The world has witnessed the coronavirus epidemic by SARS-CoV in 2003, epidemic by MERS-CoV in 2012, and pandemic by SARS-CoV2 in 2020 (Covid-19)

Question

The world has witnessed the coronavirus epidemic by SARS-CoV in 2003, epidemic by

MERS-CoV in 2012, and pandemic by SARS-CoV2 in 2020 (Covid-19). Is it possible that

due to the antigenic shift of SARS-CoV virus, a new subtype of the virus (Covid 19) is

generated that cause this pandemic in 2020?

Answer 1

Great question Sara!

There are a variety of reasons the COVID-19 pandemic panned out the way it did, whilst other members of the coronaviridae family have not had such widespread effects. You're right that the SARS CoV-2 surface proteins played a large role. In fact, SARS CoV-2's surface binding affinity is 10-20 higher than SARS CoV. This means the virus can attach more effectively to human cell-surface proteins (i.e. ACE2 receptors) and therefore infect human cells more effectively.

Please reach out if you have any other questions.