COVID‐19: Current knowledge in clinical features, immunological responses, and vaccine development

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Abstract

The COVID‐19 pandemic has unfolded to be the most challenging global health crisis in a century. In 11 months since its first emergence, according to WHO, the causative infectious agent SARS‐CoV‐2 has infected more than 100 million people and claimed more than 2.15 million lives worldwide. Moreover, the world has raced to understand the virus and natural immunity and to develop vaccines. Thus, within a short 11 months a number of highly promising COVID‐19 vaccines were developed at an unprecedented speed and are now being deployed via emergency use authorization for immunization. Although a considerable number of review contributions are being published, all of them attempt to capture only a specific aspect of COVID‐19 or its therapeutic approaches based on ever‐expanding information. Here, we provide a comprehensive overview to conceptually thread together the latest information on global epidemiology and mitigation strategies, clinical features, viral pathogenesis and immune responses, and the current state of vaccine development.

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Clinical features of patients infected with 2019 novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China

Chaolin Huang, Yeming Wang, Xingwang Li … (2020)

Summary Background A recent cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan, China, was caused by a novel betacoronavirus, the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). We report the epidemiological, clinical, laboratory, and radiological characteristics and treatment and clinical outcomes of these patients. Methods All patients with suspected 2019-nCoV were admitted to a designated hospital in Wuhan. We prospectively collected and analysed data on patients with laboratory-confirmed 2019-nCoV infection by real-time RT-PCR and next-generation sequencing. Data were obtained with standardised data collection forms shared by WHO and the International Severe Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infection Consortium from electronic medical records. Researchers also directly communicated with patients or their families to ascertain epidemiological and symptom data. Outcomes were also compared between patients who had been admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) and those who had not. Findings By Jan 2, 2020, 41 admitted hospital patients had been identified as having laboratory-confirmed 2019-nCoV infection. Most of the infected patients were men (30 [73%] of 41); less than half had underlying diseases (13 [32%]), including diabetes (eight [20%]), hypertension (six [15%]), and cardiovascular disease (six [15%]). Median age was 49·0 years (IQR 41·0–58·0). 27 (66%) of 41 patients had been exposed to Huanan seafood market. One family cluster was found. Common symptoms at onset of illness were fever (40 [98%] of 41 patients), cough (31 [76%]), and myalgia or fatigue (18 [44%]); less common symptoms were sputum production (11 [28%] of 39), headache (three [8%] of 38), haemoptysis (two [5%] of 39), and diarrhoea (one [3%] of 38). Dyspnoea developed in 22 (55%) of 40 patients (median time from illness onset to dyspnoea 8·0 days [IQR 5·0–13·0]). 26 (63%) of 41 patients had lymphopenia. All 41 patients had pneumonia with abnormal findings on chest CT. Complications included acute respiratory distress syndrome (12 [29%]), RNAaemia (six [15%]), acute cardiac injury (five [12%]) and secondary infection (four [10%]). 13 (32%) patients were admitted to an ICU and six (15%) died. Compared with non-ICU patients, ICU patients had higher plasma levels of IL2, IL7, IL10, GSCF, IP10, MCP1, MIP1A, and TNFα. Interpretation The 2019-nCoV infection caused clusters of severe respiratory illness similar to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus and was associated with ICU admission and high mortality. Major gaps in our knowledge of the origin, epidemiology, duration of human transmission, and clinical spectrum of disease need fulfilment by future studies. Funding Ministry of Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, National Natural Science Foundation of China, and Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission.

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Clinical Characteristics of Coronavirus Disease 2019 in China

Wei-jie Guan, Zheng-yi Ni, Yu Hu … (2020)

