The Corona Virus Disease or commonly known as SARS is a new outbreak of a highly contagious viral infection. This airborne disease is caused by a strain of the highly pathogenic species of bird virus, known as Corona avicularia. Although a virus causes the disease, it does not manifest any symptoms (as the name suggests) until several weeks or even months after the first signs or indications appear. The first victims of this new disease show little or no outward signs, but they begin to suffer from severe respiratory symptoms after more than a few days or weeks of infection.
One of the most significant disadvantages of using Coronavirus treatment in any acute or chronic illness is the short life span of most recovered patients. In addition, patients with a critical illness often suffer from a slow progression of illness and severe dehydration during the period of recovery. This combination of infection and death can result in meager survival rates among recovered patients.
For this reason, the focus of modern healthcare systems has shifted from traditional viral therapy to the use of an arsenal of pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic agents to fight the complex reservoirs of the disease and improve the overall survival rates of critically ill patients. While these approaches achieved reasonable success in reducing morbidity and mortality in some situations, the major setbacks in the clinical trials of SARS led to the search for novel pharmacologic methods that can extend the periods of remission and prolong the periods of survival in the most severely ill patients.
Recent advances in immunology and biology have provided opportunities to develop new drugs to combat this disease. Among the various agents under development are vaccines that can be used against the virus that attacks the lungs, specifically the lungs’ interstitium (which is the part of the lung that includes the alveoli). However, these vaccines will require a booster for individuals who do not have sufficient antibodies to fight COVID-19.
The World Health Organization even initiated a fit to fly COVID test that helps determine those who are virus-free. Two famous paradigms of the COVID-19 test are the PCR Test and the Antigen Test.
To know the differences between these two examinations, Harley Medic International created an infographic below to share pieces of knowledge for the assessments:
