Brief Review

The History of Corona Virus, from Neanderthals to the Present Time: A Brief Review

Abstract

Contrary to popular belief, 2019 was not the first time humans were infected by the Coronavirus. Coronavirus is one of the oldest viruses on the earth. This article discusses the history of this virus from Neanderthal time so far. We have collected a variety of articles related to coronaviruses and the extent of their interaction with humans from the first time probably appeared on earth, given that this virus is one of the ancient viruses. By examining and following the footsteps of coronaviruses in different works of literature, we found that the first homo that was infected with the coronavirus was Neanderthal. Moreover, we realized that in addition to risk factors such as age and background diseases, genetic evolution also plays an essential role in the protection of the body against coronavirus. On the other hand, this virus has evolved throughout history gradually, the same as humans. The presence of disease in humans, in any period of history, causes changes in human quality of life. Therefore, paying attention to the background of ancient diseases reveals principal information about the complexity of pathogens.

1. Wu F, Zhao S, Yu B, et al (2020). A new coronavirus associated with human respiratory disease in China. Nature, 580(7803):E7.
2. Athreya S, Ackermann RR (2019). Colonialism and narratives of human origins in Asia and Africa. Interrogating Human Origins; p. 72-95. Routledge.
3. Jiang S, Shi Z, Shu Y, et al (2020). A distinct name is needed for the new coronavirus. Lancet, 395(10228):949.
4. Li H, Liu S-M, Yu X-H, et al (2020). Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): current status and future perspectives. Int J Antimicrob Agents, 55(5):105951.
5. Zhou Y, Hou Y, Shen J, et al (2020). Network-based drug repurposing for novel coronavirus 2019-nCoV/SARS-CoV-2. Cell Discov, 6:14.
6. Cherry JD, Krogstad P (2004). Sars: The first pandemic of the 21 st century. Emerg Infect Dis, 10(11): e26.
7. De Wit E, Van Doremalen N, Falzarano D, et al (2016). SARS and MERS: recent insights into emerging coronaviruses. Nat Rev Microbiol, 14(8):523-34.
8. Lim PL, Kurup A, Gopalakrishna G, et al (2004). Laboratory-acquired severe acute respiratory syndrome. N Engl J Med, 350(17):1740-5.
9. Zaki AM, Van Boheemen S, Bestebroer TM, Osterhaus AD, Fouchier RAJNEJoM (2012). Isolation of a novel coronavirus from a man with pneumonia in Saudi Arabia. N Engl J Med, 367(19):1814-20.
10. Assiri A, Al-Tawfiq JA, Al-Rabeeah AA, et al (2013). Epidemiological, demographic, and clinical characteristics of 47 cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus disease from Saudi Arabia: a descriptive study. Lancet Infect Dis, 13(9):752-61.
11. Li Q, Guan X, Wu P, et al (2020). Early transmission dynamics in Wuhan, China, of novel coronavirus–infected pneumonia. N Engl J Med, 382:1199-1207.
12. https://covid19.who.int/
13. Wong G, Bi Y-H, Wang Q-H, et al (2020). Zoonotic origins of human coronavirus 2019 (HCoV-19/SARS-CoV-2): why is this work important? Zool Res, 41(3): 213–219.
14. Farhud DD, Zokaei S (2020). Fight against Viruses (COVID-19): Peace among Nations. Iran J Public Health, 49(Suppl 1):1-3.
15. Andersen KG, Rambaut A, Lipkin WI, et al (2020). The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2. Nat Med, 26(4):450-452.
16. Zhou H, Chen X, Hu T, et al (2020). A novel bat coronavirus reveals natural insertions at the S1/S2 cleavage site of the Spike protein and a possible recombinant origin of HCoV-19. Curr Biol, 30(11):2196-2203.
17. Wu J, Deng W, Li S, et al (2021). Advances in research on ACE2 as a receptor for 2019-nCoV. Cell Mol Life Sci, 78(2):531-544.
18. Farhud DD, Bahadori M, Zarif-Yeganeh M (2021). Evidence of the Ancestries of COVID-19 Virus in East Asia, More Than 20,000 Years Ago. Iran J Public Health, 50(9):i-v.
19. Souilmi Y, Lauterbur ME, Tobler R, et al (2021). An ancient viral epidemic involving host coronavirus interacting genes more than 20,000 years ago in East Asia. Curr Biol, 31(16):3504-3514.
20. Enard D, Petrov DA (2018). Evidence that RNA viruses drove adaptive introgression between Neanderthals and modern humans. Cell, 175(2):360-371.
21. Al-Osail AM, Al-Wazzah MJ (2017). The history and epidemiology of Middle East respiratory syndrome corona virus. Multidiscip Respir Med, 12:20.
22. Zeberg H, Pääbo S (2020). The major genetic risk factor for severe COVID-19 is inherited from Neanderthals. Nature, 587(7835):610-612.
23. Sankararaman S, Patterson N, Li H, et al (2012). The date of interbreeding between Neandertals and modern humans. PLoS Genet, 8(10): e1002947.
Files
IssueVol 51 No 3 (2022) QRcode
SectionBrief Review
DOI https://doi.org/10.18502/ijph.v51i3.8928
Keywords
COVID-19 Ancient viruses Neanderthal
Rights and permissions
Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
How to Cite
1.
Farhud DD, Azari M, Mehrabi A. The History of Corona Virus, from Neanderthals to the Present Time: A Brief Review. Iran J Public Health. 2022;51(3):531-534.