ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the virus responsible for the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) that emerged in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, and rapidly spread worldwide, with a daily increase in confirmed cases and infection-related deaths. The World Health Organization declared a pandemic on the 11th of March 2020. COVID-19 presents flu-like symptoms that become severe in high-risk medically compromised subjects. The aim of this study was to perform an updated overview of the treatments and adjuvant protocols for COVID-19. METHODS: A systematic literature search of databases was performed (MEDLINE PubMed, Google Scholar, UpToDate, Embase, and Web of Science) using the keywords: "COVID-19", "2019-nCoV", "coronavirus" and "SARS-CoV-2" (date range: 1 January 2019 to 31st October 2020), focused on clinical features and treatments. RESULTS: The main treatments retrieved were antivirals, antimalarials, convalescent plasma, immunomodulators, corticosteroids, anticoagulants, and mesenchymal stem cells. Most of the described treatments may provide benefits to COVID-19 subjects, but no one protocol has definitively proven its efficacy. CONCLUSIONS: While many efforts are being spent worldwide in research aimed at identifying early diagnostic methods and evidence-based effective treatments, mass vaccination is thought to be the best option against this disease in the near future.
ABSTRACT
The unprecedented climate of the COVID-19 pandemic has some restrictions on oral care operational services, which heavily impacted the delivery of aerosol generating procedures (AGPs). This led the health authorities to set up guidelines and policies that should be followed to minimize the virus spread and ensure safe and effective dental care delivery. This systemic review aimed to evaluate the current guidelines and strategies in providing safe dental services and ensuring efficacy of the current universal personal preventive and protective measures, as well the impact that this outbreak might have on practicing the dental profession in full scope. The review focus questions were as follows: are the current guidelines and measures in literature mitigated enough to ensure safe and effective oral care delivery to patients during the COVID-19 pandemic? Is it possible to highlight the essential and fundamental cross-infection control measures and policies? Twenty articles were chosen out of 180,248 after the inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied in the period between January 1st and August 1st 2020. Our results highlighted effective safety measures that can be implanted in protecting healthcare professionals and patients and ensuring optimal dental care delivery in a safe and healthy environment, taking into consideration the risk assessment and management of AGPs. In conclusion, informative updated standardized policies and protocols are required when more knowledge on the virus behavior keeps evolving. Moreover, there is a need for evidence-based protective measures to be modified on a regular basis to be followed, until a safe vaccine is produced.
ABSTRACT
In the context of the SARS-CoV-2 (Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) pandemic, the medical system has been subjected to many changes. Face-to-face treatments have been suspended for a period of time. After the lockdown, dentists have to be aware of the modalities to protect themselves and their patients in order not to get infected. Dental practitioners are potentially exposed to a high degree of contamination with SARS-CoV-2 while performing dental procedures that produce aerosols. It should also be noted that the airways, namely the oral cavity and nostrils, are the access pathways for SARS-CoV-2. In order to protect themselves and their patients, they have to use full personal protective equipment. Relevant data regarding this pandemic are under evaluation and are still under test. In this article, we made a synthesis about the way in which SARS-CoV-2 spreads, how to diagnose a novel corona virus infection, what the possible treatments are, and which protective personal equipment we can use to stop its spreading.
ABSTRACT
In the context of the SARS-CoV-2 (Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) pandemic, the medical system has been subjected to many changes. Face-to-face treatments have been suspended for a period of time. After the lockdown, dentists have to be aware of the modalities to protect themselves and their patients in order not to get infected. Dental practitioners are potentially exposed to a high degree of contamination with SARS-CoV-2 while performing dental procedures that produce aerosols. It should also be noted that the airways, namely the oral cavity and nostrils, are the access pathways for SARS-CoV-2. In order to protect themselves and their patients, they have to use full personal protective equipment. Relevant data regarding this pandemic are under evaluation and are still under test. In this article, we made a synthesis about the way in which SARS-CoV-2 spreads, how to diagnose a novel corona virus infection, what the possible treatments are, and which protective personal equipment we can use to stop its spreading.