A Proposal to Refer to Four Coronaviruses of Limited Human Virulence "Common Cold Coronaviruses".

McIntosh, Kenneth; Perlman, Stanley; Monto, Arnold; Englund, Janet A · J Infect Dis · 2022

expert_opinion · Level V

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Abstract

We propose the term "common cold coronaviruses," or ccCoV, to describe the four human coronaviruses commonly associated with upper respiratory tract disease - coronaviruses 229E, OC43, NL63, and HKU1. This will differentiate these previously described coronaviruses from those causing more severe disease in humans - including the viruses severe acute respiraotry syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV), the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and SARS-CoV-2.

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