The novel zoonotic COVID-19 pandemic: An expected global health concern

18 years ago, in 2002, the world was astonished by the appearance of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), supported by a zoonotic coronavirus, called SARS-CoV, from the Guangdong Province of southern China. After about 10 years, in 2012, another similar coronavirus triggered the Middle East Re...

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Main Authors: Carlo Contini, Mariachiara Di Nuzzo, Nicole Barp, Aurora Bonazza, Roberto De Giorgio, Mauro Tognon, Salvatore Rubino
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: The Journal of Infection in Developing Countries 2020-03-01
Series:Journal of Infection in Developing Countries
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Online Access:https://jidc.org/index.php/journal/article/view/12671
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author Carlo Contini
Mariachiara Di Nuzzo
Nicole Barp
Aurora Bonazza
Roberto De Giorgio
Mauro Tognon
Salvatore Rubino
author_facet Carlo Contini
Mariachiara Di Nuzzo
Nicole Barp
Aurora Bonazza
Roberto De Giorgio
Mauro Tognon
Salvatore Rubino
author_sort Carlo Contini
collection DOAJ
description 18 years ago, in 2002, the world was astonished by the appearance of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), supported by a zoonotic coronavirus, called SARS-CoV, from the Guangdong Province of southern China. After about 10 years, in 2012, another similar coronavirus triggered the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) in Saudi Arabia. Both caused severe pneumonia killing 774 and 858 people with 8700 cases of confirmed infection for the former, and 2494 for the latter, causing significant economic losses. 8 years later, despite the MERS outbreak remaining in certain parts of the world, at the end of 2019, a new zoonotic coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and responsible of coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), arose from Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. It spread rapidly and to date has killed 3,242 persons with more than 81,000 cases of infection in China and causing over 126,000 global cases and 5,414 deaths in 166 other countries around the world, especially Italy. SARS-CoV-2 would seem to have come from a bat, but the intermediate reservoir continues to be unknown. Nonetheless, as for SARS-CoV and MERS CoV, the Spillover effect linked to animal-human promiscuity, human activities including deforestation, illegal bush-trafficking and bushmeat, cannot be excluded. Recently, however, evidence of inter-human only transmission of SARS-CoV-2 has been accumulated and thus, the outbreak seems to be spreading by human-to-human transmission throughout a large part of the world. Herein we will provide with an update on the main features of COVID-19 and suggest possible solutions how to halt the expansion of this novel pandemic.
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spelling doaj-art-4bb7d97ec6564fc9b84424af72d741142025-08-20T02:16:14ZengThe Journal of Infection in Developing CountriesJournal of Infection in Developing Countries1972-26802020-03-01140310.3855/jidc.12671The novel zoonotic COVID-19 pandemic: An expected global health concernCarlo Contini0Mariachiara Di Nuzzo1Nicole Barp2Aurora Bonazza3Roberto De Giorgio4Mauro Tognon5Salvatore Rubino6Infectious Diseases and Dermatology Section, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, ItalyInfectious Diseases and Dermatology Section, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, ItalyInfectious Diseases and Dermatology Section, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, ItalyInfectious Diseases and Dermatology Section, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, ItalyInternal Medicine Unit, Department of Morphology, Surgery and Experimental Medicine; University of Ferrara, Ferrara, ItalyPathology, Oncology and Experimental Biology Section, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, ItalyDepartment of Biomedical Sciences, Microbiology, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy 18 years ago, in 2002, the world was astonished by the appearance of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), supported by a zoonotic coronavirus, called SARS-CoV, from the Guangdong Province of southern China. After about 10 years, in 2012, another similar coronavirus triggered the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) in Saudi Arabia. Both caused severe pneumonia killing 774 and 858 people with 8700 cases of confirmed infection for the former, and 2494 for the latter, causing significant economic losses. 8 years later, despite the MERS outbreak remaining in certain parts of the world, at the end of 2019, a new zoonotic coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and responsible of coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), arose from Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. It spread rapidly and to date has killed 3,242 persons with more than 81,000 cases of infection in China and causing over 126,000 global cases and 5,414 deaths in 166 other countries around the world, especially Italy. SARS-CoV-2 would seem to have come from a bat, but the intermediate reservoir continues to be unknown. Nonetheless, as for SARS-CoV and MERS CoV, the Spillover effect linked to animal-human promiscuity, human activities including deforestation, illegal bush-trafficking and bushmeat, cannot be excluded. Recently, however, evidence of inter-human only transmission of SARS-CoV-2 has been accumulated and thus, the outbreak seems to be spreading by human-to-human transmission throughout a large part of the world. Herein we will provide with an update on the main features of COVID-19 and suggest possible solutions how to halt the expansion of this novel pandemic. https://jidc.org/index.php/journal/article/view/12671SARS CoVMERS CoVSARS-CoV-2COVID-19spilloverdrugs
spellingShingle Carlo Contini
Mariachiara Di Nuzzo
Nicole Barp
Aurora Bonazza
Roberto De Giorgio
Mauro Tognon
Salvatore Rubino
The novel zoonotic COVID-19 pandemic: An expected global health concern
Journal of Infection in Developing Countries
SARS CoV
MERS CoV
SARS-CoV-2
COVID-19
spillover
drugs
title The novel zoonotic COVID-19 pandemic: An expected global health concern
title_full The novel zoonotic COVID-19 pandemic: An expected global health concern
title_fullStr The novel zoonotic COVID-19 pandemic: An expected global health concern
title_full_unstemmed The novel zoonotic COVID-19 pandemic: An expected global health concern
title_short The novel zoonotic COVID-19 pandemic: An expected global health concern
title_sort novel zoonotic covid 19 pandemic an expected global health concern
topic SARS CoV
MERS CoV
SARS-CoV-2
COVID-19
spillover
drugs
url https://jidc.org/index.php/journal/article/view/12671
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