Hello guys,

So I have read several theories about COVID-19, search for vaccine as well as its cure and I would want to share my clinical knowledge to this effect. Although I acknowledge several views and share in the frustration that has bedevilled our lives and threatens our existence; it has become imperative for me to debunk some theories while also providing some clinical insights on peculiar issues regarding COVID-19.

Corona virus is an RNA virus that is composed of 6 different strains before the current outbreak that revealed a novel COVID-19 strain (making it a total of 7 viral strains).
The first 4 are corona virus 1-4: which are among the commonest cause of common cold and URTI (upper respiratory tract infection) which implies that at one point in our lives, we are bound to have flu-like illness caused by any of these 4 strains which only cause mild illness.

In 2003, another strain of corona virus (5th) was discovered during an outbreak of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome). This was named corona SARS virus. Few years later, a similar strain of corona SARS virus outbreak occurred in the middle-east and was named MERS (Middle-east respiratory syndrome).

Fast forward to Dec 2019; the newest strain nCOVID-19-SARS was isolated in an outbreak in Wuhan which is currently ravaging the world in a pandemic. Although, there are several theories to its emergence, none is yet to be unambiguously confirmed. However, it's important to look at several factors affecting the development of its cure and vaccine.

Firstly, COVID-19 like many other viruses are difficult to treat and it's quite tasking to find a particular antimicrobial agent(s) that guarantee its absolute cure. Other viruses like HIV 1&2, HBV, HCV, HSV 1&2, Ebola virus, lassa fever virus etc have got designated drugs for their treatment but none is yet to be shown to effectively provide absolute cure, hence, the continuation of several researches and clinical trials till date.

As regards COVID-19, it's a new virus and has been shown to have the ability to mutate (ie genetic changes in its viral properties) and this will make it even more difficult to get an absolute cure against it as resistance to a previously effective drug is almost inevitable. Hydroxychloroquine, Remsidivir, other antiviral agents, immunomodulating drugs and several anti-monoclonal antibody agents have been employed on trail basis among selective patients with rather equivocal results, hence the reason none amongst them has been unequivocally approved as proven treatment against COVID-19, although their use are encouraged for patients who might benefit from them especially the critically ill-patients. Therefore, several clinical trials are still ongoing to recognise some target proteins in the virus which designated drugs could act against to neutralise or kill it while ensuring optimal safety of a patient/recipient. It's step in the right direction but this may take some time. It's important to note that the first antimalarial agent; Quinine which is still used till date took hundreds of years to be developed and there are still many illnesses that have plagued humans without no proven cure till date (cancer easily comes to mind).

What's Vaccine?
In a nutshell and for our understanding, vaccine is produced from a whole or some constituent protein of a pathogen/organism which is either inactivated/killed/attenuated such that when given to a person will elicit an immune response leading to the production of antibodies and/or other immune components. These immune bodies function to recognize such virus in the event of any outbreak and attack/kill it such that an infection would not progress. Booster vaccines may be needed to keep these antibodies within an optimal level to fight against any infection by similar strain/antigen in the future.
To produce a vaccine, it undergoes various phases and clinical trials to prove its efficacy as well as safety to the recipients. This usually takes time.

As regards COVID-19, remember I discussed the other 6 strains above. These are all corona viruses albeit different strains. It's important to note that with every viral infection, the body mounts an immune response resulting in the production of antibodies to protect it against subsequent infection by same organism. Unfortunately, some immunity are life-long or longlasting while some are short-lived hence reinfection with same virus is possible in the future. Considering, corona virus has several other strains, it's difficult to tell if antibody produced from previous exposure is due to COVID-19 or any of the other 6 strains and this has posed a big dilemma in developing both an effective and specific antibody testing kit as well as an efficacious vaccine.
It's also difficult at this point to tell if previous exposure to COVID-19 provides long-lasting immunity as few people who had suffered it have been shown to be reinfected with same COVID-19 (This may be attributed to the viral mutation which I explained above).

Considering all these factors, it's obvious the effective cure and vaccine would be obtained albeit not as fast as we anticipate. It's a process but Scientists have done well so far and several knowledge is being shared among top scientists globally to ensure an efficacious vaccine and drug agent(s) are produced in no distant time.

As for question about how people who recovered are treated, it's simple. Treatment is supportive (ie focused on treating symptoms) +/- the trial agents, but the illness is mostly self-limiting (spontaneous recovery) in individuals who are immunocompetent (good immunity).

I hope I have been able to provide some insight and clarification to several mind bulgling questions you may have..

Regards

Hmm. This point of view is certainly very informative. Thanks for sharing this.

Alexaonfleek:
Hmm.
This point of view is certainly very informative.
Thanks for sharing this.

My pleasure..