Analysis of Scientific Productivities on the Three Most Famous Outbreaks of Betacoronavirus Genus: SARS, MERS and COVID-19

Abstract

Aim: The 21st Century has already witnessed three outbreaks caused by the same family of coronaviruses, the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and recently, The Noval Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). The main aim of this study is to analyze the overall scientific publications indexed in Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-E) about these three outbreaks. And the secondary aim is to compare first scientific reactions to SARS, MERS and COVID-19 outbreaks in their early phases by using the dates of first 4 months of them. Material and Method: Web of Science (WoS) software was used for the search and the analysis. Allscientific papers, included in SCI-E, related with each outbreaks of SARS, MERS and COVID-19 from 1980 to April15.2020, were searched and analyzed by using the terms of “SARS”, “SARS-CoV” and “Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome” for SARS; “MERS”, “MERS-CoV”, “HCoV-EMC” and “Middle East Respiratory Disease” for MERS and “COVID-19”, “2019-n-CoV”, “SARS-CoV-2”, “Coronavirus disease 19” and “2019 novel coronavirus” for COVID-19 in the topic section of the software. Results: Overall; 3690, 1517 and 730 papers, indexed by SCI-E, were found related to SARS, MERS and COVID-19 respectively. The biggest contribution for publications was from People’s Republic of China (PRC) for SARS and COVID-19 and was from The United States of America (USA) for MERS. Conclusion: In this study, it was revealed that scientific contribution to COVID-19 is faster and greatful then SARS and MERS in the early phase of the outbreak. But the pandemic potential of betacoronaviruses, especially SARS-CoV-2, remains a threat for public health globally. Therefore further research into the pathogenesis of these infections in order to find appropriate targets for treatment is imperative.

Keywords

• SARS
• MERS
• COVID-19
• SARS-CoV; MERS-CoV; HCoV-EMC; SARS-CoV2

En Ünlü Üç Betakoronavirüs Salgınıyla İlgili Bilimsel Verimlilik Analizi: SARS, MERS ve COVID-19

Abstract

Amaç: 21. yüzyıl, aynı koronavirüs ailesinin neden olduğu üç salgına, Şiddetli Akut Solunum Sendromu (SARS), Orta Doğu Solunum Sendromu (MERS) ve yakın zamanda Noval Koronavirüs Hastalığı 2019’un (COVID-19) tanık olmuştur. Bu çalışmanın amacı, bu üç salgın ile ilgili, Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-E) dergilerde indekslenen genel bilimsel yayınları analiz etmektir. İkincil amacı ise SARS, MERS ve COVID-19 salgınlarına yönelik ilk bilimsel reaksiyonları erken evrelerinde, ilk 4 aylık süreçlerinde, karşılaştırmaktır. Materyal ve Metot: Arama ve analiz için ISI-Web of Knowledge- Web of Science (WoS) yazılımı kullanılmıştır. 1975’ten 15 Nisan 2020’ye kadar SARS, MERS ve COVID-19 salgını ile ilgili SCI-E indexlenen tüm bilimsel makaleler Şiddetli Akut Solunum Sendromu (SARS) için “SARS”, “SARS-CoV” ve “Şiddetli Akut Solunum Sendromu” terimleri kullanılarak; Orta Doğu Solunum Sendromu (MERS) için “MERS”, “MERS-CoV”, “HCoV-EMC” ve “Orta Doğu Solunum Sendromu” terimleri kullanılarak ve COVID-19 için “COVID-19”, “2019-n-CoV”, “SARS-CoV-2”, “Koronavirüs hastalığı 19” ve “2019 yeni koronavirüs” erimleri kullanılarak arştırma yapıldı. Bulgular: SCI-E tarafından indekslenen 3690 yayın SARS ile, 1517 yayın MERS ile ve 730 yayın COVID-19 ile ilgili bulunmuştur. Yayınlara en büyük katkı, SARS ve COVID-19 için Çin Halk Cumhuriyeti’nden (PRC); MERS için Amerika Birleşik Devletlerindendir (ABD). Sonuç: Bu çalışma ile, COVID-19’a bilimsel katkının salgının erken evresindeki SARS ve MERS’den daha hızlı ve daha büyük olduğunu gösterdik. Ancak, HCoV’lerin, özellikle SARS-CoV-2’nin pandemik potansiyeli, küresel olarak halk sağlığı için bir tehdit olmaya devam etmektedir. Bu nedenle, tedavi için uygun hedefleri bulmak için HCoV enfeksiyonlarının patogenezine yönelik daha fazla araştırma yapılması zorunludur.

Keywords

• SARS
• MERS
• COVID-19
• SARS-CoV; MERS-CoV; HCoV-EMC; SARS-CoV2

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