The review considers viruses that have appeared in the human population over the past 40 years, falling under the definition of emergent viruses: Hendra (Hendra virus, HeV) and Nipah (Nipah virus, NiV) viruses from the Paramyxoviridae family; SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 from the Coronaviridae family. Similarities and differences of their main characteristics, namely ways of infection of animals and humans, use of receptors, suppression of initial stages of immune response, are described, and an attempt to identify general trends in their evolution is made. These viruses have a wide range of hosts with potential for further expansion and cause systemic character of infection through the use of receptors that express cells of various tissues, including the central nervous system, in large numbers. The diseases are spreading rapidly, while simultaneously capturing lots of people in consequence of the high contagiosity of these viruses. In such situations, the adoption of anti-epidemic measures aimed at interrupting infection transmission chains and creating collective immunity are urgently required. For this anti-viral vaccines and specific anti-viral therapy drugs are being developed in parallel. The suggestions for the timely detection of new viral infections, the adoption of anti-epidemic measures and strategies for specific prevention and treatment were made.