ABSTRACT
The effectiveness of the vaccines, as well as global distribution and intervention strategies in order to deal with vaccine hesitancy, remain a challenge in both developing and developed countries. Even though several COVID-19 vaccines are used globally in population-wide vaccination campaigns, it has been difficult to achieve population-wide immunity. This paper examines select factors within and between nations that have hampered the ability to achieve this level of immunity, including inequalities in production and distribution among low-, middle-and high-income countries and suggests some possible solutions or policies to address global vaccine hesitancy and the unequal distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. The allocation of COVID-19 vaccines should be based on ethical principles to ensure fair and timely administration. Better health education and communication, as well as planning and equitable vaccine allocation strategies, should be carried out by public health policymakers and stakeholders. A globally coordinated strategy that tackles vaccine inequity may reduce hospitalization and death rates, promote vaccine-induced population-wide immunity, and curb the spread of SARS-CoV-2 before the onset of new SARS-CoV-2 strains that might render ongoing mass vaccination campaigns ineffective. © 2022 by the authors.
ABSTRACT
The ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic driven by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus–2 (SARS-CoV-2) has become the most critical universal health disaster of this century. Millions of people are staying at home obeying lockdown to halt the spread of this novel virus. The spread of the virus has forced people to use the mask, gloves, hand sanitizer, etc. daily, and healthcare workers to use personal protection equipment following the WHO guidelines, resulting in huge amounts of medical waste. This pandemic has led to a slowdown of economic activities significantly, and consequently, stock markets have nosedived beyond speculation. Although the deadly coronavirus has taken away millions of precious lives and the livelihood of many sections of people worldwide, it has brought several positive changes in the world. Furthermore, it has led to a massive restoration of the environment and improved air and water quality. Pandemic showed the resilient nature of the environment, including air and water, when human activities are paused. In addition, we also discussed how this pandemic affects human lifestyle behavior. © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
ABSTRACT
The people of India have a wide variety of eating habits that vary according to ethnicity, geography, and culture. The consumption of meat primarily covers the protein requirement of the Indians, and three out of four are non-vegetarians. There is a need to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated countrywide lockdown on the meat consumption pattern of the Indian non-vegetarians. A countrywide survey was conducted among the consumers to study the impact of COVID-19 on the meat consumption pattern using a self-administered electronic questionnaire distributed through emails and online social networking platforms. A total of 416 responses were collected from the consumers belonging to different states and union territories. The data were analyzed as per the standard procedure. The meat consumption pattern of the non-vegetarians was found to be altered during the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown period. The majority of the consumers could not obtain a sufficient quantity of meat and meat products during the lockdown period due to various reasons such as the increased cost and decreased availability of livestock. The myths and rumors associated with meat consumption and the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 further weakened the meat trade in certain areas. Based on the findings of this survey, it is safe to confirm that the meat consumption pattern among Indian consumers was affected badly during the countrywide lockdown. © 2021, Editorial board of Journal of Experimental Biology and Agricultural Sciences. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
The course of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has significantly affected the healthcare systems in multiple ways, the programs of control and the management of patients with other infectious diseases as well as with chronic and acute non-communicable diseases, including those conditions requiring blood transfusions. Blood donations have been decreasing over time in multiple countries with their expected consequences. Although the spread of SARS-CoV-2 has not been detected via blood transfusion, the increasing fear and anxiety among communities have led to a substantial decrease in blood donations. Several research groups have raised concerns about the consequences associated with the scarcity of blood. However, it is critical to understand the underlying causes of the sharp decline in blood donations, as well as the consequences. Hence, we discuss the impact of blood scarcity at the blood banks during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as strategies to promote blood donations, given the experience in some countries with this situation. © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
ABSTRACT
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the etiological agent of the potentially fatal coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), has currently affected over 87 million people with worldwide deaths nearing 1.9 million. Amidst the developing vaccines and effective therapies, there is a need to develop alternative and supportive strategies for ameliorating the effects of SARS-CoV-2 infections in humans and treat COVID-19 patients. Several medicinal plants and herbs contain useful phytochemicals, which are being explored to develop medicines and drugs to counter the COVID-19 pandemic. Withania somnifera is a medicinal herb of growing importance that is extensively utilized in Ayurveda. The medicinal attributes of W. somnifera are owing to a broad range of bioactive secondary metabolites including steroidal lactones [withanone, withanolide D, withanolide A, and withaferin A (WFA)]. Among these, WFA is one of the most interesting naturally occurring bioactive compounds that possess potent anti-tumorigenic, antiinflammatory, pro-apoptotic, anti-angiogenic, and anti-invasive activities. It might bind to SARS-CoV-2 S protein and alter the S protein, thereby hindering its access into the host cells. Withanone and Withanoside V can impede the functional activities of SARS-CoV-2 main protease (Mpro). Withanolides have been found to control cytokine secretions during infection and could alleviate the cytokine storm in the lungs. The combined use of withanolides are several other drugs or therapeutic modalities, such as hydroxychloroquine and dexamethasone, has been demonstrated as an efficient strategy to improve the effectiveness of standard chemotherapy or design a robust therapeutic regime for COVID-19 treatment. Nevertheless, exhaustive research efforts are required to explore the anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory potentialities of withanolides for alleviating the severity of the disease during SARS-CoV-2 infections. This review highlights the medicinal and therapeutic potential of withanolides against COVID-19. © 2021 Manish Dhawan et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
ABSTRACT
The novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 likely emerged from a wildlife source with transmission to humans followed by rapid geographic spread throughout the globe and severe impacts on both human health and the global economy. Since the onset of the pandemic, there have been many instances of human-to-animal transmission involving companion, farmed and zoo animals, and limited evidence for spread into free-living wildlife. The establishment of reservoirs of infection in wild animals would create significant challenges to infection control in humans and could pose a threat to the welfare and conservation status of wildlife. We discuss the potential for exposure, onward transmission and persistence of SARS-CoV-2 in an initial selection of wild mammals (bats, canids, felids, mustelids, great apes, rodents and cervids). Dynamic risk assessment and targeted surveillance are important tools for the early detection of infection in wildlife, and here we describe a framework for collating and synthesising emerging information to inform targeted surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 in wildlife. Surveillance efforts should be integrated with information from public and veterinary health initiatives to provide insights into the potential role of wild mammals in the epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2.
