ABSTRACT
The new coronavirus (SARS-COV-2) shows structural similarity with SARS COV, which emerged in China in the early 2019. SARS-COV-2 has been declared a pandemic by the WHO (World Health Organization) as it imposed a threat to the world in various aspects. There is no specific drug therapy or vaccine to treat or prevent this disease because of the limited knowledge regarding the pathogenesis and proliferation pathways involved in disease progression. The virus penetrates the human body through ACE2 receptor by interacting with Spike(S) protein and it is assumed that viral entry can be inhibited by targeting the protein-protein interaction. Different drugs have been repurposed for their potential effectiveness against SARS-CoV-2, such as ivermectin, digitoxin, and polyenes. Polyene antibiotics are characterized by the presence of a macrocyclic ring. Furthermore, this group has been known for pharmacological activities, for example, antifungal, antihuman immunodeficiency virus, immunomodulating, and antiprion. Polyene antibiotics inhibit the binding of the virus to the ACE2 receptor. Further investigation should be done to assess the relationship between polyenes and SARS-CoV-2 in considering the development of a novel therapeutic option for the treatment of COVID-19. © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Since the initial shipment of vaccination campaign against SARS-CoV-2 infection, it was a major concern all over the world regarding appropriate gapping between the first and second dose and also the necessity of booster dose after being vaccinated with the second dose. This cross-sectional type of comparative study was conducted at Kuwait Bangladesh Friendship Government Hospital, from the period of March 01 2021 to August 31 2021, on 148 hospitalized patients who were vaccinated with Astra Zeneca. They were divided into two groups on the background of 1st dose and 2nd dose. Collected data were entered into SPSS-26 version and after data cleaning, descriptive analysis was done with frequency distribution. To find out the significant difference between the two groups considering clinico-demographic information, disease severity, and duration of the last dose of vaccine; the Pearson Chi-square test was done with a significance level ≤0.05. The patients from both groups were mostly male and above 60 years. There were no significant age or sex variations between the two groups. SARS-CoV-2 infection was common after 38 days of dose 1 and after 63 days of dose 2. Fever, cough, running nose, shortness of breath, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, lower oxygen saturation, radiological involvement were comparatively more in patients who got only a single dose. Mild pneumonia (70.7%) was the commonest presentation in both doses of vaccinated patients and single dose vaccinated patients mostly (45.5%) presented with severe pneumonia. Elderly clinically risks group patients were mostly hospitalized with infection after 1 month of the 1st dose and on the other hand after 2 months of completing the 2nd dose. Symptomatic infection and disease severity were more in 1st dose vaccine recipients in comparison to 2nd dose.