Abstract Background Since December 2019, when coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) emerged in Wuhan city and rapidly spread throughout China, data have been needed on the clinical characteristics of the affected patients. Methods We extracted data regarding 1099 patients with laboratory-confirmed Covid-19 from 552 hospitals in 30 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities in mainland China through January 29, 2020. The primary composite end point was admission to an intensive care unit (ICU), the use of mechanical ventilation, or death. Results The median age of the patients was 47 years; 41.9% of the patients were female. The primary composite end point occurred in 67 patients (6.1%), including 5.0% who were admitted to the ICU, 2.3% who underwent invasive mechanical ventilation, and 1.4% who died. Only 1.9% of the patients had a history of direct contact with wildlife. Among nonresidents of Wuhan, 72.3% had contact with residents of Wuhan, including 31.3% who had visited the city. The most common symptoms were fever (43.8% on admission and 88.7% during hospitalization) and cough (67.8%). Diarrhea was uncommon (3.8%). The median incubation period was 4 days (interquartile range, 2 to 7). On admission, ground-glass opacity was the most common radiologic finding on chest computed tomography (CT) (56.4%). No radiographic or CT abnormality was found in 157 of 877 patients (17.9%) with nonsevere disease and in 5 of 173 patients (2.9%) with severe disease. Lymphocytopenia was present in 83.2% of the patients on admission. Conclusions During the first 2 months of the current outbreak, Covid-19 spread rapidly throughout China and caused varying degrees of illness. Patients often presented without fever, and many did not have abnormal radiologic findings. (Funded by the National Health Commission of China and others.)

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A Novel Coronavirus from Patients with Pneumonia in China, 2019

Na Zhu, Dingyu Zhang, Wenling Wang … (2020)

Summary In December 2019, a cluster of patients with pneumonia of unknown cause was linked to a seafood wholesale market in Wuhan, China. A previously unknown betacoronavirus was discovered through the use of unbiased sequencing in samples from patients with pneumonia. Human airway epithelial cells were used to isolate a novel coronavirus, named 2019-nCoV, which formed a clade within the subgenus sarbecovirus, Orthocoronavirinae subfamily. Different from both MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV, 2019-nCoV is the seventh member of the family of coronaviruses that infect humans. Enhanced surveillance and further investigation are ongoing. (Funded by the National Key Research and Development Program of China and the National Major Project for Control and Prevention of Infectious Disease in China.)

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Author and article information

Contributors

Zhou Xing:

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7856-0663

xingz@mcmaster.ca

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): FASEB J

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): FASEB J

Journal ID (doi): 10.1096/(ISSN)1530-6860

Journal ID (publisher-id): FSB2

Title: The FASEB Journal

Publisher: John Wiley and Sons Inc. (Hoboken )

ISSN (Print): 0892-6638

ISSN (Electronic): 1530-6860

Publication date (Electronic): 12 February 2021

Publication date (Print): March 2021

Volume: 35

Issue: 3 ( doiID: 10.1096/fsb2.v35.3 )

Electronic Location Identifier: e21409

Affiliations

[ ¹ ] McMaster Immunology Research Centre M. G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research & Department of Medicine McMaster University Hamilton ON Canada

[ ² ] Department of Pediatric Otolaryngology Shenzhen Hospital Southern Medical University Shenzhen China

Author notes

[*] [* ] Correspondence

Zhou Xing, McMaster Immunology Research Centre, M. G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research & Department of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4K1, Canada.

Email: xingz@ 123456mcmaster.ca

Author information

Zhou Xing https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7856-0663

Article

Publisher ID: FSB221409

DOI: 10.1096/fj.202002662R

PMC ID: 7898934

PubMed ID: 33577115

SO-VID: 6367a923-51c6-454c-aa99-8f9eebd73ae6

License:

This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non‐commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

History

Date received : 06 December 2020

Date revision received : 12 January 2021

Date accepted : 19 January 2021

Page count

Figures: 3, Tables: 0, Pages: 23, Words: 18330

Funding

Funded by: Canadian Institutes of Health Research , open-funder-registry 10.13039/501100000024;

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cover-date March 2021

details-of-publishers-convertor Converter:WILEY_ML3GV2_TO_JATSPMC version:5.9.7 mode:remove_FC converted:22.02.2021

ScienceOpen disciplines: Molecular biology

Keywords: covid‐19,immunity,sars‐cov‐2,therapy,vaccines

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ScienceOpen disciplines: Molecular biology

Keywords: covid‐19, immunity, sars‐cov‐2, therapy, vaccines

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Novel Coronavirus Disease COVID-19

Most cited references 234

Clinical features of patients infected with 2019 novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China

Clinical Characteristics of Coronavirus Disease 2019 in China

A Novel Coronavirus from Patients with Pneumonia in China, 2019

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