Inhibition of novel ß coronavirus replication by a combination of interferon-a2b and ribavirin

Falzarano, Darryl; de Wit, Emmie; Martellaro, Cynthia; Callison, Julie; Munster, Vincent J.; Feldmann, Heinz

A novel b coronavirus (nCoV), has been identified as the etiological agent of 17 confirmed cases (11 deaths) of a severe respiratory illness with occasional renal failure from patients in Saudi Arabia 1 , Qatar 2 , Jordan and the United Kingdom 3, 4 . Complete genome sequencing 1, 5 determined that this new virus is closely related to two Asian bat betacoronaviruses (HKU4 and HKU5) 6 in lineage C. This makes nCoV the first lineage C betacoronavirus known to infect humans 5 . While human-to-human transmission is assumed to be less extensive as compared to SARS-CoV, three of the cases in Saudi Arabia were within one family and several healthcare workers who cared for two of the cases in Jordan have been classified as probable cases 5 . Moreover, in the most recent cluster of cases 7 , two of the three cases did not have a history of travel to the Middle East, but are suspected to have resulted from human-to-human transmission within the UK from a family member with a travel history to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. This would suggest that human-to-human transmission can occur in close contact settings. Presumably, the sporadic nature of the apparently unlinked index cases in three different, albeit geographically proximal countries, and the close relationship to Asian bat coronaviruses, suggests that the source of nCoV is zoonotic 8 .