Cited by 11,688SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 ResearchAnimal Virus Infections StudiesZoonotic diseases and public health

A new coronavirus associated with human respiratory disease in China

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Wu, Fan, Zhao, Su, Yu, Bin, Chen, Yan-Mei, Wang, Wen, Song, Zhi-Gang, Hu, Yi, Tao, Zhao-Wu +11 more·2020·Nature

Abstract

Emerging infectious diseases, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Zika virus disease, present a major threat to public health 1–3 . Despite intense research efforts, how, when and where new diseases appear are still a source of considerable uncertainty. A severe respiratory disease was recently reported in Wuhan, Hubei province, China. As of 25 January 2020, at least 1,975 cases had been reported since the first patient was hospitalized on 12 December 2019. Epidemiological investigations have suggested that the outbreak was associated with a seafood market in Wuhan. Here we study a single patient who was a worker at the market and who was admitted to the Central Hospital of Wuhan on 26 December 2019 while experiencing a severe respiratory syndrome that included fever, dizziness and a cough. Metagenomic RNA sequencing 4 of a sample of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid from the patient identified a new RNA virus strain from the family Coronaviridae , which is designated here ‘WH-Human 1’ coronavirus (and has also been referred to as ‘2019-nCoV’). Phylogenetic analysis of the complete viral genome (29,903 nucleotides) revealed that the virus was most closely related (89.1% nucleotide similarity) to a group of SARS-like coronaviruses (genus Betacoronavirus, subgenus Sarbecovirus) that had previously been found in bats in China 5 . This outbreak highlights the ongoing ability of viral spill-over from animals to cause severe disease in humans.

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  • The COVID-19 pandemic could substantially affect mortality in the prevalent IBD population.

    “Alternatively, the ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic has the potential to dramatically affect mortality among the prevalent IBD population96.”
  • Two mRNA-based vaccines (Pfizer-BioNTech BNT162b2 and Moderna mRNA-1273) encode a stabilized ectodomain version of the S protein derived from the Wuhan-Hu-1 variant isolated in December 2019.

    “Both vaccines encode a stabilized ectodomain version of the S protein derived from the Wuhan-Hu-1 variant isolated in December 2019 (43)”
  • Opportunistic oral bacteria, including Veillonella parvula, Capnocytophaga gingivalis, Leptotrichia buccalis, and Prevotella melaninogenia, were overrepresented in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of patients with COVID-19, suggesting that the oral cavity may serve as a reservoir of bacteria implicated in coinfection with SARS-CoV-2.

    “Opportunistic oral bacteria, including Veillonella parvula, Capnocytophaga gingivalis, Leptotrichia buccalis, and Prevotella melaninogenia were overrepresented in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of patients with COVID‐19, suggesting that the oral cavity may serve as a reservoir of bacteria implicated in coinfection with SARS‐CoV‐2 in COVID‐19.”

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  1. Gorbalenya, A. E. Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus — the species and its viruses, a statement of the Coronavirus Study Group. Preprint at bioRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.02.07.93786 (2020). · DOI

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Authors
Wu, F., Zhao, S., Yu, B., Chen, Y.-M., Wang, W., Song, Z.-G., Hu, Y., Tao, Z.-W., Tian, J.-H., Pei, Y.-Y., Yuan, M.-L., Zhang, Y.-L., Dai, F.-H., Liu, Y., Wang, Q.-M., Zheng, J.-J., Xu, L., Holmes, E. C., & Zhang, Y.-Z.
Affiliations
  • Fudan University (CN)
  • Wuhan Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CN)
  • Chinese Center For Disease Control and Prevention (CN)
  • Central Hospital of Wuhan (CN)
  • The University of Sydney (AU)
Corresponding author
Zhang, Yu-Ling
Venue
Nature
Published
2020-02-03
Volume
579
Issue
7798
Pages
265-269
ISSN
  • 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
  • 1476-4687
OpenAlex
W3003217347
Cited by
11,688
References
47
Citations by year
2026: 223 · 2025: 481 · 2024: 839 · 2023: 1294 · 2022: 2184 · 2021: 3232 · 2020: 3416 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 1 · 2016: 1 · 2013: 2
FWCI
333.80
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nature (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • The Sydney eScholarship Repository (The University of Sydney) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China (81861138003, 31930001)
  • Australian Research Council (FL170100022)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Animal Science and Zoology › Animal Virus Infections Studies
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Zoonotic diseases and public health
Keywords
SARS-CoV-2, novel coronavirus, SARS-like coronaviruses, Betacoronavirus, Sarbecovirus, SARS, animal-to-human transmission, Wuhan, phylogenetic analysis, viral genome, emerging infectious diseases
MeSH terms
Whole Genome Sequencing, Betacoronavirus, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Adult, China, Humans, Lung, Male, Phylogeny, Pneumonia, Viral, Recombination, Genetic, RNA, Viral, Tomography, X-Ray Computed, Genome, Viral, Coronavirus Infections, Communicable Diseases, Emerging, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome

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