COVID-19 Tragic Pandemic: Concerns over Unintentional “Directed Accelerated Evolution” of Novel Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and Introducing a Modified Treatment Method for ARDS

Abstract

Global health authorities are trying to work out the current status of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and explore methods to reduce the rate of its transmission to healthy individuals. In this viewpoint we provide insights concerning how health care professionals can unintentionally shift the novel coronavirus type to more drug-resistant forms. It is worth noting that viruses usually have different sensitivities to physical and chemical damaging agents such antiviral drugs, UV and heat ranging from extremely sensitive (ES) to extremely resistant (ER) based on a bell-shaped curve. Given this consideration, the widespread infection of people with such ER viruses would be a real disaster. Here, we introduce a modified treatment method for COVID-19-associated pneumonia. In this proposed method, COVID-19 patients will receive a single dose of 100, 180 or 250 mSv X-ray radiation that is less than the maximum annual radiation dose of the residents of high background radiation areas of Ramsar that is up to 260 mSv. In contrast with antiviral drugs, a single dose of either 100, 180 or 250 mSv of low LET X-rays cannot exert a significant selective pressure on the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and hence does not lead to directed accelerated evolution of these viruses. Moreover, Low Dose Radiation (LDR) has the capacity of modulating excessive inflammatory responses, regulating lymphocyte counts, and controling bacterial co-infections in patients with COVID-19.

Keywords

• coronavirus
• x-rays
• respiratory distress syndrome
• radiation dosage
• selective pressure
• directed evolution