Library · Microorganism
Human coronavirus
Make it clearer
Coronaviruses are viruses whose genetic material is single-stranded, positive-sense RNA, meaning that strand can be read directly to make proteins. Under the electron microscope they appear ringed with projections: these are the spikes, proteins studding the envelope, and that bristling outline calls to mind a crown. That is where the name comes from, since crown in Latin is coronam.
They are not a single virus. Seven coronaviruses have been identified that can infect people. One of them is SARS-CoV-2, the one that causes COVID-19, and it belongs to the same subgenus as the SARS coronavirus and the MERS coronavirus.
To make someone sick, the virus first has to get in. SARS-CoV-2 does this by binding its spike to receptors called ACE2 that sit on the respiratory epithelium, the layer of cells lining the airways. And it reaches them mainly through respiratory droplets, the ones released when a person talks, coughs or sneezes near someone else.
In brief
Coronaviruses are single-stranded, positive-sense RNA viruses that look like a crown under the electron microscope because of the spikes on their envelope.
Seven have been identified that can infect humans; one is SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19 and belongs to the same subgenus as the SARS and MERS viruses.
SARS-CoV-2 enters cells by binding its spike to ACE2 receptors on the respiratory epithelium, and it spreads mainly through respiratory droplets.
Sources (1)
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, StatPearls PublishingFeatures, Evaluation, and Treatment of Coronavirus (COVID-19), StatPearlsPublished
This page explains the topic in general terms; it does not tell anyone what treatment to follow.
Updated