From SARS and MERS to COVID-19: a brief summary and comparison of severe acute respiratory infections caused by three highly pathogenic human coronaviruses
Open Access
- 27 August 2020
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in Respiratory Research
- Vol. 21 (1), 1-14
- https://doi.org/10.1186/s12931-020-01479-w
Abstract
Within two decades, there have emerged three highly pathogenic and deadly human coronaviruses, namely SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2. The economic burden and health threats caused by these coronaviruses are extremely dreadful and getting more serious as the increasing number of global infections and attributed deaths of SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV. Unfortunately, specific medical countermeasures for these hCoVs remain absent. Moreover, the fast spread of misinformation about the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic uniquely places the virus alongside an annoying infodemic and causes unnecessary worldwide panic. SARS-CoV-2 shares many similarities with SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, certainly, obvious differences exist as well. Lessons learnt from SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, timely updated information of SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV, and summarized specific knowledge of these hCoVs are extremely invaluable for effectively and efficiently contain the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV. By gaining a deeper understanding of hCoVs and the illnesses caused by them, we can bridge knowledge gaps, provide cultural weapons for fighting and controling the spread of MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2, and prepare effective and robust defense lines against hCoVs that may emerge or reemerge in the future. To this end, the state-of-the-art knowledge and comparing the biological features of these lethal hCoVs and the clinical characteristics of illnesses caused by them are systematically summarized in the review.Keywords
Funding Information
- the Research Project of Science and Technology Department of Fujian Province, China (2018J01288)
- the Youth Research Project of Health and Family Planning Commission of Fujian Province, China (2018-1-62, 2018-2-23)
- Quanzhou Science and Technology Project (2018N012)
- the Research Project of Collaborative Innovation Center for Maternal and Infant Health Service Application Technology (XJM1802)
- National Key R&D Program of China (2016YFC1304)
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