BDI-International Magazine - Issue-3

• Treatment: No cure available;
symptomatic treatment with antivirals
and steroids worked for some people.
SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory
Syndrome, is another type of coronavirus
that was identified in 2003. This droplet
infection was passed from bats to humans
to infect 8,098 people across 17 countries.
Unlike COVID-19, contact tracing was
effective with SARS as severe symptoms
made it easier to identify and contain the
infection. COVID-19 has already claimed
more lives than SARS and in comparison,
COVID-19 is more widespread and has a
lower CFR.
As per experts, SARS virus lacked the
fitness to persist in the human population,
which eventually led to its end in July
2003. On the contrary, COVID-19 is
capable of spreading and thriving on
human bodies.
Swine Flu-2009
• Caused by: H1N1
• Place of origin: Mexico
• R0: 1.2-1.6
• CFR: 0.1-0.5%
• Treatment: Antivirals like zanamivir
were effective.
The Swine Flu, or H1N1, was a novel strain
of the 1918 flu virus back in 2009. Just like
COVID-19, there was no immunity at the
start of this outbreak. Swine Flu was
declared a pandemic in June 2009 and
even with a lower CFR, the disease claimed
over 284,000 lives worldwide.
Unlike COVID-19 which affects the aged
population the most, children in the age
group of 5 to 19 years were the most
affected group with Swine Flu. COVID-19
also has a higher CFR and longer incubation
period as compared to Swine Flu.
MERS-2011
• Caused by: MERS-CoV
• Place of origin: Saudi Arabia
• R0: