Comparative tropism, replication kinetics, and cell damage profiling of SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV with implications for clinical manifestations, transmissibility, and laboratory studies of COVID-19: an observational study
Hin Chu, PhD †Jasper Fuk-Woo Chan, MD †Terrence Tsz-Tai Yuen, BA †Huiping Shuai, PhD †Shuofeng Yuan, PhDYixin Wang, MPhil
Open AccessPublished:April 21, 2020DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S2666-5247(20)30004-5
Background
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was reported from China in January, 2020. SARS-CoV-2 is efficiently transmitted from person to person and, in 2 months, has caused more than 82?000 laboratory-confirmed cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and 2800 deaths in 46 countries. The total number of cases and deaths has surpassed that of the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV). Although both COVID-19 and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) manifest as pneumonia, COVID-19 is associated with apparently more efficient transmission, fewer cases of diarrhoea, increased mental confusion, and a lower crude fatality rate. However, the underlying virus–host interactive characteristics conferring these observations on transmissibility and clinical manifestations of COVID-19 remain unknown.
