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. What does it take for a coronavirus to become a pandemic threat? And why has MERS-CoV repeatedly failed to emerge as a pandemic pathogen when SARS-CoV-2 has successfully spread around the world?
Why do some coronaviruses become pandemic threats when others do not?
[Category] COVID19(2023년), MERS, SARS,
[Source] PMC
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