Swine coronaviruses (SCoVs) and their emerging threats to swine population, inter-species transmission, exploring the susceptibility of pigs for SARS-CoV-2 and zoonotic concerns.

Swine coronaviruses (SCoVs) are one of the most devastating pathogens affecting the livelihoods of farmers and swine industry across the world. These include transmissible gastroenteritis virus (TGEV), porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), porcine respiratory coronavirus (PRCV), porcine hemagglutinating encephalomyelitis virus (PHEV), swine acute diarrhea syndrome coronavirus (SADS-CoV), and porcine delta coronavirus (PDCoV). Coronaviruses infect a wide variety of animal species and humans because these are having single stranded-RNA that accounts for high mutation rates and thus could break the species barrier. The gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, and nervous systems are the primary organ systems affected by SCoVs. Infection is very common in piglets compared to adult swine causing high mortality in the former. Bat is implicated to be the origin of all CoVs affecting animals and humans. Since pig is the only domestic animal in which CoVs cause a wide range of diseases; new coronaviruses with high zoonotic potential could likely emerge in the future as observed in the past. The recently emerged severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus virus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), causing COVID-19 pandemic in humans, has been implicated to have animal origin, also reported from few animal species, though its zoonotic concerns are still under investigation. This review discusses SCoVs and their epidemiology, virology, evolution, pathology, wildlife reservoirs, interspecies transmission, spill-over events and highlighting their emerging threats to swine population. The role of pigs amid ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic will also be discussed. A thorough investigation should be conducted to rule out zoonotic potential of SCoVs and to design appropriate strategies for their prevention and control.

Food nutrients as inherent sources of immunomodulation during COVID-19 pandemic.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) - a novel coronavirus has rapid spread, and caused community infection around the globe. During the absence of a vaccine, people focused more on an immunity-boosting diet and needed clear knowledge about immunity-boosting foods. However, after the vaccination drive, the importance of food as a natural source of immunomodulation cannot be neglected. So, the purpose of this review was to describe the role of vital nutrient in boosting immune system of body apart from other factors like adequate sleep, exercise, and low stress levels. Macrophages, neutrophils, natural killer cells, dendritic cells, B-cells, and T-cells are the important components having important role in maintaining immunity of the human body. The first four-act as the initial mediators of innate host defense, and the latter two produce antibodies for pathogen destruction. The review investigated vital nutrients like vitamin-C, A, E and D, iron, zinc, folic acid, probiotics, and prebiotics affecting these immune components in some extent. Fruits, vegetables, spices, herbs, seeds, nuts, cereals, millets, and superfoods like chlorella and spirulina are good sources of these nutrients. However, fortified foods, functional foods, encapsulated foods with bioactive compounds and plant-based foods have shown immense potential in boosting immunity against viral infections like COVID-19. Some clinical trials and retrospective cohort studies have shown reduction in the severity of COVID-19 patients with relation to plant-based diet, vitamin D and C doses, probiotic, and zinc salts application.