Summary
In December of 2019, the first reports came from Wuhan, China of a new respiratory infection that was causing serious illness. The cases were initially associated with a market where live animals were being sold for food. By tracing the outbreak, cases were retrospectively identified as early as November 17, 2019 and some undetected cases may have occurred even prior to that time. The first death from this new illness was reported on January 11, 2020. Since then this disease has spread across the globe achieving pandemic status and disrupting contemporary life.
This new volume in the Deadly Diseases and Epidemics series, COVID-19 and Other Coronaviruses, Third Edition, traces the history of coronaviruses, past outbreaks of coronavirus-related illnesses, such as SARS, and explains the nature of SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind COVID-19. It also includes a new chapter dedicated to the emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants that are appearing.
Other chapters include:
- History of Coronaviruses
- Testing for and Diagnosis of Coronavirus Infections
- Transmission of Coronavirus Diseases
- Molecular Biology and Immunology of Coronavirus Diseases
- Vaccines and Prevention of COVID-19 and Other Coronavirus Diseases
- Outlook for COVID-19 and the Potential for Future Coronavirus Pandemics
About the Author(s)
Patrick Guilfoile earned his Ph.D. in bacteriology at UW-Madison studying antibiotic resistance and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research at MIT, where he studied infectious disease. He then spent 21 years at Bemidji State University as a faculty member teaching microbiology, genetics, engaging in research, and where he also served as an administrator. This was followed by five years at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, serving as Provost and Interim Chancellor. He has written extensively, authoring numerous papers and articles in science and science education journals, a laboratory manual, and seven books in the Deadly Diseases and Epidemics series, along with several revisions of additional titles in this collection.