Mutations in SARS-CoV-2: Insights on structure, variants, vaccines, and biomedical interventions.

COVID-19 is a worldwide pandemic caused by SARS-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). Less than a year after the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic, many vaccines have arrived on the market with innovative technologies in the field of vaccinology. Based on the use of messenger RNA (mRNA) encoding the Spike SARS-Cov-2 protein or on the use of recombinant adenovirus vectors enabling the gene encoding the Spike protein to be introduced into our cells, these strategies make it possible to envisage the vaccination in a new light with tools that are more scalable than the vaccine strategies used so far. Faced with the appearance of new variants, which will gradually take precedence over the strain at the origin of the pandemic, these new strategies will allow a much faster update of vaccines to fight against these new variants, some of which may escape neutralization by vaccine antibodies. However, only a vaccination policy based on rapid and massive vaccination of the population but requiring a supply of sufficient doses could make it possible to combat the emergence of these variants. Indeed, the greater the number of infected individuals, the faster the virus multiplies, with an increased risk of the emergence of variants in these RNA viruses. This review will discuss SARS-CoV-2 pathophysiology and evolution approaches in altered transmission platforms and emphasize the different mutations and how they influence the virus characteristics. Also, this article summarizes the common vaccines and the implication of the mutations and genetic variety of SARS-CoV-2 on the COVID-19 biomedical arbitrations.

Clinical and chest computed tomography features of patients suffering from mild and severe COVID-19 at Fayoum University Hospital in Egypt.

BACKGROUND: In pandemic COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), the prognosis of patients has been determined using clinical data and CT (computed tomography) scans, but it is still unclear whether chest CT characteristics are correlated to COVID-19 severity. AIM: To explore the potential association between clinical data and 25-point CT score and investigate their predictive significance in COVID-19-positive patients at Fayoum University Hospital in Egypt. METHODS: This study was conducted on 252 Egyptian COVID-19 patients at Fayoum University Hospital in Egypt. The patients were classified into two groups: a mild group (174 patients) and a severe group (78 patients). The results of clinical laboratory data, and CT scans of severe and mild patients, were collected, analyzed, and compared. RESULTS: The severe group show high significance levels of CRP, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), creatinine, urea, ferritin, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), neutrophil percent, and heart rate (HR) than the mild group. Lymphopenia, hypoalbuminemia, hypocalcemia, and decreased oxygen saturation (SpO2) were the most observed abnormalities in severe COVID-19 patients. Lymphopenia, low SpO2 and albumin levels, elevated serum LDH, ferritin, urea, and CRP levels were found to be significantly correlated with severity CT score (P<0.0001). CONCLUSION: The clinical severity of COVID-19 and the CT score are highly correlated. Our findings indicate that the CT scoring system can help to predict COVID-19 disease outcomes and has a strong correlation with clinical laboratory testing.

Correction: Clinical characteristics of Egyptian male patients with COVID-19 acute respiratory distress syndrome.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0249346.].

Clinical characteristics of Egyptian male patients with COVID-19 acute respiratory distress syndrome.

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a serious illness caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and in severe cases associated with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). OBJECTIVE: To describe the clinical characteristics of patients with ARDS-COVID-19. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study involved 197 male Egyptian participants, among them111 COVID-19 patients presented with ARDS, 60 COVID-19 patients presented with non-ARDS, and 26 Non-COVID-19 patients. We reported the analysis results of clinical and laboratory information, including blood routine tests, blood biochemistry parameters [aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), creatinine and C-reactive protein (CRP)], thrombotic activity (D-dimer) and serum ferritin and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). RESULTS: The levels of hemoglobin, AST, creatinine, monocyte count, monocyte %, RBC count, TLC, and platelet count were not significantly different among the groups. The lymphopenia and increased CRP, ALT, D-dimer, ferritin, and LDH were observed in patients with ARDS-COVID-19. CONCLUSION: COVID-19 patients with ARDS presented with lymphopenia, increased thrombotic activity, increased CRP, LDH, and ferritin levels. The results revealed that CRP, D-dimer, LDH levels, and lymphopenia have a significant association with the COVID-19 severity and can be used as biomarkers to predict the disease severity.