Session 1D: Symposium: Pathogen outbreaks: Cause, spread and control

Chairperson: Saumitra Das

Emergence Of New Viruses

A new infectious disease was reported in early January 2020, which quickly became a pandemic by mid-March. The causative agent SARS coronavirus 2 is closely related to the SARS virus that caused a pandemic of pneumonia in 2002–2003 and more distantly related to the MERS coronavirus, which emerged in 2012. In this lecture, the speaker will review the emergence of SARS-CoV2 and earlier coronaviruses. He will also discuss factors responsible for the emergence of new viruses and what must be done to mitigate this threat.