Introduction
A new coronavirus (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2,
SARS-CoV-2) infection began to disseminate in Wuhan, China in early
December 2019 and has rapidly spread around the globe. The disease
condition associated with this novel coronavirus is referred as
coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and this outbreak was declared as a
pandemic on March 11, 2020 by the World Health Organization
(WHO).1 As of May 15, 2020, the outbreak had reached
globally 4,580,498 confirmed cases and 305,618 deaths, and only
1,735,657 patients recovered.2 These numbers are much
greater than those registered during severe acute respiratory syndrome
(SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) pandemics, which
occurred in 2003 and 2013, respectively,3 despite the
fact that COVID-19 mortality rate, to date, is
lower.2,3
SARS-CoV-2 binds mainly to angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2)
receptors in host cells which are abundant in the lungs, heart, blood
vessels and intestine and, after more than a decade of research, there
are still no specific treatments or effective vaccines for
coronavirus.3,4,5,6
COVID-19 is presenting with respiratory symptoms, from mild to severe
and a significant percentage of patients develop acute respiratory
disease syndrome (ARDS); these severe symptoms are associated with a
true cytokine storm, in particular IL-6, and death can be one of the
outcomes.7
Elderly and underlying morbidities, such as cardiovascular diseases, in
particular hypertension and metabolic disorders (obesity and diabetes),
were identified as significant risk factors for COVID-19 morbidity and
mortality.7,8,9 However, asthma and COPD may not be
common comorbidities.10 Moreover, the real impact of
SARS-CoV-2 in asthma control is unclear.