Contents



**Section 6**

**Section 7**

on Biodiversity? *by Tullia Penna*

*by Bogdan Andrei Fezi*

Impact of Architecture and Urbanism on Epidemics/Pandemics **271**

**Chapter 16 273**

Bioethical Approach to Prevent Zoonotic Disease Pandemics **293**

**Chapter 17 295**

The Role of Architecture and Urbanism in Preventing Pandemics

Why a Bioethical Approach is Needed in Addressing Health Risks Stemming from Pandemics Due to Zoonoses Linked to Human Impact


Preface

Coronaviruses (CoVs) were first identified in humans in the early 1960s. Depending on their serological and genetic characteristics, they can be classified into four major genera: (1) Alphacoronaviruses (α-CoVs), (2) Betacoronavirsues (β-CoVs), (3) Gammacoronaviruses (γ-CoVs), and (4) Deltacoronaviruses (δ-CoVs). These four groups of CoVs diverged from each other around 240–3000 BC, infecting and circulating in animals depending on their hosts. Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) originated from SARS–coronavirus (SARS-CoV) in November 2002 in Foshan municipality, Guangdong Province, China. It spread to at least twenty-nine countries, including China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Vietnam, Canada, the United Kingdom, United States, and several European countries. Worldwide, SARS-CoV infected more than 8000 people and killed more than 770 people, with a case fatality rate (CFR) of 11% by the end of the epidemic (June 2003). It was also a zoonotic infection and SARS-CoV had been isolated from Himalayan palm civets (Paguma larvata), and evidence of infection has been found in a raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides) and a Chinese ferret-badger (Melogale moschata). However, it took fourteen years (December 2017) to establish that the major animal reservoir of SARS-CoV is a horseshoe bat (family, Rhinolophidae, genus Rhinolophus). The coronavirus isolated from these bats has the same genetic material as the SARS-CoV that triggered the SARS epidemic in 2002–2003. Of note, phylogenetic analysis and sequence comparisons have shown that SARS-CoV causing SARS did not closely relate to the previously known human and animal CoVs. However, after almost ten years of the SARS epidemic, another epidemic due to CoVs, Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) caused by MERS-CoV, originated in Jordan in April 2012. It was first reported in September 2012 in Saudi Arabia and rapidly spread to twenty-seven countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Philippines, South Korea, and Kenya, and killed at least 845 people. MERS is also considered a zoonotic disease. However, we still do not know

The major emphasis of this book is COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection that originated in Wuhan, China in December 2019. The CoVs causing all the three major outbreaks belong to the subgroup (Sarbecovirus) of β-CoVs. COVID-19 has become one of the biggest infectious disease pandemics of the 21st century, infecting more than 219 million people and killing 4.55 million people worldwide as of October 8, 2021. Over seven sections and seventeen chapters, this book comprehensively reviews COVID-19, including information on the virus that causes it, pathogenesis,

Chapter 1, "Learning from Bats to Escape from Potent or Severe Viral Infections," discusses the different bat species and their immunological adaptations preventing them from becoming severely infected by potential viral pathogens, including CoVs, but making them a potential source of infection transmission. This chapter adds to the understanding of bat immunological adaptations to maintain the virus at harmless levels. We can develop novel immunomodulatory therapeutics for humans through a deeper understanding of bat immunity and translating those

impact on human health and socioeconomics, and much more.

its exact animal reservoir.

findings into humans.
