As the causative agent, coronaviruses are responsible for many types of zoonotic diseases. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, there were only six type of coronaviruses that could infect humans. However, during just past two years, three novel types of coronaviruses that can infect people, including SARS-CoV-2, canine coronaviruses (CCoV-HuPn-2018 and HuCCoV_Z19Haiti), and porcine deltacoronavirus, have been discovered. The shortening time interval between the discovery of different novel human-infecting coronaviruses also suggests that a completely novel type of human-infecting coronavirus will emerge in the near future. In addition, SARS-CoV-2 has been found to spillover to wild animals (like white-tailed deer), which further accelerates the emergence of novel human-infecting coronaviruses. Therefore, it is necessary to be adequately prepared for this potential threat. Since all coronaviruses known to infect humans have originated from animals, the first important task is to perform the background surveys of zoonotic coronaviruses in both wild and domesticated animals. Moreover, the various properties of these coronaviruses need to be assessed to give an early warning of which coronaviruses have the potential to spread across species and infect humans.
We hope that through this Research Topic, we can learn more about the prevalence of coronaviruses in nature, and provide early warnings and prepare knowledge reserves for novel coronaviruses that may infect humans in the future, so that large-scale epidemics can be avoided as much as possible.
We welcome Original Research, Reviews, Methods and Opinion submissions that cover, but are not limited to, the following topics:
- Surveillance studies of coronaviruses in animals and environments
- The survivability of coronaviruses in the environment
- The transmission, and pathogenesis of coronaviruses
- The origin, intra-/inter-host evolution of coronaviruses
- Molecular mechanism of cross-species transmission of coronaviruses
- Development of novel bioinformatic method to evaluate the risk of cross-species transmission of coronaviruses
As the causative agent, coronaviruses are responsible for many types of zoonotic diseases. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, there were only six type of coronaviruses that could infect humans. However, during just past two years, three novel types of coronaviruses that can infect people, including SARS-CoV-2, canine coronaviruses (CCoV-HuPn-2018 and HuCCoV_Z19Haiti), and porcine deltacoronavirus, have been discovered. The shortening time interval between the discovery of different novel human-infecting coronaviruses also suggests that a completely novel type of human-infecting coronavirus will emerge in the near future. In addition, SARS-CoV-2 has been found to spillover to wild animals (like white-tailed deer), which further accelerates the emergence of novel human-infecting coronaviruses. Therefore, it is necessary to be adequately prepared for this potential threat. Since all coronaviruses known to infect humans have originated from animals, the first important task is to perform the background surveys of zoonotic coronaviruses in both wild and domesticated animals. Moreover, the various properties of these coronaviruses need to be assessed to give an early warning of which coronaviruses have the potential to spread across species and infect humans.
We hope that through this Research Topic, we can learn more about the prevalence of coronaviruses in nature, and provide early warnings and prepare knowledge reserves for novel coronaviruses that may infect humans in the future, so that large-scale epidemics can be avoided as much as possible.
We welcome Original Research, Reviews, Methods and Opinion submissions that cover, but are not limited to, the following topics:
- Surveillance studies of coronaviruses in animals and environments
- The survivability of coronaviruses in the environment
- The transmission, and pathogenesis of coronaviruses
- The origin, intra-/inter-host evolution of coronaviruses
- Molecular mechanism of cross-species transmission of coronaviruses
- Development of novel bioinformatic method to evaluate the risk of cross-species transmission of coronaviruses
