Coronaviruses are a group of enveloped, single-stranded, positive-sense RNA viruses which are broadly classified into Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta coronaviruses genera on the basis of viral genome. Coronavirus was not thought to be a significant problem in humans until the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in 2002 but infection in animals including pigs, cats, dogs and poultry has been problematic for long. Outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 in December 2019 in Wuhan, China drew the special attention towards this virus once again. Intermediate host of this novel coronavirus, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is yet to be determined, but it has very close genomic relationship with the bat coronavirus (BatCoV), RaTG13 strain, and the pangolin coronaviruses. As veterinary medicine has long term experience dealing with coronaviruses, this could help in better understanding to detect the origin of SARS-CoV-2 and drive human medicine towards development of vaccines and antiviral drugs through collaborative and transdisciplinary approach of One Health.
Key words: Animal Coronaviruses; COVID-19; One Health; SARS-CoV-2
|
