SARS-COV-2 AND COVID-19: INFECTION AND BCG INDUCED IMMUNITY

Abstract

Background: Coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) which has its causative agent as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has become a disease that spread so quickly throughout the world, and has tormented the world ever since its discovery in November, 2019 in Wuhan, China.  Due to the poor understanding of the infection pattern and pathogenesis, management and control of the disease has been difficult which has progressed to a global pandemic.

Materials and Methods: Information for writing the review paper were obtained from publications in various scientific journals and periodicals.

Result: The possible route of infection of susceptible cells and effect on human immune system have been discussed as well as the possible beneficial role of BCG vaccination in the protection of the population against COVID-19 and other viral infections.

Conclusion: Our knowledge of the virus for now is still very low. However, results and new data on COVID-19 will keep emerging daily. We should be mindful of the populations that are at risk of infection and basic researches aimed at increasing our understanding of the virus and the disease should be initiated so as to enable early development of a vaccine and development of a standard treatment protocol.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2, infection, ACE2, immunity, lymphocytes, transmission, BCG