The new coronavirus is the seventh known to the world. It originated in China in December 2019. It passed from its original host - the bat - to pangolins and then affected the human population, university professor Constantin Spînu, doctor of medicine, told an audience today as part of a public lecture. He says that all efforts are now directed to creating a vaccine that could comply with international standards, IPN reports.
Constantin Spînu went on to explain that in the first phase of testing, the vaccine is received by a group of volunteers to see whether it is safe and what are its side effects. If there are no such effects, the other phases follow and the vaccine is then given to a larger number of people, up to 30 thousand.
The vaccine should be efficient and generate a response of the immune system. It may require more than half a year to produce millions of doses of the vaccine. According to the WHO, 25 vaccines are currently undergoing testing and 100 are in the development phase. Four vaccines are in their Phase III of testing.
Head of the Anesthesia and Intensive Therapy Department of the Emergency Medicine Institutethat receives patients with COVID-19 in serious condition, Adrian Belîi, told the audience that an infected patient in critical state usually suffers from acute respiratory failure, agitation, fatigue, etc. While at the outset of the treatment, doctors were relying on antiviral drugs and intubation, now oxygen therapy with noninvasive ventilation is preferred. This is ”the key to success in the severe cases”, he says. A second approach is the anticoagulant treatment, which is recommended in mild cases. Patients with cytokine storm – an extreme inflammation that destroys the tissues of its own body – are prescribed short duration corticotherapy. Antibiotics are not very efficient, because viroses do not respond to antibiotics, but they may be used when there is also a bacterian infection in the body.
The Chairman of Science Academy, Ion Tighineanu, observed tha the new type of coronavirus is very volatile in terms of its mutations, but it is nevertheless strange that in the 21st century it caught the global population off guard. Researchers try to develop vaccines as they go. ”This pandemic is a crossroads for the civilisation, a new situation and a challenge. Only by joining forces across the globe can we overcome it”, Ion Tighineanu added.
Emil Ceban, Rector of the State University of Medicine and Pharmacy "Nicolae Testemitanu", agreed that for the doctors this pandemic is a challenge. Besides their clinical work, the academic, scientific, medical communities, are trying to find the best solutions based on the experiences of neighbouring states: However, in the meantime, national and international protocols, tactics and treatment methods are constantly being update. The vaccine is the rescue, but it may still take time till it comes.
Next week a commission of the Science Academy will meet to propose solutions to the challenges posed by COVID-19.
