Corona Virus
What is Corona Virus? Corona Virus in china. Corona virus in Pakistan. Corona Virus in USACorona Virus in Iran. Corona virus affected countries at initial stage. Corona virus in UAE.
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| What is corona Virus |
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now you have probably heard of COVID-19, or corona virus disease discovered in
2019, which is responsible for a global pandemic. So far the main country
affected has been China, but it has spread to a number of other countries
around the world to a varying degree.
The
virus was initially referred to as the2019-nCoV, or the 2019 novel corona virus
and was informally called Wuhan corona virus. The World Health Organization
named the disease COVID-19 because it does not refer to a geographical location,
an animal, a person or group of people - all of which can lead to stigma.
They
also wanted to make it pronounceable or understandable and related to the
disease - not an easy task! The virus was officially named SARS CoV-2, or
severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2, because it is genetically very
similar to the SARS corona virus which was responsible for well the Severe Acute
Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS, outbreak in 2002. So SARS-CoV-2 causes
COVID-19.
Now,
corona viruses that circulate among humans are typically benign, and they cause
about a quarter of all common cold illnesses. But occasionally, coronaviruses
that circulate in an animal reservoir mutate just enough to where they are able
to start infecting and causing disease in humans, if they are given an
opportunity.
In
2002 SARS was a corona virus that hopped over from bats to civets, which is a
cat-like mammal; and then over to humans. And in 2012, there was MERS, which
was a corona virus that hopped over from bats to camels a few decades ago and
then circulated among camels for quite some time before infecting humans.
COVID-19
most likely also started with bats, but this time the intermediate host was
probably a pangolin, an animal that looks like a cross between an anteater and
an armadillo. That is based on the fact that scientists identified a corona virus
in pangolins that is a 96% genetic match to SARS-CoV-2. Sadly, pangolins are
heavily trafficked around the planet and countries, largely because people
believe that their scales have healing properties. Because they are moved
around the world rather than left in the wild, there are ample opportunities
for a corona virus to go from a pangolin to a human.
As
of February 11, 2020, there have been 43,103 cases of COVID-19 and 1,018 deaths,
with a fatality rate of 2.4%, according to WHO. The majority of cases and
deaths have occurred in China. For some perspective, the 2002 SARS outbreak
result as in 8,098 cases and 774 deaths, so the fatality rate was around 9.6%.
And the 2012 MERS outbreak out results in 2,494 cases and 858 deaths, bringing
the fatality rate to 34%. Finally, for the 2014 Ebola outbreak out, which was
not due to a corona virus, there were 28,639 cases and 11,316 deaths. The
fatality rate was a whopping 40%!
The
whole family of corona viruses are named corona virus because corona means crown
and so this refers to the way that the virus looks under the microscope like there's
a crown on the top of the virus some of them four or five different kinds cause
common diseases among humans everything from the common cold to mild or moderate
respiratory illnesses other kinds of corona viruses affect animals and sometimes
on rare occasions we see corona viruses jump from animal species into the human
population the 2019 novel Corona virus is getting a lot of attention now
because it is a new kind of corona virus we haven't seen among humans before
the theory is that it may have jumped from an animal species into the human population and then begun spreading
we have seen some people that have died of this disease and we know that there
are already thousands of cases so people are concerned because we don't yet
know exactly how severe the disease will be or how far it will spread.
when
a new virus emerges we often have to learn much more about it and one of the
things that we question is how does it transmitted from person to person we know
that most respiratory viruses are spread by large droplets that come out when
people coffins sneeze and stay aloft usually for about six feet in front of
them they land on surfaces and then can also be transmitted between person to
person by touching those surfaces such as doorknobs or other surfaces other
viruses can spread in the air and stay aloft for a longer period of time in
small droplet nuclei for this current 2019 corona virus we're not yet sure whether
it is droplet or airborne transmission so we're airing on the side of caution
and taking protection as if it was spread by the airborne route we're still
learning a lot about this 2019 novel corona virus.
