pathogens Review Insights into the Recent 2019 Novel Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) in Light of Past Human Coronavirus Outbreaks Hossam M. Ashour 1,2,*, Walid F. Elkhatib 3,4 , Md. Masudur Rahman 5 and Hatem A. Elshabrawy 6,* 1 Department of Biological Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, University of South Florida St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, FL 33701, USA 2 Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University, Cairo 11562, Egypt 3 Department of Microbiology and Immunology, School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Industries, Badr University in Cairo (BUC), Entertainment Area, Badr City, Cairo 11829, Egypt;
[email protected] 4 Microbiology and Immunology Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, Ain Shams University, African Union Organization St., Abbassia, Cairo 11566, Egypt 5 Department of Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary, Animal and Biomedical Sciences, Sylhet Agricultural University, Sylhet 3100, Bangladesh;
[email protected] 6 Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, College of Osteopathic Medicine, Sam Houston State University, Conroe, TX 77304, USA * Correspondence:
[email protected] (H.M.A.);
[email protected] (H.A.E.) Received: 5 February 2020; Accepted: 2 March 2020; Published: 4 March 2020 Abstract: Coronaviruses (CoVs) are RNA viruses that have become a major public health concern since the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-CoV (SARS-CoV) outbreak in 2002. The continuous evolution of coronaviruses was further highlighted with the emergence of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-CoV (MERS-CoV) outbreak in 2012. Currently, the world is concerned about the 2019 novel CoV (SARS-CoV-2) that was initially identified in the city of Wuhan, China in December 2019.