Title: SARS-CoV-2 re-infections: Lessons from other coronaviruses
Summary:
Animal and human endemic coronaviruses have been known for decades, as has their capacity to re-infect. In the COVID-19 pandemic, it is key to reveal the factors that influence reinfection susceptibility. I will present an overview of what we know on endemic animal and human coronaviruses and the correlates of protection to reinfection.
Biography:
Lia van der Hoek is a virologist at the Amsterdam University Medical Center, location AMC, University of Amsterdam. She developed a novel virus discovery method, named VIDISCA, that can detect any RNA or DNA virus. Using this technique she was the first to discover human coronavirus NL63 in 2003, an endemic human coronavirus that remained unrecognized till then. It soon became clear that HCoV-NL63 had spread worldwide with continuous reinfections throughout life, and the average age of first infection being around the first years of life. Besides the more than 30 research papers on HCoV-NL63 and the other endemic human coronaviruses, Lia van der Hoek continued with virus discovery and has found several other previously unknown human and animal viruses which she could link to unexplained diseases.
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