Scientists from Cornell University believe that the virus SARS-CoV-2, calling the disease COVID-19, has a very high level of infectiousness due to the fact that combines the genomes of other coronaviruses. This is evidenced by the results of a study published in the journal of Molecular Biology.
the authors found that the genome of the new coronavirus in 96 percent of the genome of the SARS virus — SARS-CoV-1, which in 2003 claimed the lives of 774 people. While SARS-CoV-2 has characteristics of a benign human coronavirus HCoV-HKU1.
the First virus is not very contagious, has a high mortality. The second is the opposite — virtually harmless, but very quickly spreading. Thus, in their synthesis, they got a virus with high transmissibility and mortality. In addition to people it is dangerous for primates, cats, Minks and ferrets — receptors in their cells similar to human.
Earlier, the Ministry of health reported the outbreak of atypical pneumonia in Russia shortly before the outbreak of the epidemic of the coronavirus. Due to the spread of Mycoplasma pneumonia even had to close a number of suburban schools.
