CORONA Viruses : Introduction, Types and SARS-CoV-2

1. Named for the crown-like spikes on their surface (Latin: corona = crown)

2. positive-sense RNA viruses that belong to the Coronvirinae subfamily, family of the Nidovirales order

3. They have 4 main subgroups—alpha, beta, gamma, and delta—based on their genomic structure

4. Alpha- and beta- corona viruses infect only mammals, usually causing respiratory symptoms in humans.

5. Until December of 2019, only 6 different coronaviruses were known to infect humans. 

   I. 4 of these (HCoV-NL63, HCoV-229E, HCoV-OC43 and HKU1) usually caused mild 

       common cold.

  II. 2 (SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV) have caused pandemics in the past two decades [2002–

       2003/2012]

 III. In late 2019, in Wuhan City, China were identified as with a novel beta 

        coronavirus, first called the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCov)

6. When the genomics of the 2019-nCov was sequenced, it shared 79.5% of the genetic sequence of the SARS-CoV that caused the 2002–2003 pandemic and the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses renamed the 2019-nCov as SARS-CoV-2.

To Get All Updates from helpBIOTECH, Subscribe Now by Email