A Wilder-Smith1,2. 1. Department of Disease Control, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK. anneliesws@gmail.com. 2. Heidelberg Institute of Global Health, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany. anneliesws@gmail.com.
Abstract
PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The COVID-19 pandemic poses a major global health threat. The rapid spread was facilitated by air travel although rigorous travel bans and lockdowns were able to slow down the spread. How does COVID-19 compare with other emerging viral diseases of the past two decades? RECENT FINDINGS: Viral outbreaks differ in many ways, such as the individuals most at risk e.g. pregnant women for Zika and the elderly for COVID-19, their vectors of transmission, their fatality rate, and their transmissibility often measured as basic reproduction number. The risk of geographic spread via air travel differs significantly between emerging infectious diseases. COVID-19 is not associated with the highest case fatality rate compared with other emerging viral diseases such as SARS and Ebola, but the combination of a high reproduction number, superspreading events and a globally immunologically naïve population has led to the highest global number of deaths in the past 20 decade compared to any other pandemic.
PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The COVID-19 pandemic poses a major global health threat. The rapid spread was facilitated by air travel although rigorous travel bans and lockdowns were able to slow down the spread. How does COVID-19 compare with other emerging viral diseases of the past two decades? RECENT FINDINGS: Viral outbreaks differ in many ways, such as the individuals most at risk e.g. pregnant women for Zika and the elderly for COVID-19, their vectors of transmission, their fatality rate, and their transmissibility often measured as basic reproduction number. The risk of geographic spread via air travel differs significantly between emerging infectious diseases. COVID-19 is not associated with the highest case fatality rate compared with other emerging viral diseases such as SARS and Ebola, but the combination of a high reproduction number, superspreading events and a globally immunologically naïve population has led to the highest global number of deaths in the past 20 decade compared to any other pandemic.
Entities:
Keywords:
Chikungunya; Dengue; Ebola; Japanese encephalitis; Measles; Monkeypox; SARS; West Nile encephalitis; Yellow fever; Zika
Authors: Hong Peng Jia; Dwight C Look; Lei Shi; Melissa Hickey; Lecia Pewe; Jason Netland; Michael Farzan; Christine Wohlford-Lenane; Stanley Perlman; Paul B McCray Journal: J Virol Date: 2005-12 Impact factor: 5.103
Authors: Ziad A Memish; Matthew Cotten; Benjamin Meyer; Simon J Watson; Abdullah J Alsahafi; Abdullah A Al Rabeeah; Victor Max Corman; Andrea Sieberg; Hatem Q Makhdoom; Abdullah Assiri; Malaki Al Masri; Souhaib Aldabbagh; Berend-Jan Bosch; Martin Beer; Marcel A Müller; Paul Kellam; Christian Drosten Journal: Emerg Infect Dis Date: 2014-06 Impact factor: 6.883
Authors: Kate E Jones; Nikkita G Patel; Marc A Levy; Adam Storeygard; Deborah Balk; John L Gittleman; Peter Daszak Journal: Nature Date: 2008-02-21 Impact factor: 49.962
Authors: Ziad A Memish; Jaffar A Al-Tawfiq; Rafat F Alhakeem; Abdullah Assiri; Khalid D Alharby; Maher S Almahallawi; Mohammed Alkhallawi Journal: Travel Med Infect Dis Date: 2015-07-15 Impact factor: 6.211
Authors: Rafael Suárez-Del-Villar-Carrero; Diego Martinez-Urbistondo; Amanda Cuevas-Sierra; Iciar Ibañez-Sustacha; Alberto Candela-Fernandez; Andrea Dominguez-Calvo; Omar Ramos-Lopez; Juan Antonio Vargas; Guillermo Reglero; Paula Villares-Fernandez; Jose Alfredo Martinez Journal: J Clin Med Date: 2022-06-21 Impact factor: 4.964
Authors: Z Y Sheng; M Li; R Yang; Y H Liu; X X Yin; J R Mao; Heidi E Brown; J An; H N Zhou; P G Wang Journal: Emerg Microbes Infect Date: 2022-12 Impact factor: 7.163