A NEW ERA FOR THE THERAPEUTIC MANAGEMENT OF THE ONGOING COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Three zoonotic coronaviruses emerged at the beginning of the XXI century: SARS-CoV (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus), Middle-East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and SARS-CoV2 (previously known as 2019-nCoV), the etiologic agent of COVID 19 (Coronavirus disease) pandemic. The outbreak of the COVID-19 started in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, in December 2019 and has spread extremely fast worldwide. The World Health Organization declared it a pandemic on 11 March 2020. The present study is reviewing the background of human coronaviruses, the potential viral reservoirs, the main genomic and pathogenic aspects of SARS-CoV-2 and the actual data on the immunopathological mechanisms of COVID 19, looking towards therapeutic approaches for SARS-CoV2 infection.