APR September/October 2020 - 146

MICROBIOLOGY

»
Table 5A. Worldwide COVID-19 Cases. Top 10 countries.

Country

Deaths March 17, 2020
(7,426)

Country

Deaths June 8, 2020
(403,267)

Country

Deaths July 10, 2020
(556,383)

China

3,231

USA

110,514

USA

133,542

Italy

2,503

United Kingdom

40,625

Brazil

69,184

Iran

853

Brazil

36,455

United Kingdom

44,735

Spain

309

Italy

33,899

Italy

34,938

France

148

France

29,158

Mexico

33,526

Korea

Spain

27,136

France

29,982

USA

Mexico

13,699

Spain

28,403

United Kingdom

Belgium

9,606

India

21,604

Japan

Germany

8,689

Iran

12,447

Netherlands

Iran

8,351

Peru

11,314

Table 5B. USA. Top 10 states.

Table 5C. New Jersey. Top 10 counties.

State

Deaths June 8,
2020 (110,514)

State

Deaths July 10,
2020 (133,542)

County

Deaths June 8,
2020 (12,178)

County

Deaths July 10,
2020 (15,448)

New York

30,374

New York

32,283

Essex

1,707

Essex

1,812

New Jersey

12,178

New Jersey

15,448

Bergen

1,618

Bergen

1,751

Massachusetts

7,316

Massachusetts

8,268

Hudson

1,218

Hudson

1.302

Pennsylvania

5,943

Illinois

7,329

Union

1,098

Middlesex

1,160

Illinois

5,904

Pennsylvania

6,880

Middlesex

1,040

Union

1,157

Michigan

5,895

California

6,860

Passaic

972

Passaic

1,060

California

4,632

Michigan

6,271

Ocean

774

Ocean

922

Connecticut

4,071

Connecticut

4,348

Monmouth

641

Monmouth

734

Louisiana

2,936

Florida

4,101

Morris

626

Morris

664

Maryland

2,749

Louisiana

3,355

Mercer

501

Mercer

553

Adenovirus can be genetically engineered to deliver the SP into the
human body. Nucleic acid, DNA or RNA, vaccines with the genetic
information to make SP can be translated in the host cell to produce
antibodies against it.

Antiviral Drugs
For seven years of misfortune I had one moment of good luck.
Paul Ehrlich
In addition to vaccines, chemotherapeutic agents can be developed
to treat people who have been diagnosed with COVID-19. Targeting
some of the viral proteins can provide protection against SARS-CoV-2.
Entry and fusion inhibitors block the SP binding to ACE2 and inhibit
the fusion of the virus envelope with the host cell membrane. Studies
have shown that by inhibiting the TMPRSS2 protease viral fusion was
completely eliminated.18
The development of drugs to inhibit viral replication is very important
because these enzymes are not part of the host cell. Therefore, they can
be targeted without affecting the host metabolism. For instance, SARSCoV-2 viral replication is inhibited by using RdRp inhibitors.19 These drugs
called nucleotide analogs inhibit the RdRp by RNA chain termination.

146 |

APR_SeptOct2020.indd 146

Other possible drugs interfere with the assembly of new virus particles
and subsequent release. Since SARS-CoV-2 used the ACE2 receptor,
developing decoy receptors might eliminate the virus from the body
due to the fact that these decoy molecules are in the body without any
host cell. Therefore, when SARS-CoV-2 binds to the decoy there is no
replication and infection. The decoy receptor bound to the virus can
then be eliminated by the immune system.
The use of convalescent plasma (CP) from patients that recovered
from COVID-19 has been shown to reduce some of the symptoms
of COVID-19.18 Patient's recovery appeared to be faster when CP was
given during critical and chronic stages of the disease. CP contains
antibodies (abs) mixtures (polyclonal) binding to more than one
epitope of the virus structures. However, this can amplify the immune
response to SARS-CoV-2. In this situation because they are different
abs, they are less affected by changes in the chemical composition of
the viral structures. Nevertheless, cross reactivity and batch variability
will be a challenge to standardize operations.
Different monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) were developed targeting
the spike proteins of SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV.18 mAbs are antibodies
made by the same immune cells that are clones of a unique parental
cell. mAbs have monovalent affinity to bind the specific part of the
SARS-CoV-2 structure. For instance, they can bind the SP or N protein
or both. They provide highly specific recognition of the viral structure

| September/October 2020

10/2/20 11:46 AM

APR September/October 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of APR September/October 2020