On the intrinsic nature of viral pathogenesis: The assumption of a Darwinian paradigm to describe COVID-19 pandemic
Our hypothesis about evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic foresees an inverse relation between infectivity (R0) and lethality (L) of SARS-CoV-2. The above parameters are driven by a continuing mutation process granting the virus a clear survival advantage over virulence. For interpreting this relation...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2022-01-01
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| Series: | Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2001037022004846 |
| _version_ | 1797978165911486464 |
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| author | Pier Francesco Roggero Arianna Calistri Giorgio Palù |
| author_facet | Pier Francesco Roggero Arianna Calistri Giorgio Palù |
| author_sort | Pier Francesco Roggero |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Our hypothesis about evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic foresees an inverse relation between infectivity (R0) and lethality (L) of SARS-CoV-2. The above parameters are driven by a continuing mutation process granting the virus a clear survival advantage over virulence. For interpreting this relation we adopted a simple equation, R0 × L ≈ k, by which R0 and L depend upon a constant k, that corresponds to an intrinsic property of the viral species involved. The hypothesis was verified by following changes of the R0 and L terms of the formula in the different variants of SARS-CoV-2 that progressively appeared. A further validation came when the equation was applied to pandemic and epidemic influenza type A viruses, Ebola virus and measles virus. We believe this equation that considers virus biology in Darwinian terms could be extremely useful to better face infectious viral threats and validate virus-host molecular interactions relevant to viral pathogenesis. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T05:18:37Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a228b19ccd004e208b8092ad3216d344 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2001-0370 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T05:18:37Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal |
| spelling | doaj.art-a228b19ccd004e208b8092ad3216d3442022-12-24T04:54:57ZengElsevierComputational and Structural Biotechnology Journal2001-03702022-01-012058705872On the intrinsic nature of viral pathogenesis: The assumption of a Darwinian paradigm to describe COVID-19 pandemicPier Francesco Roggero0Arianna Calistri1Giorgio Palù2Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Padua, via A. Gabelli 63, 35121 Padua, ItalyDepartment of Molecular Medicine, University of Padua, via A. Gabelli 63, 35121 Padua, ItalyDepartment of Molecular Medicine, University of Padua, via A. Gabelli 63, 35121 Padua, Italy; Italian Medicines Agency, Via del Tritone 181, 00187 Rome, Italy; Corresponding author at: Department of Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Padua, via A. Gabelli 63, 35121 Padua, Italy; Italian Medicines Agency, Via del Tritone 181, 00187, Rome, ItalyOur hypothesis about evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic foresees an inverse relation between infectivity (R0) and lethality (L) of SARS-CoV-2. The above parameters are driven by a continuing mutation process granting the virus a clear survival advantage over virulence. For interpreting this relation we adopted a simple equation, R0 × L ≈ k, by which R0 and L depend upon a constant k, that corresponds to an intrinsic property of the viral species involved. The hypothesis was verified by following changes of the R0 and L terms of the formula in the different variants of SARS-CoV-2 that progressively appeared. A further validation came when the equation was applied to pandemic and epidemic influenza type A viruses, Ebola virus and measles virus. We believe this equation that considers virus biology in Darwinian terms could be extremely useful to better face infectious viral threats and validate virus-host molecular interactions relevant to viral pathogenesis.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2001037022004846COVID-19InfectivityLethalityVirus evolutionDarwinian paradigm |
| spellingShingle | Pier Francesco Roggero Arianna Calistri Giorgio Palù On the intrinsic nature of viral pathogenesis: The assumption of a Darwinian paradigm to describe COVID-19 pandemic Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal COVID-19 Infectivity Lethality Virus evolution Darwinian paradigm |
| title | On the intrinsic nature of viral pathogenesis: The assumption of a Darwinian paradigm to describe COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_full | On the intrinsic nature of viral pathogenesis: The assumption of a Darwinian paradigm to describe COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_fullStr | On the intrinsic nature of viral pathogenesis: The assumption of a Darwinian paradigm to describe COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_full_unstemmed | On the intrinsic nature of viral pathogenesis: The assumption of a Darwinian paradigm to describe COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_short | On the intrinsic nature of viral pathogenesis: The assumption of a Darwinian paradigm to describe COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_sort | on the intrinsic nature of viral pathogenesis the assumption of a darwinian paradigm to describe covid 19 pandemic |
| topic | COVID-19 Infectivity Lethality Virus evolution Darwinian paradigm |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2001037022004846 |
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