A General Pathological Outlook of COVID-19

Author

Shadman Shaikh

Date of Award

Fall 4-2021

Document Type

Thesis

Department

Biology

First Advisor

Dr. Ayodotun Sodipe

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has been expressed as one of the world’s most fatal pandemics in recent human history, and with good reason. At the time of this writing, over 125 million global cases have been confirmed, with a death toll rate sitting at 2.5 million. From the moment the pandemic was announced globally, the international scientific community sought out to analyze more about the virus in the hopes to find a cure. It should be imperative to analyze this virus in all aspects, including recent treatment efforts. Doing so will allow us to not only understand as to how this virus became an international threat level but let us reflect upon ourselves to understand what needs to be done in the future should another pandemic arise. From what is already known, COVID-19 comes from a family of coronaviruses, which are a type of RNA respiratory illness virus that naturally targets the important airways of the body, including the sinus and lungs. The virus is transmitted through the air in the form of respiratory droplets. The virus is composed of a single stranded RNA with a capsid protein and is shown to have spiky protrusions on its surface, which helps it latch onto host cells and insert its genetic material to replicate. The origin of the virus was believed to be from the city of Wuhan in China, from an animal market that was offering bats. The virus was believed to have then made the jump from animal to human and that was when patient zero was infected. It was noted at the time that there was no definitive cure, so some scientists began recommending alternative drugs like hydroxychloroquine. This drug however become controversial to some, as it was unsure whether the anti-inflammatory effects were truly helpful against COVID-19. With that, many trials were issued to test out how effective hydroxychloroquine was. At first glance, the trial results showed that there was a viral load reduction. However, most of the trials were defined as small and nonrandomized, which brought up concerns as to how valid these results were. Not only that, but the drug itself was linked to cardiovascular problems. From extensive studies later performed by the World Health Organization, they had concluded that hydroxychloroquine is not recommended for treatment of COVID-19. It seemed like hope was losing fast until news of the first vaccine results came around December 2020 by Pfizer. Pfizer’s results were shown to be highly effective against the virus, reporting a near 95% efficacy rate. Later, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson had come out with their results, which also demonstrated high levels of efficacy like Pfizer. From there on out, the FDA authorized the emergency use of all three vaccines in the United States, and the race was on to try and get the whole population vaccinated. Thanks to the efforts of the scientific community, life may finally shift back to normalcy. However, researchers and nations should use this pandemic as a learning lesson so that better advancements can be made to avert a crisis like COVID-29.

Recommended Citation

Shaikh, Shadman, "A General Pathological Outlook of COVID-19" (2021). Honor’s College Freeman Research Journal. 31.
https://digitalscholarship.tsu.edu/frj/31