Coronavirus Cures are in the Works!

The coronavirus is killing more and more people each and every day. It has interrupted our lives completely as we are no longer able to go out of our houses and see friends. It’s about time for a vaccine, right? I don’t know about yall, but I cannot continue to live like this for much longer. Luckily, scientists have been working like crazy to find a vaccine to kill this virus. Vaccines use particles from infectious diseases and present it to the body’s immune system. The particles used in vaccines are in its weakest form, but the ultimate goal is for the body to start making an immune response. Then, if you happen to get the disease, your body can fight it off quickly.

Scientists have discovered that this novel coronavirus is genetically similar to respiratory viruses SARS-CoV in 2003 and MERs-CoV in 2014. While studying these two viruses, they found that there is an important protein called a spike protein that will help people become immune to the virus. Spike proteins are very infectious as they allow the virus to break through cells. Remember, viruses are not alive and they need to a host cell in order to begin multiplying. Scientists have been using lab-made pieces of this viral protein to create a vaccine. This is already progress in itself! Researchers have developed something called a microneedle array which looks similar to a band-aid (I have never heard of this until now). It is placed on the skin and consists of 400 little needles that inject the spike protein and dissolve into the skin. This method was used on mice and after about two weeks, the mice had produced antibodies and an immune response!

Scientists have also found that the antiviral drug, remdesivir, is a promising drug that can help treat coronavirus. This drug is also used to treat those with Ebola. Remdesivir was tested, not on a human, but a model for someone infected with MERs-CoV. The drug seemed to stop the virus from replicating in the lung tissue. More work needs to be done on this antiviral drug, however it seems that we are making great progress against the novel coronavirus! Hopefully with all the work these scientists have been doing, we will generate an effective vaccine and/or drug soon and wipe out this awful disease!