Corona virus vs Sars virus
COVID-19, which is caused by the new coronavirus, has been dominating the news lately. However, you may have first become familiar with the term coronavirus during the (SARS) outbreak in 2003.
Both COVID-19 and SARS are caused by coronaviruses. The virus that causes SARS is known as SARS-CoV, while the virus that causes COVID-19 is known as SARS-CoV-2. There are also other types of human coronaviruses.
Despite their similar name, there are several differences between the coronaviruses that cause COVID-19 and SARS. Keep reading as we explore coronaviruses and how they compare to each other.
Corona virus are a very diverse family of viruses. They have a large host range, which includes humans. However, the greatest amount of coronavirus diversity is seen in bats.
Coronaviruses have spiky projections on their surface that look like crowns. Corona means “crown” in Latin — and that’s how this family of viruses got their name.
Most of the time, human coronaviruses cause mild respiratory illnesses like the common cold . In fact, four types of human coronaviruses cause 10-30 %
A new type of coronavirus can emerge when an animal coronavirus develops the ability to transmit a disease to humans. When germs are transmitted from an animal to a human, it’s called zoonotic transmission.
Coronaviruses that make the jump to human hosts can cause serious illness. This can be due to a variety of factors, particularly humans’ lack of immunity to the new virus. Here are some examples of such coronaviruses:
- SARS-CoV, the virus that caused SARS which was first identified in 2003
- MERS-CoV, the virus that caused Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), which was first identified in 2012
- SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, which was first identified in 2019
SARS is the name of the respiratory illness that’s caused by SARS-CoV. The acronym SARS stands for severe acute respiratory syndrome.
The global SARS outbreak lasted from late 2002 to mid-2003. During this time, over 8000
The origin of SARS-CoV is thought to be bats. It’s believed that the virus passed from bats to an intermediate animal host, the civet cat, before jumping to humans.
Fever is one of the first symptoms of SARS. This may be accompanied by other symptoms, such as:
- Cough
- Fatigue
- Body aches and pain
Respiratory symptoms can worsen, leading to shortness of breath. Serious cases rapidly progress, leading to pneumonia.
A recent
The receptor binding site of SARS-CoV-2 was also compared to other coronaviruses. Remember that to enter a cell, a virus needs to interact with proteins on the cell’s surface (receptors). The virus does this via proteins on its own surface.
When the protein sequence of the SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding site was analyzed, an interesting result was found. While SARS-CoV-2 is overall more similar to bat coronaviruses, the receptor binding site was more similar to SARS-CoV.
Studies are underway to see how the new coronavirus binds to and enters cells in comparison to the SARS virus. Results have so far been varied. It’s also important to note that the research below was performed only with proteins and not in the context of an entire virus.
A study has confirmed that both SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV use the same host cell receptor. It also found that, for both viruses, the viral proteins used for host cell entry bind to the receptor with the same tightness (affinity).
Another recent studies
If the new coronavirus indeed has a higher binding affinity for its host cell receptor, this could also explain why it appears to spread more easily than the SARS virus.
There have been no global SARS outbreaks since 2003
SARS has been successfully contained using public health measures, such as:
- early case detection and isolation
- contact tracing and isolation
- Social distancing
Will implementing the same measures help COVID-19 go away? In this case, it may be more difficult.
Some factors that may contribute to COVID-19 being around for longer include the following:
About 80% of people with COVID-19 have a mild illness. Some may not even know that they’re sick. This makes it harder to determine who’s infected and who’s not. - People with COVID-19 appear to shed the virus earlier in the course of their infection than people with SARS. This makes it more difficult to detect who has the virus and isolate them before they spread it to others.
- COVID-19 is now spreading easily within communities. This was not the case with SARS, which was more commonly spread in healthcare settings.
- We’re even more globally connected than we were in 2003, making it easier for COVID-19 to spread between regions and countries.
COVID-19 and SARS are both caused by coronaviruses. The viruses that cause these illnesses likely originated in animals before they were transmitted to humans by an intermediate host.
There are many similarities between COVID-19 and SARS. However, there are also important differences. COVID-19 cases can range from mild to severe, while SARS cases, in general, were more severe. But COVID-19 spreads more easily. There are also some differences in the symptoms between the two illnesses.
There hasn’t been a documented case of SARS since 2004, as strict public health measures were implemented to contain its spread. COVID-19 may be more challenging to contain because the virus that causes this disease spreads more easily and often causes mild symptoms.
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