Vitamin supplements in the Era of SARS-Cov2 pandemic
1 Department of Internal Medicine, "T. Masselli-Mascia" Hospital, 71016 San Severo (Foggia), Italy.
2 Department of Endocrinology, Metabolic Diseases and Clinical Nutrition, “Perrino” Hospital, 72100 Brindisi, Italy; National Board Member of the Italian Association of Dietetic and Clinical Nutrition (ADI).
3 Biochemical Laboratory of Territorial Assistance Unit (PTA), 71017 Torremaggiore (Foggia), Italy.
4 Department of Medical Genetics, IRCCS “Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza” Hospital, 71013 San Giovanni Rotondo (Foggia), Italy.
Review Article
GSC Biological and Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2020, 11(02), 007-019.
Article DOI: 10.30574/gscbps.2020.11.2.0114
Publication history:
Received on 27 April 2020; revised on 03 May 2020; accepted on 04 May 2020
Abstract:
Recently, the rapid and extensive spread of a novel human RNA betacoronavirus, known as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is causing a worldwide public health emergency, originated in Wuhan, China. The disease caused by this new coronavirus, called "COVID-19", is very contagious. Although most of infected subjects are asymptomatic or present with mild flu-like symptoms, the rapid spread of the virus has resulted in a significant amount of serious interstitial pneumonia that may quickly develop into severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), septic shock, sepsis-induced coagulopathy and fatal multiorgan dysfunction. Hence, the unabated spread of the disease demands an immediate need to explore all the plausible therapeutic and prophylactic strategies for reducing the high morbidity and mortality of this infection. At present, there is no vaccine or certainly effective antiviral treatment for human SARS-Cov-2 and the mainstay of clinical management is prevalently symptomatic treatment combined with a panel of drugs having variable and uncertain efficacy. Unfortunately, no many drugs have yet been approved to treat human SARS-Cov-2 infection and many agents are administered in off label route; several options are being studied to control or prevent clinical manifestations of this infection, including monoclonal antibodies, antiviral and anti-cytokine agents, antibiotics, and other drugs. Given that several vitamins are known to have antimicrobial properties and immunomodulatory activity, a potential role of vitamins in the COVID-19 treatment was investigated.
Keywords:
SARS-CoV-2 infection; COVID-19; Vitamin supplements
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Copyright © 2020 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Liscense 4.0
