Coronavirus |All you need to know about it!
Health worker screen travelers upon their departure (Photo: unknown)
What is coronavirus?
25th, 2020 (SSNN)—According to the World Health Organization (WHO) coronaviruses are a family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
These viruses were originally transmitted between animals and people. SARS, for instance, was believed to have been transmitted from civet cats to humans while MERS travelled from a type of camel to humans.
Several known coronaviruses are circulating in animals that have not yet infected humans.
The name coronavirus comes from the Latin word corona, meaning crown or halo. Under an electron microscope, the image of the virus is reminiscent of a solar corona.
A novel coronavirus, identified by Chinese authorities on January 7 and currently named 2019-nCoV, is a new strain that had not been previously identified in humans.
Little is known about it, although human-to-human transmission has been confirmed.
What are the symptoms?
According to the WHO, signs of infection include fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties.
In more severe cases, it can lead to pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure and even death.
The incubation period of the coronavirus remains unknown. Some sources say it could be between 10 to 14 days.
How deadly is it?
Some experts say it may not be as deadly as other types of coronavirus such as SARS, which killed nearly 800 people worldwide during a 2002-2003 outbreak that also originated from China. MERS, which did not spread as widely, was more deadly, killing a third of those it infected.
Coronavirus first appeared in Wuhan, China at the start of December, and has already infected hundreds of people in nearly a dozen countries. The World Health Organization said that it’s too early to declare a public health emergency globally , although the outbreak is a major emergency in China.
Coronaviruses are common in many types of animals, and can sometimes jump to humans. In this case, the virus probably came from a bat. Two other coronaviruses have infected humans, causing outbreaks of SARS and MERS in 2002 and 2012, respectively. This time, scientists were able to quickly sequence the virus and develop a diagnostic test.
The new coronavirus appears to cause symptoms like fever, cough, difficulty breathing, and other respiratory symptoms. It causes severe illness in around a quarter of cases, and can be deadly. Public health officials are working to understand how dangerous this virus is, how fast it’s spreading, and how to contain it. As that work continues, the virus is causing anxiety around the world.
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