Why was SARS-CoV-1 so much easier to control than SARS-CoV-2? What differentiates the two?

561 views

Why was SARS-CoV-1 so much easier to control than SARS-CoV-2? What differentiates the two?

In: Biology

4 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

SARS-CoV-1 was a lot deadlier than SARS-CoV-2, but spread far more slowly, so fewer people were infected. SARS-CoV-2 has a higher reproductive number than SARS-CoV-1 or influenza, meaning each infected person spreads it to more people. [Source](https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(20)30484-9/fulltext)

One of the things that makes SARS-CoV-2 so hard to contain is people can be asymptomatic carriers for up to 2 weeks. People can spread the disease to a bunch of other people before they even realize they’re sick. With SARS-CoV-1, symptoms showed up more quickly, and were generally more severe, so it was easier to identify who was sick and react appropriately.

Anonymous 0 Comments

SARS as a disease, is/was less insidious than Covid. Someone infected with SARS was the most infectious *while symptomatic* and this let it be contained more easily than Covid, which largely spread through asymptomatic carriers.

From one of the many Lancet papers

>The new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 is less deadly but far
more transmissible than MERS-CoV or SARS-CoV.

Anonymous 0 Comments

I’m going off memory here:

Viruses need something to latch on to, receptors on cells, before it can do what viruses do , infect cells, replicate, and spread.

One of the differences that SARS-CoV-2 has over -1 is that the receptors that it uses are more plentiful, found all over the respiratory system, and else where, instead of -1 which was primary in the lungs.

If I recall correctly, this fact also led to there being less asymptomatic (cases without symptoms) cases with -1 so it was somewhat easier to track and control.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Ironically it was because SARS was deadlier then CoV-19 and people got more sick. This made it much easier to track and isolate infected people and areas. So we were able to isolate the cities early to prevent the spread of the virus. We tried this now as well but by the time we isolated the city there were already a global outbreak.