Interviewer: Professor Palese,
thank you very much for taking the time to
record this interview,
I am going to start by asking you quickly:
What are some of the differences
that we know at the moment in
the biology of this new strain
compared to other RNA viruses?'.
Prof. Palese: So we are talking,
obviously, about the virus which causes
COVID which means 'coronavirus
induced disease 2019',
and it is really something
completely new for us,
in the sense that this is a virus
which has appeared in China, and
has marched all over the world
in a very brief period of time.
Now we know about other RNA viruses,
such as the coronaviruses,
meaning viruses which have
as genetic information, RNA.
The prototypes of those viruses
with similar properties,
are influenza viruses, and
influenza viruses are also RNA viruses and
they also cause respiratory infection and
Nevertheless, the SARS-CoV-2,
the one which is responsible for
Covid, for the coronavirus
induced disease 19, is different.
So it's not only apples and oranges,
but it's really very, very different.
What we know about the influenza viruses
can only help us to a certain extent,