COVID-19 Therapeutic Drug Development

Artificial intelligence (AI) offers a powerful new tool that could potentially be instrumental in controling and managing the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The papers in this feed report on the applications of AI to the current pandemic, which may be able to predict the location of the next outbreak, or facilitate new drug design.

Coronaviruses encompass a large family of viruses that cause the common cold as well as more serious diseases, such as the ongoing outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19; formally known as 2019-nCoV). Coronaviruses can spread from animals to humans; symptoms include fever, cough, shortness of breath, and breathing difficulties; in more severe cases, infection can lead to death. This feed covers recent research on COVID-19.

COVID-19 patients typically present with high fever and a persistent cough. This feed focuses on clinical diagnosis, including RT-PCR testing for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 and radiographic assessment of lungs.

While most COVID-19 infections cause only mild to moderate symptoms, severely affected patients, such as those presenting with pneumonia, ARDS or septic shock, require hospitalization. This feed focuses on clinical management of patients using oxygen therapy, ventilation, and other treatment strategies, and covers some medical case reports.

COVID-19 represents a particular challenge to people with serious chronic medical conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and chronic lung disease. Research into the intersection between comorbidities and COVID-19 is focusing on risks and treatment outcomes for these patients.

A growing number of complications associated with COVID-19 has been identified. This feed focuses primarily on cardiovascular and respiratory manifestations in severely ill patients.

Convalescent plasma therapy, where passive polyclonal antibody obtained from recovered patients are used to provide immediate immunity, has been tested in respiratory infections such as the 2009-2010 H1N1 influenza virus pandemic and the 2003 SARS-CoV-1 epidemic. This feed follows ongoing research efforts and clinical trials exploring covalescent plasma therapy as a potential treatment strategy for COVID-19.

Epidemiological studies play a crucial role in understanding and managing the progression of COVID-19. Research followed in this feed includes studies of transmission dynamics and the change of the basic reproductive number (R) as new pubic health measures take effect.

Understanding the innate and acquired immune response to SARS-CoV-2 is essential for development of COVID-19 therapeutic treatment and design of prophylactic vaccines. This feed surfaces immunological studies, including studies into the cytokine storm that has been observed in severely ill patients.

The research highlighted in this feed investigates the immunopathology seen in severely ill COVID-19 patients, which often resembles the cytokine storm syndrome: uncontrolled immune activation generates excessive release of cytokines, resulting in hyperinflammation and multi-organ disease.