In order to infect a person and cause disease, viruses must get into individual human cells and reproduce. After a virus particle (called a virion) has overcome the cell's defenses and enters the cell's control center, it hijacks cellular machinery to produce copies of itself. The copied virions burst and invade other cells, spreading the infection. The new coronavirus causing the global pandemic, called SARS-CoV-2 (the bushy-looking ball in the center of the image), targets pneumocytes, the respiratory cells that line the air sacs in the lungs. To access it, SARS-CoV-2 uses a molecular 'key' called a peak glycoprotein (the triangular protrusions of the virion's surface) to open a pathway to the interior of the pneumocyte.
The spike proteins of SARS-CoV-2 - its keys - fit into a specific 'lock' (technically known as a receptor, and in this case the ACE2 receptor) on the surface of a pneumocyte cell. The ACE2 receptors are the little pink nubs just below the floating SARS-CoV-2 ball. When lock and key (spike protein and ACE2 receptor) connect, the virion gains entry and begins its destructive work. Scientists have recently discovered the shape of the SARS-CoV-2 key and the ACE2 lock on the surfaces of the respiratory cells. That knowledge could lead to treatments for infected patients or a vaccine that would block infection.
Cleveland Clinic has entered into an educational partnership with the American Lung Association to distribute free, comprehensive resources on COVID-19 care to healthcare providers around the world, according to a press release.
A multidisciplinary team of Cleveland Clinic experts developed an inventory of online evidence-based modules and quick reference guides. The resources - hosted on the Clinic's Respiratory and Education Institute's Comprehensive COVID Care platform - inform the release of best practices in caring for critically ill patients in a range of clinical settings during the pandemic.
The American Lung Association's support for this partnership is made possible through the $ 25 million investment in the COVID-19 Action Initiative. These resources expand the American Lung Association's existing science-based information available to the public online.
Understanding the aim of Cleveland Clinic has been happier to share their advanced COVID-19 resources through this unique educational relationship with the American Lung Association," Dr. Sumita Khatri, vice president of mission programs for the American Lung Association and director of the Cleveland Clinic Asthma Center , said in a statement provided.Through all those numerious researching and disseminating, the highest quality information about the virus and care for patients with COVID-19 to tens of thousands of healthcare providers across the country, best practices and preventive action can be taken and more lives will ultimately be saved."
The educational platform is designed to help teams standardize patient care practices during the pandemic and provide up-to-date information relevant to where a healthcare provider is deployed. The resource is divided into three groups according to the release: COVID-19 Caregiver Resource (for health professionals caring for COVID-19 patients); approaches to the non-COVID patient (provides critical and non-critical care topics suitable for caregivers in both the ICU and non-ICU inpatient settings); and Just-in-Time (intended to be used as a reference guide for care management).
"Too many lives have been lost from COVID-19. As our country and the world face the pandemic, our health care providers need support and advanced training specific to this new virus," said the president and CEO of the American Lung. Association, Harold Wimmer in a statement provided.
The resource has been viewed by users in 105 countries to date, said Dr. James K. Stoller, president of the Education Institute at Cleveland Clinic, in the publication. The activities are independent educational activities that are CME certified by Cleveland Clinic's Center for Continuing Medical Education, an ACCME-accredited provider with recommendation status.
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