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SARS-CoV-2 hijacks antiviral factors to promote infection in human lung cells – News-Medical.Net
Now, a new study published in the preprint server bioRxiv in August 2020 shows that under conditions resembling those in vivo, IFNs may promote efficient viral invasion instead.
The virus behind the current COVID-19 pandemic, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is known to spread more efficiently than the earlier pathogenic coronaviruses, SARS-CoV, and MERS-CoV. However, the case fatality rate so far has been much lower, at 2% to 5%, compared to 10% in SARS and ~ 40% in MERS. Scientists think the virus is inhibited by interferons (IFNs), even more than the earlier viruses. In fact, IFNs are currently being used to reduce the severity of COVID-1…
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