7 Types of Coronavirus, Structure, and Classification | Inside Deadly Coronavirus

The fears and threats are trending so much nowadays when someone says this so-called terrible word- Coronavirus, and outbreaks related to it. We don’t even know what is it and what are the types of coronavirus. And yeah, the fear is legit because so far many death and casualty reports came and no treatment is available till now. Oh god, oh god. But the main reason why it is so dangerous is that it is completely new and unknown to us and because of that doctors are finding it much difficult to find the cure. And as it is unknown and fear of the unknown is the greatest fear in the world so let’s know it better. What coronavirus really is? What are the types of coronavirus? How does it look and function? Let’s find out.

Classification

Any microorganism is into the following groups- bacteria, fungi, protozoan, algae, parasites, and viruses. And among these viruses are amongst the most complicated ones because they are neither termed as living nor as non-living. To be simple they are kind of in-between. Viruses are further grouped into 2 divisions based on their genetic material. i.e DNA and RNA.

Coronaviruses consist of RNA as their genetic material. Corona is a genus of viruses and it consists of many species and some of them are Common cold, SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), MERS (Middle-Eastern Respiratory syndrome), and the latest and most deadly so far 2019 Coronavirus or Wuhan Coronavirus which is also known as Novel Coronavirus.

Well, many people think that coronavirus is newly discovered in 2019 but the true fact is that many coronaviruses were already discovered and at the end of 2019 it was just a new species. There are following types of coronavirus-

Types of Coronavirus

• 229e (discovered in the 1960s)
• OC 43 (the 1960s)
• SARS CoV (2003)
• HCoV- NL63 (2004)
• HKU-1 (2005)
• MERS CoV (2012)
• 2019 n CoV (2019)

229e and OC 43

These types of coronavirus were discovered back in the 1960s and it is not very harmful or fatal at all. It only accounts for causing the common cold.

SARS CoV

In 2003, a new virus was discovered and was spreading a lot in Asiatic regions. SARS is the name of the virus which stands for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. Over 8000 people got affected and 10% of them died due to these types coronavirus.

HCoV-NL63

In 2003, a child was diagnosed with bronchiolitis in Netherland and the causative agent is named HCoV-NL63 which is also commonly called human coronavirus.

HKU-1

In 2005, an old man was found with acute respiratory disease and confirmed with bilateral pneumonia.HKU-1 and HK are the names of the causative agents where HK stands for Hong Kong.

MERS CoV

Again in 2012, one more type of coronavirus emerged and it is called MERS which stands for Middle-East Respiratory Syndrome. So far approximately 2468 cases were identified and it is also considered as one of the most dangerous types of coronavirus.

Novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV)

This was recently discovered and the fears and threats that are going on nowadays are because of this one only. The symptoms include diarrhea, sore throat, dry cough, fever, etc. for more details regarding the symptoms visit our previous posts on coronavirus. Moreover, already 25 death case has been reported so far. So, do not underestimate any of the symptoms. If you got any such symptoms then please contact a doctor today itself.

Structure

Coronavirus is a positive sensed single-stranded RNA virus and its shape is linear. Its capsid is helical in shape and has an envelope surrounding the capsid. They have petal-shaped projections at their surfaces due to which they got a corona (crown) type image and hence their name is coronaviruses. Amongst all RNA viruses, these types of viruses have the largest genome. The estimated size of the virus is 100-160 nm. There have been many rumors that coronavirus and influenza are almost the same but I wanna say that stay away from such rumors and check the information by yourself. Check out the differences and similarities between coronavirus and influenza to understand it better.

Coronavirus consists of 4 structural proteins-

• Nucleocapsid  phosphoprotein
• Membrane glycoprotein
• Spike glycoprotein
• Small envelope protein

So far, this much information is only available about coronaviruses and we hope that scientists will continue their hard work to know some more about this deadly trending threat and soon find the cure. However, as a common person, we can only take preventive measures to avoid it as much as possible. Spread awareness about coronavirus as much as possible. For this, you can start by sharing our articles regarding coronavirus. Look out for the symptoms of coronavirus and consult doctors if you have or your friends have any.

Thank you so much for giving your precious time to read this post about the different types of coronavirus and we wish that you always stay healthy and safe. Keep on updating yourself with Covid-19 news. For some more information regarding coronavirus, please visit:

• How to Avoid Being a Victim of Coronavirus Disease
• Travel Tips During Coronavirus Outbreak To Keep You Comparatively Safer