Potential Anti-Inflammatory Approaches for the Management of SARS-CoV2 Infections
Husam H. Farah
Abstract
The coronavirus disease 2019 caused by SARS-CoV-2 was declared as a global pandemic by WHO in March 2020. COVID-19 infection has had a devastating impact on human health and world economy. Currently, it has affected more than 4,000,000 individuals worldwide with more than 300,000 deaths. COVID-19 is most commonly associated with pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome. As the number of infected individuals increases, we are learning that not only lungs, but other organs can be affected by the virus causing multi-organ failure and sepsis. It has been proposed that the severity and mortality rates of the susceptible population infected by SARS-CoV2 is related to a cytokine storm, in which an exaggerated production of pro-inflammatory substances are released into the pulmonary microenvironment over a short period of time.