Epidemiology, Genetic Recombination, and Pathogenesis of Coronaviruses

Overview

Journal Trends Microbiol

Date 2016 Mar 26

PMID 27012512

Citations 1466

Authors

Shuo Su

Gary Wong

Weifeng Shi

Jun Liu

Alexander C K Lai

Jiyong Zhou

Wenjun Liu

Yuhai Bi

George F Gao

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Human coronaviruses (HCoVs) were first described in the 1960s for patients with the common cold. Since then, more HCoVs have been discovered, including those that cause severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), two pathogens that, upon infection, can cause fatal respiratory disease in humans. It was recently discovered that dromedary camels in Saudi Arabia harbor three different HCoV species, including a dominant MERS HCoV lineage that was responsible for the outbreaks in the Middle East and South Korea during 2015. In this review we aim to compare and contrast the different HCoVs with regard to epidemiology and pathogenesis, in addition to the virus evolution and recombination events which have, on occasion, resulted in outbreaks amongst humans.

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