ABSTRACT
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), first reported in people exposed to a local seafood wholesale market in Wuhan, China has already affected more than 76 million people around the globe resulting in the death of nearly 1.7 million people as of December 21, 2020. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) can potentially infect other animal species owing to the superior host adaptability. Sporadic cases of natural SARS-CoV-2 infections have been reported in dogs, cats, lion, puma, and tiger while experimental inoculation in several other susceptible animal species resulted in infection. Although, bats are considered the reservoir host for SARS-CoV-2, pangolins, a wild mammal of order Pholidota, is suspected to be the missing link that contributed to transmitting the virus to human beings due to its wide consumption in the Chinese culinary practice. Unconventional meat is consumed in a large quantity all around the world since it acts as a ‘low cost‘ or ‘costless‘ nutritional source in underdeveloped countries. However, in certain communities, geographies, and niches of the globe, meat from wild and other free-ranging mammals, rodents, and reptiles are used as delicacies. The overexploitation of these ‘unconventional meat animals‘ for various reasons threatened biodiversity and contributed to the emergence of novel diseases having significant public health implications. With the swift emergence of SARS-CoV-2, humans have recognized the important role played by wildlife and their ecosystem in the emergence of novel infections. The interface between human and wild animals is considered the hotspot that facilitate cross-species jumping and disease spillover. Establishing an efficient surveillance system at a potential human-animal interface can limit the spread of novel zoonotic diseases such as COVID-19. © 2020, Editorial board of Journal of Experimental Biology and Agricultural Sciences. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), a novel zoonotic coronavirus that emerged from Wuhan, China. Development of SARS-CoV-2 specific vaccine is considered as the only solution that could control this pandemic. However, the success of COVID-19 vaccination programme will be dependent on the development of effective and safer vaccines and also on the public acceptance which in turn reliant on the beliefs and perception towards the vaccine. Therefore, this study was aimed to analyse the beliefs and barriers associated with COVID-19 vaccination among the general population in India. The study conducted using an online self-administered questionnaire that was distributed among the general population of India during the month of October 2020. The online questionnaire addressed several variables including the socio-demographic parameters, beliefs toward COVID-19 vaccine/vaccination, COVID-19 vaccine acceptance, potential barriers that may prevent from being vaccinated and factors that can improve COVID-19 vaccine acceptance. Among the 351 participants, 55% believed that the COVID-19 vaccination will be safe while only 46.2% believed that it will be effective. Majority of the participants (86.3%) were planning to get COVID-19 vaccination, whereas 13.7% admitted hesitancy. However, only 65.8% of the participants responded that they will receive vaccination as soon as possible whenever the vaccine is available. The study also identified that the. © 2020, Editorial board of Journal of Experimental Biology and Agricultural Sciences. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Newly emerging severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has now spread across the globe in past few months while affecting 26 million people and leading to more than 0.85 million deaths as on 2nd September, 2020. Severity of SARS-CoV-2 infection increases in COVID-19 patients due to pre-existing health co-morbidities. This mini-review has focused on the three significant co-morbidities viz., heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes, which are posing high health concerns and increased mortality during this ongoing pandemic. The observed co-morbidities have been found to be associated with the increasing risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 critical illness as well as to be associated positively with the worsening of the health condition of COVID-19 suffering individuals resulting in the high risk for mortality. SARS-CoV-2 enters host cell via angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 receptors. Regulation of crucial cardiovascular functions and metabolisms like blood pressure and sugar levels are being carried out by ACE2. This might be one of the reasons that contribute to the higher mortality in COVID-19 patients having co-morbidities. Clinical investigations have identified higher levels of creatinine, cardiac troponin I, alanine aminotransferase, NT-proBNP, creatine kinase, D-dimer, aspartate aminotransferase and lactate dehydrogenase in patients who have succumbed to death from COVID-19 as compared to recovered individuals. More investigations are required to identify the modes behind increased mortality in COVID-19 patients having co-morbidities of heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes. This will enable us to design and develop suitable therapeutic strategies for reducing the mortality. More attention and critical care need to be paid to such high risk patients suffering from co-morbidities during COVID-19 pandemic.