Diagnosis for SARS-CoV-2 Infections

Dear Colleagues,

The emergence of novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) in late December 2019 has resulted in a pandemic, and the whole world is still struggling with the infectious viral disease called COVID-19. Within a short span of time, SARS-CoV-2 has severely challenged the entire health systems in most countries in the world with an enhanced requirement for a very specific, rapid, and early diagnosis of the infected human populations. COVID-19 has demonstrated a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations, ranging from asymptomatic to severe infections followed by acute respiratory distress syndrome and multiorgan failure leading to death. Despite considerable research efforts, the early and accurate detection of rapidly evolving variants of SARS-CoV-2 remains a challenge due to limited resources and currently available diagnostic testing for COVID-19.

Currently, the most common diagnostic methods for SARS-CoV-2 infection are based on either the detection of virus-specific nucleotides or virus-specific antigens and immunoglobulins. As of now, a number of SARS-CoV-2 serodiagnostic tests detecting specific antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 antigens have been developed. The plasma levels of pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines have also been shown to be strongly correlated with the progression and severity of COVID-19. Identifying such humoral immune responses, inflammatory markers, and the detection of virus-specific antigens and antibodies might add important diagnostic values to the assessment and management of SARS-CoV-2 infection. An alternative rapid, sensitive, specific, and more effective serological and immunological diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 will be a key step to stopping the further spread of the disease.

This Special Issue of MPDI‘s Vaccines focuses on the recent advances and future prospects in the field of SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis. In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Rapid, sensitive, specific, and scalable diagnosis and monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 infections.
• Limitations of current diagnostic testing and recent developments in the field of SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis to identify specific variants of concern.
• Serodiagnostic tests and their effectiveness for diagnosing SARS-CoV-2 infection
• The role of antibodies in SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis
• Plasma levels of pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines associated with the progression and severity of SARS-CoV-2 infection.
• Underlying host immune responses against SARS-CoV-2 infection.
• Specific immunological responses and inflammatory markers distinguishing SARS-CoV-2 infection from clinically similar non-COVID-19 viral infections.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

You may choose our Joint Special Issue in Diseases.

Dr. Rajiv Pathak
Dr. Prajna Tripathi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Vaccines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
• SARS-CoV-2
• COVID-19
• diagnosis
• immunological responses and Inflammatory markers
• pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines
• virus-specific antigens and antibodies
• host immune responses