Comparing SARS-CoV-2 with SARS-CoV and influenza pandemics

By E. Petersen, Marion Koopmans, U. Go, D. Hamer, N. Petrosillo, F. Castelli, M. Storgaard, Sulien Al khalili, L. Simonsen. Lancet. Infectious Diseases (Print), 2020

1,058 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The objective of this Personal View is to compare transmissibility, hospitalisation, and mortality rates for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) with those of other epidemic coronaviruses, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), and pandemic influenza viruses. The basic reproductive rate (R0) for SARS-CoV-2 is estimated to be 2·5 (range 1·8–3·6) compared with 2·0–3·0 for SARS-CoV and the 1918 influenza pandemic, 0·9 for MERS-CoV, and 1·5 for the 2009 influenza pandemic. SARS-CoV-2 causes mild or asymptomatic disease in most cases; however, severe to critical illness occurs in a small proportion of infected individuals, with the highest rate seen in people older than 70 years. The measured case fatality rate varies between countries, probably because of differences in testing strategies. Population-based mortality estimates vary widely across Europe, ranging from zero to high. Numbers from the first affected region in Italy, Lombardy, show an all age mortality rate of 154 per 100 000 population. Differences are most likely due to varying demographic structures, among other factors. However, this new virus has a focal dissemination; therefore, some areas have a higher disease burden and are affected more than others for reasons that are still not understood. Nevertheless, early introduction of strict physical distancing and hygiene measures have proven effective in sharply reducing R0 and associated mortality and could in part explain the geographical differences.

Subfields: Economics and Econometrics, Infectious Diseases, Modeling and Simulation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/6be5955facca92a3776b6ed74910f1e6487a9a3f

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Citations in the corpus

SARS-CoV-2 ORF6 disrupts nucleocytoplasmic transport through interactions with Rae1 and Nup98 (2020, background): “249 COVID-19 patients display peak viral loads and maximum infectivity upon the onset of 250 symptoms rather than after the onset of symptoms which is typical in patient with SARS 251 (25).”
The prevalence of depression, anxiety, and sleep disturbances in COVID‐19 patients: a meta‐analysis (2020, methodology): “The data extraction form included the following items: (1) author names, (2) study title, (3) publication date, (4) digital object identifier, (5) country of origin, (6) study design, (7) sample size, (8) questionnaire response rate, (9) patient demographics (i.”
Synergism of TNF-α and IFN-γ Triggers Inflammatory Cell Death, Tissue Damage, and Mortality in SARS-CoV-2 Infection and Cytokine Shock Syndromes (2020, neutral): “SARS-CoV-2 infection results in a broad spectrum of clinical manifestations, including both asymptomatic cases and rapid fatalities (Petersen et al., 2020).”