New Advances in Pathophysiology and Therapy of COVID-19 and Other Coronavirus Diseases

Dear Colleagues,

The COVID-19 pandemic has been raging globally now for over 2 years, and it is expected to persist in the foreseeable future. A number of novel viral variants have been emerging rapidly and circulating in different continents. Their displayed behaviors and clinical presentations vary from previously existing strains, ranging from asymptomatic to severe conditions or even death. Even though a remarkable number of studies have been conducted in the past few years, there remain unanswered questions about the disease in terms of differential clinical outcomes, comorbidities, and complications experienced in individuals infected with COVID-19. In addition to acute infection, post COVID-19 conditions, also known as “long COVID”, have been increasingly reported globally in some patients after illness recovery. However, the pathophysiological mechanisms of emerging viral variant infections, post COVID-19 conditions, as well as respective therapeutic approaches remain understudied.

Aside from SARS-CoV-2, there are reports of novel zoonotic coronaviruses in recent years, including Coronavirus HKU15 of the genus Deltacoronavirus and canine of the genus Alphacoronavirus. Other coronaviruses reported to undergo potential zoonotic transmission, such as Rh-BatCoV HKU2 (SADS-CoV), Ty-BatCoV HKU4, and other bat SARSr-CoVs, are already circulating in the wild and pose a latent threat to humans. Although these reported infections and viral discoveries have not yet developed into epidemics or pandemics at present, their potential should never be overlooked, given what we have learnt from the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic. Only through scientists understanding the pathophysiology and studying the possible therapies of these novel pathogen infections in advance can we prevent another devastating coronavirus outbreak from happening in the future. Timely research on other emerging coronaviruses is necessary to safeguard global public health.

This Topic, entitled “Emerging Trends in the Pathophysiology and Therapy of COVID-19 and Other Coronavirus Diseases”, will present manuscripts corresponding to pathophysiological studies on and therapeutic approaches applied in treating COVID-19 variants and infections due to other emerging coronaviruses, with the aim of improving understanding. Thus, we cordially welcome colleagues working in any field related to COVID-19 and other coronaviruses to submit their work for publication in this Topic Issue.

Dr. Antonio C. P. Wong
Prof. Dr. Susanna K. P. Lau
Topic Editors