"SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 DISEASE: Latest data"

Abstract

Viruses are biological agents that infect cells of an organism/host and then replicate within them, causing them to produce identical copies of themselves. This whole process in the organism they infect is expressed as a disease, the severity of which depends on many factors such as the type of virus, the cells they infect, the extent of the infection, the reaction/immunological response of the organism, etc. Coronaviruses are a type of virus capable of causing disease in mammals and birds. In humans they cause respiratory infections, sometimes mild (e.g. simple cold) and sometimes fatal (SARS, MERS), and depending on their mode of transmission and the time of their reproduction/incubation, they are capable of causing endemics, epidemics and pandemics.

Since December 2019, when it was identified for the first time, the global community has been called upon to deal with a "new" coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, which causes severe respiratory tract infection in humans. Due to its rapid and mode of transmission (airborne droplet), but also due to the many mutations that SARS-CoV-2 presents, the disease it causes (COVID-19) , has caused a pandemic, which the world community is still trying to control (January 2022).

On the occasion of the pandemic, the global medical community joined forces to tackle it, using new therapeutic approaches as well as innovative immunisation techniques (monoclonal antibodies, m-RNA vaccines, etc.).

IKONOMOU Veta