Future trajectory of SARS-CoV-2: Constant spillover back and forth between humans and animals

Xinhua Cui; Yang Wang; Jingbo Zhai; Mengzhou Xue; Chunfu Zheng; Lu Yu

doi:10.1016/j.virusres.2023.199075

Future trajectory of SARS-CoV-2: Constant spillover back and forth between humans and animals

Virus Res. 2023 Apr 15:328:199075. doi: 10.1016/j.virusres.2023.199075. Epub 2023 Feb 28.

Authors

Xinhua Cui¹, Yang Wang¹, Jingbo Zhai², Mengzhou Xue³, Chunfu Zheng⁴, Lu Yu⁵

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Human-Animal Zoonotic infectious Diseases, Key Laboratory of Zoonosis Research, Ministry of Education, College of Veterinary Medicine, Center of Infectious Diseases and Pathogen Biology, Department of Infectious Diseases, First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China.
² Medical College, Inner Mongolia Minzu University, Tongliao, China; Key Laboratory of Zoonose Prevention and Control at Universities of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Tongliao, China.
³ Department of Cerebrovascular Diseases, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China. Electronic address: xuemengzhou@zzu.edu.cn.
⁴ Institute of Animal Health, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Key Laboratory of Livestock Disease Prevention of Guangdong Province, Scientific Observation and Experiment Station of Veterinary Drugs and Diagnostic Techniques of Guangdong Province, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Guangzhou, China; Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Infectious Diseases, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Electronic address: zheng.alan@hotmail.com.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of Human-Animal Zoonotic infectious Diseases, Key Laboratory of Zoonosis Research, Ministry of Education, College of Veterinary Medicine, Center of Infectious Diseases and Pathogen Biology, Department of Infectious Diseases, First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China. Electronic address: yu_lu@jlu.edu.cn.

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2, known as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, is causing a massive global public health dilemma. In particular, the outbreak of the Omicron variants of SARS-CoV-2 in several countries has aroused the great attention of the World Health Organization (WHO). As of February 1st, 2023, the WHO had counted 671,016,135 confirmed cases and 6,835,595 deaths worldwide. Despite effective vaccines and drug treatments, there is currently no way to completely and directly eliminate SARS-CoV-2. Moreover, frequent cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection in animals have also been reported. In this review, we suggest that SARS-CoV-2, as a zoonotic virus, may be frequently transmitted between animals and humans in the future, which provides a reference and warning for rational prevention and control of COVID-19.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; Spillover; Transmission; Zoonotic.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
COVID-19*
Disease Outbreaks
Humans
SARS-CoV-2*
World Health Organization

Supplementary concepts

SARS-CoV-2 variants