CONFLUENCE OF RESPIRATORY CHALLENGES: INVESTIGATING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ASTHMA, ALLERGIES AND COVID -19

Rubi Yadav*, Pratixa Patel, Sejal Khuman, Tiwari Pooja and Mishra Satyam

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (sars-cov-2) is the cause of the global pandemic disease known as coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19), and abnormal, overactive innate immunity and "cytokine storms" have been proposed as potential pathological mechanisms for the disease's rapid spread. Theoretically, asthmatic individuals should be more vulnerable to and more severely affected by sars-cov-2 infection due to a weak immune response to the virus and a propensity for exacerbation brought on by common respiratory viruses. It is important to identify the risk and protective factors that affect the severity of the covid-19 asthma condition. Asthma hasn't been found to be a substantial risk factor for covid-19 disease, though. The angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ace2) receptor, which is present in a number of human organs, allows sars-cov-2 to infect host cells. But lower ace2 expression in airway cells is linked to asthma and respiratory allergies. Additionally, the use of inhaled corticosteroids for the management of asthma is connected to reduced ace 2 receptor expression, asthma thereby reduces covid 19 morbidity and sars-cov-2 infection susceptibility.