The family Coronaviridae includes a large number of viruses affecting humans, various species of animals, and birds. Coronaviruses have some unique criteria such as a wide host range and tropism. There is a continuous emergence of new coronavirus. This is in addition to the emergence of some new strains serotypes, and variants of the currently known viruses. This is maybe due to the poor proofreading capabilities of the coronavirus’s RNA-dependent RNA polymerase enzyme triggering the induction of several mutations per each cycle of virus replication. There are also some possibilities of recombination between various coronaviruses on the virus level, which may result in a new virus carrying the properties of the parent viruses. It may also occur on the level of virus strains and variants leading to the emergence of more virulent/attenuated strains of the known viruses. Meanwhile, some coronaviruses adapt several unique immune evasion strategies, which enable them to escape the effect of vaccines or drugs.
In the last two decades, we have encountered two large coronaviruses pandemics; SARS-CoV-1 in late 2002 and SARS-CoV-2 which caused the ongoing pandemic. This is in addition to the MERS-CoV that emerged in late 2012 in the Arabian Peninsula. These three viruses have some potential animal reservoirs and are considered ideal examples of the One Health concept. Most coronavirus ancestors originated from various species of bats. There is a continuous spillover of coronaviruses to humans through some animals as intermediate hosts. It is important to implement a continuous monitoring system to track down the dynamic changes in the coronavirus's genomes and to develop some machine learning tools to predict any possibilities of the emergence of new coronaviruses. We should also work on advancing our diagnostic assays as well as vaccine and vaccination strategies to cope with the ongoing evolution of coronaviruses in wildlife. Special attention should be paid to the development of some novel Pancoronaviruses vaccines and diagnostic assays. This will allow us to track down the emergence of any new coronavirus as well as to have some ready vaccines that might help in the prevention and control of any upcoming coronaviruses' pandemics.
The scope of this issue may include the following points
1. The potential roles of the one Health concept as the first line of defense against the future pandemics.
2. Machine learning tools for the prediction of the upcoming future pandemic.
3. The continuous monitoring of coronaviruses in bats and wildlife.
4. The recent advances in the coronaviruses vaccines and vaccination strategies.
5. Development of some novel diagnostic assays for coronaviruses that have multiplex and simultaneous detection for the coronavirus antigens, antibodies as well as nucleic acids.
The family Coronaviridae includes a large number of viruses affecting humans, various species of animals, and birds. Coronaviruses have some unique criteria such as a wide host range and tropism. There is a continuous emergence of new coronavirus. This is in addition to the emergence of some new strains serotypes, and variants of the currently known viruses. This is maybe due to the poor proofreading capabilities of the coronavirus’s RNA-dependent RNA polymerase enzyme triggering the induction of several mutations per each cycle of virus replication. There are also some possibilities of recombination between various coronaviruses on the virus level, which may result in a new virus carrying the properties of the parent viruses. It may also occur on the level of virus strains and variants leading to the emergence of more virulent/attenuated strains of the known viruses. Meanwhile, some coronaviruses adapt several unique immune evasion strategies, which enable them to escape the effect of vaccines or drugs.
In the last two decades, we have encountered two large coronaviruses pandemics; SARS-CoV-1 in late 2002 and SARS-CoV-2 which caused the ongoing pandemic. This is in addition to the MERS-CoV that emerged in late 2012 in the Arabian Peninsula. These three viruses have some potential animal reservoirs and are considered ideal examples of the One Health concept. Most coronavirus ancestors originated from various species of bats. There is a continuous spillover of coronaviruses to humans through some animals as intermediate hosts. It is important to implement a continuous monitoring system to track down the dynamic changes in the coronavirus's genomes and to develop some machine learning tools to predict any possibilities of the emergence of new coronaviruses. We should also work on advancing our diagnostic assays as well as vaccine and vaccination strategies to cope with the ongoing evolution of coronaviruses in wildlife. Special attention should be paid to the development of some novel Pancoronaviruses vaccines and diagnostic assays. This will allow us to track down the emergence of any new coronavirus as well as to have some ready vaccines that might help in the prevention and control of any upcoming coronaviruses' pandemics.
The scope of this issue may include the following points
1. The potential roles of the one Health concept as the first line of defense against the future pandemics.
2. Machine learning tools for the prediction of the upcoming future pandemic.
3. The continuous monitoring of coronaviruses in bats and wildlife.
4. The recent advances in the coronaviruses vaccines and vaccination strategies.
5. Development of some novel diagnostic assays for coronaviruses that have multiplex and simultaneous detection for the coronavirus antigens, antibodies as well as nucleic acids.