Özet:

Coronaviruses are enveloped RNA viruses which are a family within the Nidovirales order. The most recent common ancestor of coronaviruses existed 10,000 years ago, but the recognition of these viruses was possible in the 1930s, and the infections they caused in humans could only be identified in the 1960s. Coronaviruses were largely known for their infections in animals and supposed to be related with mild respiratory infections in humans. The scientific opinion about coronaviruses have radically changed with the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2002. In the following period, several new strains have been identified and new outbreaks have occurred, such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and the ongoing pandemic of Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19). SARS and MERS caused severe respiratory tract infections that yielded severe morbidity and progressed with high mortality rates. However, the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak has turned into a pandemic unprecedented in any coronavirus outbreaks and has infected more people than ever before, leading to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people until to date. The abilitiy of coronaviruses to cross species and their recombination capability have led to the emergence of new strains in the past. In the upcoming period, it is necessary to take measures for possible infections and outbreaks due to existing strains and new strains which may emerge from them.

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