Compendium answering 150 questions on COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2

Authors: Riggioni, C, Comberiati, P, Giovannini, M, Agache, I, Akdis, M, Alves-Correia, M, Anta, JM, Arcolaci, A, Kursat, Azkur A, Azkur, D, Beken, B, Boccabella, C, Bousquet, J, Breiteneder, H, Carvalho, D, De, LV, Diamant, Z., Eguiluz-Gracia, I, Eiwegger, T, Eyerich, S, Fokkens, W, Gao, YD, Hannachi, F, Johnston, SL, Jutel, M, Karavelia, A, Klimek, L, Moya, B, Nadeau, K, O’Hehir, R, O’Mahony, L, Pfaar, O, Sanak, M, Schwarze, J, Sokolowska, M, Torres, MJ, van de Zelm, MC, Wang, Y, Zhang, L, Jiménez-Saiz, R, and Akdis, CA.

Publication: Allergy; June 2020

Affiliations: Pediatric Allergy and Clinical Immunology Department, Hospital Sant Joan de Dau, Barcelona, Spain; Institut de Recerca Sant Joan de Décu, Barcelona, Spain; Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Section of Pediatrics, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy; Department of Clinical Immunology and Allergology, I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, Moscow, Russia; Allergy Unit, Department of Pediatrics, Meyer Children’s University Hospital, Florence, Italy (…); McMaster Immunology Research Centre (MIRC), Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada; Faculty of Experimental Sciences, Universidad Francisco de Vitoria, Madrid, Spain; Swiss Institute of Allergy and Asthma Research (SIAF), University of Zurich, Davos, Switzerland.

Abstract: In December 2019, China reported the first cases of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This disease, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has developed into a pandemic. To date it has resulted in ~6.5 million confirmed cases and caused almost 400,000 related deaths worldwide. Unequivocally, the COVID-19 pandemic is the gravest health and socio-economic crisis of our time. In this context, numerous questions have emerged in demand of basic scientific information and evidence-based medical advice on SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19. Although the majority of the patients show a very mild, self-limiting viral respiratory disease, many clinical manifestations in severe patients are unique to COVID-19, such as severe lymphopenia and eosinopenia, extensive pneumonia, a « cytokine storm » leading to acute respiratory distress syndrome, endothelitis, thrombo-embolic complications and multiorgan failure. The epidemiologic features of COVID-19 are distinctive and have changed throughout the pandemic. Vaccine and drug development studies and clinical trials are rapidly growing at an unprecedented speed. However, basic and clinical research on COVID-19-related topics should be based on more coordinated high-quality studies. This paper answers pressing questions, formulated by young clinicians and scientists, on SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 and allergy, focusing on the following topics: virology, immunology, diagnosis, management of patients with allergic disease and asthma, treatment, clinical trials, drug discovery, vaccine development and epidemiology. Over 140 questions were answered by experts in the field providing a comprehensive and practical overview of COVID-19 and allergic disease.