Journal of Biosciences and Medicines, 2020, 8, 1-12 https://www.scirp.org/journal/jbm ISSN Online: 2327-509X ISSN Print: 2327-5081 DOI: 10.4236/jbm.2020.812001 Dec. 10, 2020 1 Journal of Biosciences and Medicines Understanding the Interplay between COVID-19 and Diabetes Mellitus Walaa Mohammedsaeed 1 , Saiema Ahmedi 2 , Nikhat Manzoor 2 1 Department of Medical Laboratories Technology, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, Taibah University, Al Madinah Al Munawarah, KSA 2 Department of Biosciences, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India Abstract COVID-19 pandemic has shown greater severity in people with co-morbidities; diabetes being the leading cause of higher mortality rates in COVID-19 pa- tients. Besides compromised immunity, there are other factors that make diabetics more prone to SARS-CoV-2 infection. To date, there is no clinically proven treatment for this disease, but fortunately there are several reports of vaccines in different stages of development. This review compiles some commonly used anti-diabetic drugs and their probable efficacy during a COVID-19 attack. This is also an attempt to understand the cause of severity of SARS-CoV-2 infection in diabetic patients. Until a proper cure or ap- proved vaccine is available, it is best to manage the disease by improving the immune status and making use of already available drugs that show potential against the virus. Keywords COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Diabetes Mellitus, Anti-Viral Potential of Anti-Diabetic Drugs 1. Introduction The year 2020 started with the onset of a viral infection called the novel corona virus disease (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first case was reported in December 2019 and the disease was declared a pandemic by March 2020. The virus has spread world- wide infecting millions of people to date [1]. Fortunately, the recovery rate is high and the death rate is low. Although only a few people become critically ill, the virus is a huge problem for people having a weak immune system. They in- How to cite this paper: Mohammedsaeed, W., Ahmedi, S. and Manzoor, N. (2020) Understanding the Interplay between COVID-19 and Diabetes Mellitus. Journal of Biosciences and Medicines, 8, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.4236/jbm.2020.812001 Received: November 5, 2020 Accepted: December 7, 2020 Published: December 10, 2020 Copyright © 2020 by author(s) and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY 4.0). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Open Access