Abdelhamid Ahmed G, Faraone Julia N, Evans John P, Liu Shan-Lu, Yousef Ahmed E
Department of Food Science and Technology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
Botany and Microbiology Department, Faculty of Science, Benha University, Benha 13518, Egypt.
Pathogens. 2022 Jul 27;11(8):837. doi: 10.3390/pathogens11080837.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has resulted in tremendous human and economic losses around the globe. The pandemic is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), a virus that is closely related to SARS-CoV and other human and animal coronaviruses. Although foodborne diseases are rarely of pandemic proportions, some of the causative agents emerge in a manner remarkably similar to what was observed recently with SARS-CoV-2. For example, Shiga toxin-producing (STEC), the most common cause of hemolytic uremic syndrome, shares evolution, pathogenesis, and immune evasion similarities with SARS-CoV-2. Both agents evolved over time in animal hosts, and during infection, they bind to specific receptors on the host cell's membrane and develop host adaptation mechanisms. Mechanisms such as point mutations and gene loss/genetic acquisition are the main driving forces for the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 and STEC. Both pathogens affect multiple body organs, and the resulting diseases are not completely cured with non-vaccine therapeutics. However, SARS-CoV-2 and STEC obviously differ in the nature of the infectious agent (i.e., virus vs. bacterium), disease epidemiological details (e.g., transmission vehicle and symptoms onset time), and disease severity. SARS-CoV-2 triggered a global pandemic while STEC led to limited, but sometimes serious, disease outbreaks. The current review compares several key aspects of these two pathogenic agents, including the underlying mechanisms of emergence, the driving forces for evolution, pathogenic mechanisms, and the host immune responses. We ask what can be learned from the emergence of both infectious agents in order to alleviate future outbreaks or pandemics.
2019年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）在全球范围内造成了巨大的人员和经济损失。这场大流行是由严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2（SARS-CoV-2）引起的，该病毒与SARS-CoV以及其他人类和动物冠状病毒密切相关。尽管食源性疾病很少达到大流行的规模，但一些病原体的出现方式与最近观察到的SARS-CoV-2极为相似。例如，产志贺毒素大肠杆菌（STEC）是溶血性尿毒症综合征最常见的病因，它与SARS-CoV-2在进化、发病机制和免疫逃逸方面存在相似之处。这两种病原体都在动物宿主中随时间进化，在感染过程中，它们与宿主细胞膜上的特定受体结合，并形成宿主适应机制。点突变和基因缺失/基因获得等机制是SARS-CoV-2和STEC进化的主要驱动力。这两种病原体都会影响多个身体器官，非疫苗疗法无法完全治愈由此引发的疾病。然而，SARS-CoV-2和STEC在病原体性质（即病毒与细菌）、疾病流行病学细节（如传播媒介和症状出现时间）以及疾病严重程度方面明显不同。SARS-CoV-2引发了全球大流行，而STEC导致了有限但有时很严重的疾病暴发。本综述比较了这两种病原体的几个关键方面，包括出现的潜在机制、进化驱动力、致病机制和宿主免疫反应。我们探讨从这两种病原体的出现中可以学到什么，以减轻未来的疾病暴发或大流行。
