Open AccessCOVID-19: pathogen characteristics, natural and adaptive immune response mechanisms, genetic diversity and distribution
Author(s) -
Leonid Titov,
M. V. Sprindzuk
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
vescì nacyânalʹnaj akadèmìì navuk belarusì. seryâ medycynskìh navuk
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.138
H-Index - 1
eISSN - 2524-2350
pISSN - 1814-6023
DOI - 10.29235/1814-6023-2021-18-4-497-512
Subject(s) - coronaviridae , pandemic , biology , disease , pathogen , covid-19 , immune system , genome , virology , coronavirus , genetic diversity , immunology , genetics , gene , infectious disease (medical specialty) , medicine , population , environmental health , pathology
COVID-19 is a pandemic disease caused by a member of the Coronaviridae family, a beta-2 coronavirus named SARS-CoV-2. The COVID-19 pandemic lasting about 19 months has caused serious damage to the health of people on our planet – by the 13 of July 2021, more than 187.9 000 000 patients have been diagnosed and more than 4.0 mln patients died from infection (> 2.0 %). Scientists around the world are actively investigating the critically important molecular-genetic aspects of the biology of the pathogen (genome RNA structure, proteins properties) that are important for understanding the disease mechanisms, as well as the mechanisms of individual and collective immunological protection and vaccines development with non-specific prophylactics.