Illustration of the morphology of coronaviruses; the

club-shaped viral spike peplomers (red) create the look

of a corona surrounding the virion when seen with

an electron microscope.

Virus classification

(unranked): Virus

Realm: Riboviria

Kingdom: Orthornavirae

Phylum: Pisuviricota

Class: Pisoniviricetes

Order: Nidovirales

Family: Coronaviridae

Subfamily: Orthocoronavirinae

Genera[1]

 Alphacoronavirus

 Betacoronavirus

 Gammacoronavirus

 Deltacoronavirus

Synonyms[2][3][4]

 Coronavirinae

Coronaviruses are a group of related RNA viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds. In humans,

these viruses cause respiratory tract infections that can range from mild to lethal. Mild illnesses include some cases of the common
cold (which is also caused by other viruses, predominantly rhinoviruses), while more lethal varieties can cause SARS, MERS,
and COVID-19. Symptoms in other species vary: in chickens, they cause an upper respiratory tract disease, while in cows and pigs
they cause diarrhea. There are as yet no vaccines or antiviral drugs to prevent or treat human coronavirus infections.
Coronaviruses constitute the subfamily Orthocoronavirinae, in the family Coronaviridae, order Nidovirales, and realm Riboviria.[5]
[6]
 They are enveloped viruses with a positive-sense single-stranded RNA genome and a nucleocapsid of helical symmetry.
  The genome size of coronaviruses ranges from approximately 26 to 32 kilobases, one of the largest among RNA viruses.[8] They
[7]

have characteristic club-shaped spikes that project from their surface, which in electron micrographs create an image reminiscent of
the solar corona, from which their name derives.[9]

Contents

 1Etymology
 2History
 3Microbiology
o 3.1Structure
o 3.2Genome
o 3.3Replication cycle
 3.3.1Cell entry
 3.3.2Genome translation
 3.3.3Replicase-transcriptase
 3.3.4Assembly and release
o 3.4Transmission
 4Classification
 5Origin
 6Infection in humans
o 6.1Common cold
o 6.2Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)
o 6.3Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS)
o 6.4Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
 7Infection in animals
o 7.1Farm animals
o 7.2Domestic pets
o 7.3Laboratory animals
 8Prevention and treatment
 9See also
 10References
 11Further reading

Etymology
The name "coronavirus" is derived from Latin corona, meaning "crown" or "wreath", itself a borrowing from Greek κορώνη korṓnē,
"garland, wreath".[10][11] The name was coined by June Almeida and David Tyrrell who first observed and studied human
coronaviruses.[12] The word was first used in print in 1968 by an informal group of virologists in the journal Nature to designate the
new family of viruses.[9] The name refers to the characteristic appearance of virions (the infective form of the virus) by electron
microscopy, which have a fringe of large, bulbous surface projections creating an image reminiscent of the solar corona or halo.[9]
[12]
 This morphology is created by the viral spike peplomers, which are proteins on the surface of the virus.[13]

History