100 years after the infamous “Spanish flu” pandemic, the 2017–2018 flu season has been severe, with numerous infections worldwide. In between, there have been continuous, relentless attacks from ...(re-)emerging viruses. To fully understand viral pathogenesis and develop effective medical countermeasures, we must strengthen current surveillance and basic research efforts.
100 years after the infamous “Spanish flu” pandemic, the 2017–2018 flu season has been severe, with numerous infections worldwide. In between, there have been continuous, relentless attacks from (re-)emerging viruses. To fully understand viral pathogenesis and develop effective medical countermeasures, we must strengthen current surveillance and basic research efforts.
Vaccines are urgently needed to control the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and to help the return to pre-pandemic normalcy. A great many vaccine candidates are being developed, several ...of which have completed late-stage clinical trials and are reporting positive results. In this Progress article, we discuss which viral elements are used in COVID-19 vaccine candidates, why they might act as good targets for the immune system and the implications for protective immunity.
Highlights • Bats are natural reservoirs of many coronaviruses that can infect humans. • Mechanisms of cross-species transmission of coronaviruses are important scientific questions. • The ...coronaviral spike protein is an important viral determinant of cross-species transmission. • Receptor-binding characteristics and cleavage priming of the spike protein are summarized.
Super-spreading occurs when a single patient infects a disproportionate number of contacts. The 2015 MERS-CoV, 2003 SARS-CoV, and to a lesser extent 2014–15 Ebola virus outbreaks were driven by ...super-spreaders. We summarize documented super-spreading in these outbreaks, explore contributing factors, and suggest studies to better understand super-spreading.
Super-spreading occurs when a single patient infects a disproportionate number of contacts. The 2015 MERS-CoV, 2003 SARS-CoV, and to a lesser extent 2014–15 Ebola virus outbreaks were driven by super-spreaders. We summarize documented super-spreading in these outbreaks, explore contributing factors, and suggest studies to better understand super-spreading.
Since the first cases of COVID-19 were documented in Wuhan, China in 2019, the world has witnessed a devastating global pandemic, with more than 238 million cases, nearly 5 million fatalities and the ...daily number of people infected increasing rapidly. Here we describe the currently available data on the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the causative agent of COVID-19, outline the early viral spread in Wuhan and its transmission patterns in China and across the rest of the world, and highlight how genomic surveillance, together with other data such as those on human mobility, has helped to trace the spread and genetic variation of the virus and has also comprised a key element for the control of the pandemic. We pay particular attention to characterizing and describing the international spread of the major variants of concern of SARS-CoV-2 that were first identified in late 2020 and demonstrate that virus evolution has entered a new phase. More broadly, we highlight our currently limited understanding of coronavirus diversity in nature, the rapid spread of the virus and its variants in such an increasingly connected world, the reduced protection of vaccines, and the urgent need for coordinated global surveillance using genomic techniques. In summary, we provide important information for the prevention and control of both the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and any new diseases that will inevitably emerge in the human population in future generations.
Nine exported cases of 2019-nCoV infection have been reported in Thailand, Japan, Korea, the USA, Vietnam, and Singapore to date, and further dissemination through air travel is likely.1–5 As of Jan ...23, 2020, confirmed cases were consecutively reported in 32 provinces, municipalities, and special administrative regions in China, including Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.3 These cases detected outside Wuhan, together with the detection of infection in at least one household cluster—reported by Jasper Fuk-Woo Chan and colleagues6 in The Lancet—and the recently documented infections in health-care workers caring for patients with 2019-nCoV indicate human-to-human transmission and thus the risk of much wider spread of the disease. An efficient system is ready for monitoring and responding to infectious disease outbreaks and the 2019-nCoV pneumonia has been quickly added to the Notifiable Communicable Disease List and given the highest priority by Chinese health authorities. ...the 2019-nCoV outbreak has led to implementation of extraordinary public health measures to reduce further spread of the virus within China and elsewhere. Unfortunately, 16 health-care workers, some of whom were working in the same ward, have been confirmed to be infected with 2019-nCoV to date, although the routes of transmission and the possible role of so-called super-spreaders remain to be clarified.9 Epidemiological studies need to be done to assess risk factors for infection in health-care personnel and quantify potential subclinical or asymptomatic infections.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues worldwide with many variants arising, some of which are variants of concern (VOCs). A recent VOC, omicron (B.1.1.529), which obtains a large ...number of mutations in the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the spike protein, has risen to intense scientific and public attention. Here, we studied the binding properties between the human receptor ACE2 (hACE2) and the VOC RBDs and resolved the crystal and cryoelectron microscopy structures of the omicron RBD-hACE2 complex as well as the crystal structure of the delta RBD-hACE2 complex. We found that, unlike alpha, beta, and gamma, omicron RBD binds to hACE2 at a similar affinity to that of the prototype RBD, which might be due to compensation of multiple mutations for both immune escape and transmissibility. The complex structures of omicron RBD-hACE2 and delta RBD-hACE2 reveal the structural basis of how RBD-specific mutations bind to hACE2.
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•Omicron, delta, and prototype SARS-CoV-2 RBDs show similar binding strength to hACE2•The complexes of SARS-CoV-2-RBD with hACE2 for omicron and delta variants were resolved•The roles of key residues in the omicron RBD for receptor recognition were identified
Structural analysis of the complexes of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) RBD with the human ACE2 receptor for omicron and delta reveals variant-specific binding features.
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