Coronavirus: Infection of Piglets and Men

Abstract

Coronaviruses were first described in early sixties, when samples from poultry, pigs and/or calves with clinical signs of a mild respiratory disease (and/or showing diarrhoe of unknown etiology) were inculated into celll cultures and later on, if revealing cytopathic changes, examined by electron microscope). The term Coronavirus was used to describe the novel enveloped virus particles with typical spikes (about 20 nm long) present in their outer membrane.