Coronaviruses are a subfamily of the Coronavirinae. Currently, the best known virus in this subfamily is SARS-CoV-2. It is a worldwide epidemic. The disease caused by this virus has been named COVID-19.
COVID-19 made its first appearance in Wuhan, China (end of December 2019). The first patient had signs of atypical pneumonia. The virus is transmitted by droplets, i.e. by coughing or sneezing. Environmental pollution also plays a major role in transmission. The virus mutates rapidly and there are several known variants of the virus: alpha, beta, gamma, delta, epsilon and omicron. The virus can be contained with antiviral agents. But first we need to know the mechanism of action of the active substances themselves. There are several methods: inhibition of virus entry into the host cell, inhibition of viral proteases and RNA polymerases, and inhibition of interferons.
Preventing the spread of the disease is the key to containing the virus. Developing new drugs and vaccines to help with this is therefore very important. In my thesis I described in more detail the vaccine design and the vaccines used in COVID-19: recombinant protein vaccines, attenuated vaccines, inactivated vaccines, DNA- and RNA-based vaccines and vector vaccines.
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