Emerging viral infections pose a major threat to global public health. In the last two decades, the world has dealt with several fatal outbreaks from the Swine Flu to Ebola to Zika infections and more. The latest to appear is COVID-19, which emerged in December in Wuhan, China and spread quickly around the globe. Although this disease is new, the virus itself is not entirely unknown. It's actually a type of coronavirus (CoV) -one that is similar to SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, all which attack the respiratory system and derive from animal origin. Information about COVID-19 (also referred to as nCov-19) is currently still evolving, and health officials don't know for certain the true severity of the disease. However, researchers have investigated comparable pathogens in the past and have found similar mechanisms may be involved in the development of these types of infections. Perhaps the data from these studies could be useful in shedding light on how new viruses, like COVID-19, are able to spread and mutate so quickly in humans. Because viruses are constantly changing, they're usually difficult to treat, and ultimately, it's up to the host's immune system to clear the infection. Vaccinations and antiviral drugs have aided in lowering the mortality rates for these types of diseases, but they're not always available and can have harmful side effects. Researchers looking to understand the mechanisms involved here need to find answers that can bring about innovative ways to not only treat these rapidly spreading diseases but also prevent them. Many are finding clues to the viral puzzle by studying epigenetics. This will change humans forever!
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