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Potential Factors Influencing Repeated SARS Outbreaks in China

Within last 17 years two widespread epidemics of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) occurred in China, which were caused by related coronaviruses (CoVs): SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2. Although the origin(s) of these viruses are still unknown and their occurrences in nature are mysterious, some gene...

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Autores principales: Sun, Zhong, Thilakavathy, Karuppiah, Kumar, S. Suresh, He, Guozhong, Liu, Shi V.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7084229/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32138266
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17051633
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author Sun, Zhong
Thilakavathy, Karuppiah
Kumar, S. Suresh
He, Guozhong
Liu, Shi V.
author_facet Sun, Zhong
Thilakavathy, Karuppiah
Kumar, S. Suresh
He, Guozhong
Liu, Shi V.
author_sort Sun, Zhong
collection PubMed
description Within last 17 years two widespread epidemics of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) occurred in China, which were caused by related coronaviruses (CoVs): SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2. Although the origin(s) of these viruses are still unknown and their occurrences in nature are mysterious, some general patterns of their pathogenesis and epidemics are noticeable. Both viruses utilize the same receptor—angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2)—for invading human bodies. Both epidemics occurred in cold dry winter seasons celebrated with major holidays, and started in regions where dietary consumption of wildlife is a fashion. Thus, if bats were the natural hosts of SARS-CoVs, cold temperature and low humidity in these times might provide conducive environmental conditions for prolonged viral survival in these regions concentrated with bats. The widespread existence of these bat-carried or -released viruses might have an easier time in breaking through human defenses when harsh winter makes human bodies more vulnerable. Once succeeding in making some initial human infections, spreading of the disease was made convenient with increased social gathering and holiday travel. These natural and social factors influenced the general progression and trajectory of the SARS epidemiology. However, some unique factors might also contribute to the origination of SARS in Wuhan. These factors are discussed in different scenarios in order to promote more research for achieving final validation.
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spelling pubmed-70842292020-03-24 Potential Factors Influencing Repeated SARS Outbreaks in China Sun, Zhong Thilakavathy, Karuppiah Kumar, S. Suresh He, Guozhong Liu, Shi V. Int J Environ Res Public Health Review Within last 17 years two widespread epidemics of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) occurred in China, which were caused by related coronaviruses (CoVs): SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2. Although the origin(s) of these viruses are still unknown and their occurrences in nature are mysterious, some general patterns of their pathogenesis and epidemics are noticeable. Both viruses utilize the same receptor—angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2)—for invading human bodies. Both epidemics occurred in cold dry winter seasons celebrated with major holidays, and started in regions where dietary consumption of wildlife is a fashion. Thus, if bats were the natural hosts of SARS-CoVs, cold temperature and low humidity in these times might provide conducive environmental conditions for prolonged viral survival in these regions concentrated with bats. The widespread existence of these bat-carried or -released viruses might have an easier time in breaking through human defenses when harsh winter makes human bodies more vulnerable. Once succeeding in making some initial human infections, spreading of the disease was made convenient with increased social gathering and holiday travel. These natural and social factors influenced the general progression and trajectory of the SARS epidemiology. However, some unique factors might also contribute to the origination of SARS in Wuhan. These factors are discussed in different scenarios in order to promote more research for achieving final validation. MDPI 2020-03-03 2020-03 /pmc/articles/PMC7084229/ /pubmed/32138266 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17051633 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Sun, Zhong
Thilakavathy, Karuppiah
Kumar, S. Suresh
He, Guozhong
Liu, Shi V.
Potential Factors Influencing Repeated SARS Outbreaks in China
title Potential Factors Influencing Repeated SARS Outbreaks in China
title_full Potential Factors Influencing Repeated SARS Outbreaks in China
title_fullStr Potential Factors Influencing Repeated SARS Outbreaks in China
title_full_unstemmed Potential Factors Influencing Repeated SARS Outbreaks in China
title_short Potential Factors Influencing Repeated SARS Outbreaks in China
title_sort potential factors influencing repeated sars outbreaks in china
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7084229/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32138266
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17051633
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