novel coronavirus
{{About|the naming of newly discovered coronaviruses|the 2019 virus|Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2|the pandemic|COVID-19 pandemic}}
{{short description|Provisional name given to any recently discovered coronavirus of medical significance}}
{{wiktionary|nCoV}}
Novel coronavirus (nCoV) is a provisional name given to coronaviruses of medical significance before a permanent name is decided upon. Although coronaviruses are endemic in humans and infections normally mild, such as the common cold (caused by human coronaviruses in ~15% of cases), cross-species transmission has produced some unusually virulent strains which can cause viral pneumonia and in serious cases even acute respiratory distress syndrome and death.{{cite book | vauthors = Lee FE, Treanor JJ | pages = 527–556.e15 | chapter = Chapter 31: Viral Infections | veditors = Mason RJ, Broaddus VC, Martin TR, King TE, Schraufnagel D, Murray JF, Nade JA | title= Murray and Nadel's textbook of respiratory medicine. |date=2010 |publisher=Saunders Elsevier |location=Philadelphia |isbn=978-1-4377-3553-6 |edition=5th | doi = 10.1016/B978-1-4557-3383-5.00032-4 | pmc = 7152149 }}{{cite book | veditors = Cunha BA |title=Infectious Diseases in Critical Care Medicine |date=2010 |publisher=Informa Healthcare USA |location=New York |isbn=978-1-4200-9241-7 |edition=3rd | pages = 6–18 }}{{cite journal | vauthors = Stawicki SP, Jeanmonod R, Miller AC, Paladino L, Gaieski DF, Yaffee AQ, De Wulf A, Grover J, Papadimos TJ, Bloem C, Galwankar SC, Chauhan V, Firstenberg MS, Di Somma S, Jeanmonod D, Garg SM, Tucci V, Anderson HL, Fatimah L, Worlton TJ, Dubhashi SP, Glaze KS, Sinha S, Opara IN, Yellapu V, Kelkar D, El-Menyar A, Krishnan V, Venkataramanaiah S, Leyfman Y, Saoud Al Thani HA, Wb Nanayakkara P, Nanda S, Cioè-Peña E, Sardesai I, Chandra S, Munasinghe A, Dutta V, Dal Ponte ST, Izurieta R, Asensio JA, Garg M | display-authors = 6 | title = The 2019-2020 Novel Coronavirus (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2) Pandemic: A Joint American College of Academic International Medicine-World Academic Council of Emergency Medicine Multidisciplinary COVID-19 Working Group Consensus Paper | journal = Journal of Global Infectious Diseases | volume = 12 | issue = 2 | pages = 47–93 | date = 2020 | pmid = 32773996 | pmc = 7384689 | doi = 10.4103/jgid.jgid_86_20 | doi-access = free }}
Species
The following viruses could initially be referred to as "novel coronavirus", before being formally named:
All four viruses are part of the Betacoronavirus genus within the coronavirus family.
Etymology
The word "novel" indicates a "new pathogen of a previously known type" (i.e. known family) of virus. Use of the word conforms to best practices for naming new infectious diseases published by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2015. Historically, pathogens have sometimes been named after locations, individuals, or specific species.{{cn|date=April 2022}} However, this practice is now explicitly discouraged by the WHO.{{cite web | author = World Health Organization. | title = World Health Organization best practices for the naming of new human infectious diseases. | date = May 2015 | url = https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/163636/WHO_HSE_FOS_15.1_eng.pdf }}
The official permanent names for viruses and for diseases are determined by the ICTV and the WHO's ICD, respectively.
At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei a 2020 study from the University of Alabama at Birmingham found a more than ten-fold increase in use of expressions such as "Chinese virus" or "Wu flu virus" on Twitter compared to before the outbreak. The researchers voiced concerns whether such terminology could hinder public health efforts or be stigmatizing. No such effects were observed in the wake of the MERS outbreaks being referred to as "Camel flu virus" or "Middle East virus".{{cite journal | vauthors = Budhwani H, Sun R | title = Creating COVID-19 Stigma by Referencing the Novel Coronavirus as the "Chinese virus" on Twitter: Quantitative Analysis of Social Media Data | journal = Journal of Medical Internet Research | volume = 22 | issue = 5 | pages = e19301 | date = May 2020 | pmid = 32343669 | pmc = 7205030 | doi = 10.2196/19301 | doi-access = free }}
See also
References
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