Origin and Spillover of Coronaviruses: Prospects of One Health Action
Md. Sahidur Rahman
ABSTRACT
Coronaviruses are a large group of viruses causing diseases in mammals, including humans and birds. Bat and rodents act as a reservoir of alphacoronavirus and betacoronavirus whereas, gamacoronavirus and deltacoronavirus originate in avian species. Domestic animals also play a critical role in disease transmission as they are found seropositive against different coronaviruses. At least seven coronaviruses are known to have been spilled over from animal to human. SARS-CoV-2 is the recent one that showed pneumonia-like syndrome named COVID-19. It was assumed that SARS-CoV-2 was initially a spillover from bats due to its genomic similarity with Bat-CoV-RaTG13, where pangolins may have acted as an intermediate host. Wild trade, ecotourism, destruction of wild habitat, and other anthropogenic activities disrupt the human-wildlife barrier which leads to the spillover process. In these circumstances, a One Health approach is crucial to implement multisectoral collaborative action among physicians, veterinarians, wildlife experts, epidemiologists, environmental scientists, and microbiologists to curb the COVID-19. One health encourages joint disease surveillance by establishing laboratory networks and regulating proper biosafety, biosecurity, and risk communication to facilitate strong disease prevention and control strategy by which we could prevent the next coronavirus outbreak in humans.
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