ABSTRACT
Background: in the history of humanity, the great pandemics have represented important and terrible scourges for the human race and the development of society. Objective: to describe the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of COVID 19 in the Cumanayagua municipality, Cienfuegos province, during the year 2021. Methods: A retrospective study of a series of cases was carried out, whose universe consisted of 5,710 positive cases for COVID 19. Variables studied: cases according to months, statistical weeks, age, sex, presence or absence of symptoms, clinical manifestations, source of infection, popular council, health area and deceased. Results: The months of August and September predominated with higher positive cases and deaths, more frequent in females, as well as in young adults. The highest percentage presented clinical symptoms, cough and asthenia were the most reported symptoms, followed by headache and runny nose. Being a contact of a positive case prevailed as a source of infection, the mountainous area reported a lower frequency of cases. Conclusions: The pandemic was an event that caused anguish, restlessness and anxiety on the planet. Being aware of your history is essential to differentiate progress from your progress and thus anticipate and take action for more challenging and dire situations. To this end, knowing its clinical and epidemiological characteristics and its constant updating is valuable to conceive the behavior of the COVID-19 disease, which behaved with an increase in the period studied in the municipality of Cumanayagua.
ABSTRACT
Tetracyclines have been used to treat many bacterial infections. The use of these antibiotics for the treatment of viral diseases dates back to the 1960s and 1970s. Subsequent studies have demonstrated the efficacy of tetracyclines as an antiviral drug in experimental models and in vitro studies. Tetracyclines can act on viral infections by several mechanisms including the ability to inhibit metalloproteinases, anti-inflammatory effects, inhibition of the NF-kB pathway, anti-apoptotic and antioxidant effects, inhibition of protein synthesis, and inhibition of viral structural proteins, proteases and RNA, among other properties. Thus, tetracyclines represent a potential drug against THE SARS-CoV2 infection. Despite the potential of tetracyclines as antiviral drugs, further clinical studies are required. It is important to develop antiviral treatments for COVID-19 that can be administered at an early stage of infection, to prevent organ damage caused by the virus and to allow the patient to produce a strong immune response against the virus. This review focuses on the clinical and experimental data supporting the use of tetracycline in the treatment of viral infections and highlights an important approach to decrease disease progression during viral infection. Tetracycline treatment could represent a strategy to eliminate infection or inhibit progression of COVID-19.
ABSTRACT
Although severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus – 2 (SARS-CoV-2), causing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, is primarily associated with a respiratory infection, it has also been linked to multisystem involvement that includes the digestive tract. Gastrointestinal (GI) manifestations are common in patients with COVID-19 due to the high viral load lodged in the small intestine's mucosa. As a result, it causes an increase in the permeability of the intestinal barrier that favours the passage and translocation of bacteria, from the lumen of the intestine, towards the internal environment, with the appearance of sepsis, with evidence that SARS-CoV-2 has been found in faeces. This article highlights epidemiology, clinical symptoms, and mechanisms related to manifestations of disease in the GI tract and its pathogenesis in patients with COVID-19. It highlights bacterial translocation and COVID-19, mechanisms that control bacterial translocation, intestinal infection and feco-oral transmission, defense mechanisms against microbial invasion, role of microbiota/microbiome and implications of their dysbiosis and alterations during SARS-CoV-2 infection, and lastly protective health benefits by improving dietary habits with nutritional foods approaches amid the ongoing pandemic. Increasing evidence indicates that bacterial translocation appears due to the high viral load of COVID-19 in the mucosa of the GI tract, and the intestinal microbiota contributes to the COVID-19 course owing to their bidirectional relationship with the immune system and lungs. Dysbiosis in gut microbiota leads to increased gut permeability thus predisposing to secondary infection and multiple organ dysfunction. Disruption of intestinal barrier integrity due to dysbiosis may cause translocation of SARS-CoV-2 from lungs into the intestinal lumen via the circulatory and lymphatic system, initiating severe clinical presentation of the infection. A thorough understanding of the key role of gut microbiota, gastrointestinal symptoms, and pathology along with immunomodulatory approaches would help in alleviating morbidity and mortality during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. © 2021, Editorial board of Journal of Experimental Biology and Agricultural Sciences.