Herbal Medicines as Potential Inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 Infection.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is the result of infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Understanding molecular pathogenesis is an essential factor for the allocation of effective preventive measures and the development of targeted therapeutics against COVID-19. The genome of SARS-CoV-2 encodes structural and nonstructural proteins, which can be targets for compounds with potential therapeutic ability. On the other hand, the virus life cycle has stages susceptible to targeting by drug compounds. Many natural antiviral compounds have been studied and evaluated at the cellular and molecular levels with antiviral potential. Meanwhile, many studies over the past few months have shown that plant polysaccharides have a good ability to target proteins and stages of the virus life cycle. In this regard, in this review study, the virus specifications and infectious process and structural and functional components of SARSCoV- 2 will be reviewed, and then the latest studies on the effect of plant compounds with more focus on polysaccharides on viral targets and their inhibitory potential on the infectious process of COVID-19 will be discussed.

Fatal Invasive Pulmonary Aspergillosis in COVID-19 Patient with Acute Myeloid Leukemia in Iran.

Although patients with severe immunodeficiency and hematological malignancies has been considered at highest risk for invasive fungal infection, patients with severe pneumonia due to influenza, and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) are also at a higher risk of developing invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA). Recently, reports of IPA have also emerged among SARS-CoV-2 infected patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs). Here, we report a fatal case of probable IPA in an acute myeloid leukemia patient co-infected with SARS-CoV-2 and complicated by acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Probable IPA is supported by multiple pulmonary nodules with ground glass opacities which indicate halo sign and positive serum galactomannan results. Screening studies are needed to evaluate the prevalence of IPA in immunocompromised patients infected with SARS-CoV-2. Consequently, testing for the presence of Aspergillus in lower respiratory secretions and galactomannan in consecutive serum samples of COVID-19 patients with timely and targeted antifungal therapy based on early clinical suspicion of IPA are highly recommended.

Current status of COVID-19 pandemic; characteristics, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment.

Humans have always been encountered to big infectious diseases outbreak throughout the history. In December 2019, novel coronavirus (COVID-19) was first noticed as an agent causing insidious pneumonia in Wuhan, China. COVID-19 was spread rapidly from Wuhan to the rest of the world. Until late June 2020, it infected more than 10,000,000 people and caused more than 500,000 deaths in almost all of countries in the world, creating a global crisis worse than all previous epidemics and pandemics. In the current review, we gathered and summarized the results of various studies on characteristics, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of this pandemic crisis.