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.