send oxygenated air into the lungs and remove carbon dioxide from the body. Doctors call this intubation.

• Intravenous (IV) treatment:

this can treat and prevent dehydration and restore electrolytes to the body. 

• Sedative treatment:  

This can include antipsychotic or anti-anxiety medications. This help patient to distress, delirium, or confusion.        

Treatment by antibiotics: 

   Antibiotics, medicine designed to fight bacteria, won’t work on SARS-CoV-2, a virus. If you are infected, you will be asked to self-isolate, to prevent further spread of diseases, for 14 days. 

Treatment by convalescent plasma therapy:

On March 24, the US FAD announced it would allow access to “convalescent plasma” for serious patients of COVID-19. This is form of therapy in which takes blood from recovered COVID-19 patients infuse into sick patient’s bodies. 

•   The immune system is the body’s defence force. When a virus attack it sends out an army of cells, including white blood cells, to fight it off. Those cells release release antibodies, which linger in the liquid portion of blood, known as “plasma”. If a patient survives COVID-19, they are likely to have built up a huge stoke of antibodies in their plasma. The idea of taking a portion of their stoke and inject into thee seriously ill patients, hoping the antibodies will stimulate the patients’ own immune system to find and destroying the virus. 
• This is not the first time such therapy would be used; pervious outbreaks of SARS, MERS and the H1N1 influenza pandemic all saw the use of this therapy. This therapy proves beneficial for seriously ill patients of COVID-19. 

Risks
Convalescent plasma therapy carries the of
• Allergic reactions
• Lung damage and difficulty breathing
• Transmission of infections, including HIV and hepatitis B and C

Treatment by vaccines:

A vaccine is a type of treatment aimed at stimulating the body’s immune system to fight against infections pathogens, like bacteria and viruses. 

1) Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine:

Hydroxychloroquine and its sister drug chloroquine have been used to treat the malaria and other diseases of decades. Both are used to treat the corona virus patients. President Donald Trump has promoted it, and even took it himself for a while to ward off infection. 

It’s used to reduce inflammation and fever, and it is hope that it can also inhibit the virus that causes Covid-19. Some early studies showed that it may be able to shorten the duration of symptoms experienced by coronavirus patients, while others indicated it had no positive effect at all. 

2) The drug remdesivir:

A recent study in the United States suggested that the drug remdesivir could help patients to recover from coronavirus faster. Patients who received remdesivir recovered on average four days than those who got the usual care. Animals studies proved that remdesivir was effective against SARS and MERS, two disease also caused by coronaviruses. 

3) Other treatment options:

An HIV medicine Kaletra\Aluvia, has been used in China to treat COVID-19. The treatment was provided as an experimental option for chinese patients during “the early days “  of fighting the virus. The results, published in the New England journal of medicine, show that adults with severe COVID-19 infections do not seem to benefit from the drug treatment and there was no clinical improvement versus standard care. 

SUMMARY:

Corona viruses are enveloped, medium-sized, positive-stranded RNA viruses whose name derived from their crown-like appearance in the electron microscope. These viruses have viral RNA genome. Corona virus caused the diseases in human MERS and SARS and COVID-19. The symptoms of COVID-19 are fever, chills, coughing and shortness of breathing. We can prevent the corona virus by social distance. There is no vaccine and antibiotic for the treatment of corona virus patient. But there are some options to treat the patients like plasma convalescent therapy, Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine and the drug remdesivir.

           Written by:  Aqib khan

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