Social Distancing and Quarantine as COVID-19 Control Remedy
Hanadi Talal Ahmedah, Muhammad Riaz, Sagheer Ahmed, Marius Alexandru Moga in The Covid-19 Pandemic, 2023
Many studies were reported that Coronavirus infected many species, but no evidence was found regarding its infections in humans till mid of 1960s. It belongs to enveloped, single stranded RNA viruses in order of Nidovirales, family Coronaviridae and subfamily Coronavirinae. On the basis of genetic makeup and cross-reactivity of different antigens, 26 different species named alpha, beta, gamma, and delta were recognized. Among these, only two strains, i.e., alpha, and betacoronavirus, are pathogenic to humans [10]. The COVID-19 is thought to be originated from bats because of its close genetic match (96%) with bats CoVs. However, no tangible link is found for another host’s existence before transmission to humans, although viruses share about 92% similarities to pangolin CoVs. Few evidences have suggested that SARS-CoV-2 might be that bat-borne virus which is transferred to pangolin then back to bats and then back to humans due to some incorporating homology of pangolin.
Animal Models of Human Respiratory Viral Infections
Sunit K. Singh in Human Respiratory Viral Infections, 2014
Alpha and beta human coronaviruses (HCoV) induce disease in the human population. From alphacoronaviruses, humans are infected by HCoV-229E and HCoV-NL63, and HCoV-OC43, HCoV-HKU1, and SARS-CoV from betacoronaviruses. In the summer of 2012 there was the emergence of another betacoronavirus, HCoV-EMC, which induced respiratory disease in humans.69 With the exception of SARS-CoV, productive infection of HCoVs is limited to humans. A transgenic immunocompromised mouse strain expressing the human aminopeptidase N (hAPN) protein, the putative receptor for HCoV-229E, was developed to permit the replication of an adapted HCoV-229E in an animal model.70 HCoV-NL63 and -HKU1 viruses are recently identified human pathogens71,72 and no animal models have been described to date for these viruses.
Pangolins Harbor SARS-CoV-2-Related Coronaviruses
William C. Cockerham, Geoffrey B. Cockerham in The COVID-19 Reader, 2020
The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been spreading rapidly throughout the globe, resulting in ~0.8 million confirmed infections as of March 31, 2020. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic. COVID-19 is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), a positive-sense single-stranded RNA virus that belongs to the genus Betacoronavirus within the family Coronaviridae [1,2]. Yet, the origin and evolution of SARS-CoV-2 remains largely unclear. Several recent studies identified SARS-CoV-2-related viruses in Malayan pangolins (Manis javanica), providing new insights into the host distribution and evolution of SARS-CoV-2-related viruses [3–7].
Ophthalmological Findings in Patients with SARS-CoV-2 Infection Examined at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases - INI/Fiocruz
Published in Ocular Immunology and Inflammation, 2023
Bárbara Vilela Giampietro, Sulamita Dutra, Raquel De Vasconcellos Carvalhaes De Oliveira, Ana Luiza Biancardi, Valdiléa Veloso, André Luiz Land Curi
The first reported case of the novel coronavirus was in Wuhan Province, China, in December 2019. Since then, the disease, identified as SARS-CoV-2/coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) by the World Health Organization (WHO), has spread rapidly as a global pandemic, claiming the lives of millions.1,2 On January 30, 2020, the WHO declared COVID-19 as the sixth public health emergency of international concern, after the H1N1 virus (2009), polio (2014), Ebola virus in West Africa (2014), Zika virus (2016), and the Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo (2019).1,2 The new SARS-CoV-2 virus belongs to the genus Betacoronavirus.1 Several studies have correlated the virus with ophthalmologic alterations. In a literature review, the first publications have been described changes in animals infected with other genera of the coronavirus, presenting as retinal vasculitis, retinal degeneration, and uveitis.3–5 In recent months, studies associating COVID-19 with ophthalmological changes have been published.
Bat coronaviruses related to SARS-CoV-2: what about their 3CL proteases (MPro)?
Published in Journal of Enzyme Inhibition and Medicinal Chemistry, 2022
Matteo Pavan, Davide Bassani, Mattia Sturlese, Stefano Moro
Since its outbreak in December 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused to date the death of almost 6 million people all around the world1,2. This worldwide-spread disease is caused by a betacoronavirus known as SARS-CoV-2, which infects the respiratory system of the host organism compromising its health status3. The symptoms of this illness range from the ones typical of influenza (cough, fever, and headache) to very serious complications such as breathing difficulty, pneumonia, and hypoxia, eventually leading to respiratory failure and death4. The high transmissibility of the SARS-CoV-2 virus allowed its fast diffusion all around the world, rapidly attracting the interest of experts in the medical, biological, and pharmaceutical environments, who have extensively worked and are still putting relevant efforts into the elaboration of proper solutions to fight this pathogen.
Immunoinformatics-guided designing and in silico analysis of epitope-based polyvalent vaccines against multiple strains of human coronavirus (HCoV)
Published in Expert Review of Vaccines, 2022
Bishajit Sarkar, Md. Asad Ullah, Yusha Araf, Nafisa Nawal Islam, Umme Salma Zohora
Coronaviruses are a group of pathogenic viruses that mainly infect mammals and birds. These viruses cause diseases in the respiratory tract of humans, ranging from the common cold in otherwise healthy individuals to more serious and lethal conditions and even death [1,2]. The coronavirus family, also known as Coronaviridae, is the largest family of Nidovirales order. The coronavirus family consists of two subfamilies, Letovirinae and Orthocoronavirinae. Among these two subfamilies, the Orthocoronavirinae contains four genera, Alphacoronavirus, Betacoronavirus, Gammacoronavirus, and Deltacoronavirus. And among these four genera, the Alphacoronavirus and Betacoronavirus are known to cause diseases in humans [3]. Coronaviruses are enveloped viruses containing a positive-sense single stranded RNA genome. The genome of coronaviruses ranges from approximately 25 to 34 kb. The viral envelope comprises a lipid bilayer where the membrane (M) and spike (S) structural proteins are anchored [4,5].
Related Knowledge Centers
- Alphacoronavirus
- Coronaviridae
- Coronavirus
- Deltacoronavirus
- Viral Envelope
- Gammacoronavirus
- Natural Reservoir
- Embecovirus
- Bat Virome
- Nidovirales