tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
PLoS Biol
. 2022 May 16;20(5):e3001652.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001652. Online ahead of print.
Why do some coronaviruses become pandemic threats when others do not?
Benjamin L Rice[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Justin Lessler[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Clifton McKee[SUP] 3 [/SUP], C Jessica E Metcalf[SUP] 1 4 5 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Abstract
Despite multiple spillover events and short chains of transmission on at least 4 continents, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) has never triggered a pandemic. By contrast, its relative, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has, despite apparently little, if any, previous circulation in humans. Resolving the unsolved mystery of the failure of MERS-CoV to trigger a pandemic could help inform how we understand the pandemic potential of pathogens, and probing it underscores a need for a more holistic understanding of the ways in which viral genetic changes scale up to population-level transmission.
. 2022 May 16;20(5):e3001652.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001652. Online ahead of print.
Why do some coronaviruses become pandemic threats when others do not?
Benjamin L Rice[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Justin Lessler[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Clifton McKee[SUP] 3 [/SUP], C Jessica E Metcalf[SUP] 1 4 5 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 35576224
- DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001652
Abstract
Despite multiple spillover events and short chains of transmission on at least 4 continents, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) has never triggered a pandemic. By contrast, its relative, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has, despite apparently little, if any, previous circulation in humans. Resolving the unsolved mystery of the failure of MERS-CoV to trigger a pandemic could help inform how we understand the pandemic potential of pathogens, and probing it underscores a need for a more holistic understanding of the ways in which viral genetic changes scale up to population-level transmission.