To understand how dangerous
it might be right now the majority of the cases are in China we know that some
travelers have brought the virus to other Countries including the United
States. I think one of the main things to keep in mind is that this is
respiratory virus season and we have other respiratory viruses like influenza that
we need to take precautions because we know we have thousands of cases and thousands
of deaths in this country every year from influenza given the ongoing
transmission of the virus in China we have a travel alert that was issued by
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention so at this time until we know
more avoid non-essential travel to China Johns Hopkins Health System and health
systems across the nation are busy right now preparing to safely identify
isolate evaluate and care for patients with 2019 novel corona virus we have the
capability of doing this safely by utilizing personal protective equipment by
implementing travel screenings so that we can quickly identify patients who
have risk factors.For
the disease and then implementing isolation precautions.
Once
a person is infected, symptoms develop an average of 5 days after. This is
called the incubation period. However the incubation period can be varied from
person to person, and in some studies, the incubation period lasted as long as
24 days! Now there is debate about whether or not asymptomatic people can
spread the disease, because these people typically have low levels of circulating
virus. But even if they do, asymptomatic transmission likely plays a minor role
in the overall epidemic. Viruses are given a reproductive number or R-naught
based on how quickly they spread, and person to person transmission has been confirmed
both in and outside of China. An R naught of 1 means that an infected person passes
it on to 1 new person, an R-naught of 2 means that 1 person spreads it to 2 new
people, and so forth. If the R naught is below 1, the infection peters out, if
it is 1 it stays steady, and if it is above 1, then it continues to spread. The
current estimate for the SARS-CoV-2 R naught is between 2 and 2.5. Of course
that is an average, with some Spreading the disease less, and others – called super
spreaders - spreading the disease at a much higher rate. The exact cause of these
super spreaders is unclear, perhaps they are just in contact with more folks,
perhaps their bodies naturally shed more virus, or perhaps there are some other
reason altogether.
So
the goal is to avoid the transmission from one human being to another, starting
with isolating people with COVID-19. Corona viruses does not usually spread over
long distances in the air, but they can travel roughly 3 feet or 1 meter from
one person to another on tiny droplets of saliva, which are produced when someone
is coughing or sneezing. In addition, some strains of corona virus can survive
on surfaces for over a day. With that in mind, if you are a healthy person
living in a non-outbreak area, the recommendation is to avoid travel to disease
outbreak areas, generally stay away from crowded places, and stay at least 6
feet or 2 meters away from anyone with symptoms. Wearing a surgical mask is not
recommended because the general risk of getting COVID-19 in these settings is
so low. As always, hand washing is key it should be done and it should be done with
soap or alcohol-based hand sanitizers and scrubbing. Also, avoid touching your
eyes, nose, and mouth and other body parts this is the area, known as your
T-zone is a common entry point for viruses into the body. For healthcare
workers working around people with COVID-19, the recommendation is to apply droplet
and contact precautions. That includes wearing personal protective equipment
like a clean, dry surgical mask, gloves, long-sleeved gowns, and eye protection
like goggles or a face shield. When performing a procedure that generates
aerosol, like tracheal incubation, bronchoscopy, CPR, or noninvasive
ventilation, it is important to wear a N95 respirator.
This
prevents 95% of the small particles, like respiratory droplets, from passing
through. To recap, the SARS-CoV-2 virus causes a respiratory disease called
COVID-19. The virus probably originated from bats, then went to pangolins as an
intermediate host, and finally to humans. The virus travels in respiratory
droplets and enters the body via the mouth, nose, or eyes. Once inside the
body, it replicates in the respiratory system, causing symptoms like fever,
cough, and shortness of breath.
Some
people might develop more dangerous complications like pneumonia, ARDS, and
shock. Treatments are focused on supportive care, but certain medications are currently in clinical trials. In the
meantime, the best strategy is prevention -- this includes careful hand
washing, avoiding traveling to disease outbreak areas and crowded places when
possible, avoiding touching your T-zone, and if you are a healthcare worker to
use personal protective equipment.
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