ABSTRACT
Due to global warming and other environmental disturbances, many viral infections have arisen that can be over-dominant in the present health care infrastructure of the world. A large segment of the global population is at risk of infection from these emerging viruses. Suddenly, coronaviruses have become very famous due to the recent outbreaks of severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus (SARS-CoV), Middle East respiratory syndrome corona virus (MERS-CoV), and, currently, corona virus infectious disease-19 (COVID-19). There are seven coronaviruses with the capacity to infect humans: 229E-CoV, NL63-CoV, OC43-CoV, HKU1-CoV, SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and, COVID-19. Of these, 229E-CoV, NL63-CoV, OC43-CoV, and HKU1-CoV can cause only self-limited upper-respiratory-tracheal infections in humans, without much medical importance. On the other hand, zoonotic transmission of emerging SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and COVID-19 is associated with lower-respiratory tract infections well known for their dangerous consequences in humans. This chapter will describe recent advances in the study of various human coronaviruses with specific stress on SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and COVID-19. Detailed descriptions are given of recent trends and approaches in the diagnosis and management of SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and COVID-19. Accurate diagnosis and effective treatment are helpful in the timely control of these recently arisen severe viral infections. Scientists, doctors, and other health care workers have learned great lessons about outbreak patterns, epidemiology, and other parameters related to these coronaviruses. It has been collectively suggested that there should be effective vaccines or antivirals to fight them in the future. The present chapter has briefly reviewed the literature on several facets like transmission, precautions, diagnosis, and the effective management of SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and COVID-19 infections.
