Early report on sars-cov2 outbreak: classification, mechanism, therapeutics, socio-economic impact and prevention

The world has faced many health challenges in the past as evident from the previous disease outbreaks such as Smallpox, Plague, Cholera, Influenza, Chikungunya, MERS-CoV, Meningitis etc. The global and regional outbreak of viral infections has been considered as an issue of global concern. The extensive growth and spread of the virus have become a significant worry for the researchers since the virus has affected millions across the globe. Unlike other pathogenic diseases, viral infections are the hardest to deal and mitigate. SARS-CoV2 was first reported in Wuhan province of China, since then the virus is continually spreading all over the globe. Primarily, SARS-CoV-2 spreads through the sputum droplets upon face-to-face contact and it may exist as asymptomatically, symptomatically and pre-symptomatically in human populations worldwide. The death rate was increasing as a greater number of asymptomatic patients are found to be positive. Emerging data indicates that the most common symptoms include fever, headache, cough and shortness of breath. Pathophysiological findings suggest that the patients may have lymphopenia and elevated levels some cytokines. To detect the presence of SARS-CoV-2, the sputum samples are tested by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. Till date, there was no effective antiviral therapy for SARS-CoV-2. Although, socio-economic guidelines have been stringent as social-distancing seemed to be the only available option to prevent viral infection. The current situation entailed safe, cost effective and more specific therapeutics and preventive strategy. Therefore, several countries were engaged with the development of an effective, safe and target specific drug and vaccine to treat and prevent SARS-CoV-2 infections