Xenotransplantation
Opriessnig, Tanja; Huang, Yao-Wei
Introduction
Coronaviruses (CoVs) have recently received an extraordinary level of global attention due to the discovery of a novel high pathogenic human coronavirus (CoV) in China in December 2019. CoVs are positive‐sense RNA viruses that belong to the subfamily Orthocoronavirinae in the family Coronaviridae (Source: International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses—ICTV, Taxonomy history: Orthocoronavirinae. Accessed January 24, 2020). This family can be divided into four genera, α‐CoVs, β‐CoVs, γ‐CoVs, and δ‐CoVs. CoV in humans are common, often associated with mild cold symptoms, and include the α‐CoVs HCoV‐229E and HCoV‐NL63, and the β‐CoVs HCoV‐OC43 and HCoV‐HKU1. In addition, to date three high pathogenic CoVs (all β‐CoVs) are recognized in humans and characterized by moderate (MERS‐CoV) or high (SARS‐CoV, SARS‐CoV‐2) transmission rates and association with mortality.
Keywords
Epidemiology