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The world entered the year 2020 with reports of the emergence of a new viral illness in Wuhan city, Hubei province, China. In January 2020, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) was identified to be the causative novel coronavirus for the cluster of patients suffering from pneumonia in China. The disease was later named as coronavirus disease (COVID‐19) and was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020. Several studies, since then, have tried to study and explain the origin of SARS‐CoV‐2, its structure and pathogenicity, epidemiology, modes of transmission, spectrum of illness and causes of mortality and morbidity. The current management strategies focus on supportive care and prevention of complications. With no definite treatment, as of now, encouraging reports of some anti‐viral and anti‐malarial drugs in the management of COVID‐19 generate some hope. This review intends to cover the current known aspects of COVID‐19 and SARS‐CoV‐19, based on the available literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditionally, India holds the unenviable position of the origin of leprosy. The disease is thought to have spread, via trade and war, to China, Egypt, and the Middle East, and later to Europe and the Americas. From antiquity to modernity, Indian society treated leprosy singularly for custom and law, a response shaped by both scientific knowledge and cultural attitudes. Over the past centuries, tireless research by eminent physicians and scientists working in India have helped establish a better understanding of clinical, bacteriologic, pathologic, and immunologic aspects of leprosy. Therapeutic modalities that were initially restricted to chaulmoogra expanded to include newer anti-leprotic medications and even surgical reconstruction of deformities. India's future challenges in leprosy control include stigmata, educational knowledge gaps, and multiple systems of medicine. This contribution is an attempt to comprehensively discuss the historic aspect of this exclusive disease focusing on the varied scientific contributions from India., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)