ABSTRACT
DIAGNOSTIC TESTS FOR SARS-COV-2: A CRITICAL REFLECTION. The new coronavirus, called Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), was discovered in late December 2019 after cases were reported in the city of Wuhan, China. In January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) as a pandemic, which has an official record of around 500 million cases and more than 6.0 million deaths in worldwide. An important factor in controlling the pandemic is the development of more effective and efficient diagnostic tests. In this context, this review has as its main proposal to discuss the effective differences between the possible diagnostic tests, the implications of molecular and serological methods available on the market and the analytical and clinical parameters involved in the development and application of these methods.
ABSTRACT
In December 2019, the World Health Organization officially announced the discovery and fast spread of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2), discovered in Wuhan, China. Since the beginning of the pandemic, there has been a global search for the discovery of antiviral candidates capable of treating the infection caused by SARS-CoV-2. However, none of them has shown proved efficacy and low toxicity for an effective dose. In view of this, research with plants based in natural products has been highlighted by the low toxicity of its metabolites and reduced side effects, since plants have been used for millennia in the treatment of various diseases. In this review, we highlight some plant species and plant metabolites belonging to the structural class of phenolic, alkaloids and terpenes with promising antiviral potential against coronavirus that could be explored as potential candidates for drug prototypes in the treatment of COVID-19.