COVID-19, SARS and MERS: similarities and differences
Main Article Content
Keywords
COVID-19; SARS; MERS; similarities; differences
Abstract
Since the turn of the millennium, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) followed two other coronavirus diseases: severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). Although both were more severe than COVID-19, their geographic spread and duration as epidemics were much more limited, but several lessons learned from the investigation of these diseases have been relevant to the control of SARS-CoV-2. The current paper aims to present comparisons between COVID-19 and the other two coronavirus diseases. The study consisted of a review of academic, scientific, and normative documents available on the internet using Atlas.ti with the codes “coronavirus comparisons”, “SARS” and “MERS”. The three diseases show similarities in that beta-coronaviruses cause them, probably originating from bats which infected food of animal origin sold in markets. In addition, they all cause dry cough, fever and apnea that, in severe cases, can progress to potentially lethal pneumonia. Phylogenetically, SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 are the closest. COVID-19 tends to be milder and less contagious, but this has had a more significant impact on global health and socially, on par with much earlier established diseases like HIV/AIDS. Various circumstances have shown that regular citizens and decision-makers shall
not underestimate COVID-19, so it is vital to continue to comply with prevention measures.
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Edgar Manuel Cambaza , Instituto Superior de Ciências e Educação à Distância (ISCED)
Chefe do Departamento Ciências da Saúde no Instituto Superior de Ciências e Educação à Distância (ISCED). Docente e Investigador desde 2008 no Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, Maputo, Moçambique. Mestre em Ciência Alimentar (Universidade da Austrália Ocidental) e Doutor em Sustentabilidade de Biossistemas (Universidade de Hokkaido).