How does SARS-COV-2 Compare with other coronavirus's?

By: Rachel Jin

Ever since COVID-19 was announced as a world-wide pandemic by the WHO, it’s lasting impacts are evident. Scientists are constantly updating the people with further information about the virus, and they have highlighted the difference between COVID-19 and other coronavirus.

Coronavirus Background

SARS-COV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is a type of coronavirus. It stands for severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2. However, many people mistakenly call this virus a broad term, coronavirus. In the Ortho Coronaviridae family, coronavirus (CoV) is a type of virus where its crownlike appearance gives it the name corona. SARs-COV-2 is a novel coronavirus belonging to a group of seven coronaviruses that are known to man. This includes the 229E alpha coronavirus, NL63 alpha coronavirus, OC43 beta coronavirus, HKU1 beta coronavirus, MERS-CoV MERS, SARS-CoV SARS, and SARS-COV-2 COVD-19.

Simularities

All CoV have genomes in the form of RNA, single stranded ribonucleic acid, and have a likely chance of mutation as a result of their error prone RdRp. Although the coronaviruses are found from animals, each virus differs in terms of symptoms and mortality rate. The first coronavirus described was 229 E in the 1960s and was transmitted among the human population. It was one of the four endemic coronaviruses that caused diseases in the upper and lower respiratory tract, contributing to one third of the “common colds” back then. In 2003, SARS-CoV is the virus reported in China that caused SARS. It had a mortality rate of 9.5% and was inferred to be spread from civet cats. Luckily it could be limited with identifying infected individuals and isolating them. Later in 2012, MERS was found from a patient in Saudia Arabia. It could be contracted from human to human interaction or from camels, where once contracted, shown by the 2500 cases in 2019, had a mortality rate of 30%. Currently, it centers mainly around the Arabian Peninsula.

Comparisons

In comparison to these coronaviruses, SARS-COV-2 is a coronavirus that first appeared in Hubei, Wuhan China. It could spread through people without symptoms, resulting in a high risk of infection. Although it had a lower mortality rate depending on a country’s medical equipment and treatment preparation, it has became a pandemic.

Overall, although COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) shares similarities with the other coronaviruses, it has specific characteristics that medical researches and scientists will further discover to successfully battle these types of viruses again.

Citations:

“UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.” Safety and Health Topics | COVID-19 - Medical Information | Occupational Safety and Health Administration, www.osha.gov/SLTC/covid-19/medicalinformation.html.

Ludwig, Stephan, and Alexander Zarbock. “Coronaviruses and SARS-CoV-2: A Brief Overview.” Anesthesia and Analgesia, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, July 2020, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7173023/.