CoronaVirus in wuhan china. Four people died as fast spreading.
Coronavirus in wuhan china : how worried should we be? Dangerous virus in china. A virus previously unknown in science causes severe lung diseases in the Chinese city of Wuhan and was discovered in two other countries.
It is known that at least six people died from the virus that hit the city in December.
There are more than two hundred confirmed cases of the virus, but British experts estimate the number is closer to 1,700.
A new virus that appears in pneumonia patients is always worrying and health officials around the world are on high alert.
But is this a brief outbreak of today, tomorrow, or the first sign of something far more dangerous?
What is this virus?
Virus samples were taken from patients and analyzed in the laboratory.
And officials in China and the World Health Organization (WHO) have concluded that the infection is a corona virus.
Corona viruses are a wide family of viruses, but only six (the new one would make seven) are known to infect humans.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars), caused by a coronavirus, killed 774 of the 8,098 infected in an outbreak that started in China in 2002.
“There is a strong memory of Sars, there is a lot of fear, but we’re much more willing to deal with these types of diseases,” says Dr. Josie Golding from the Wellcome Trust.
Is it serious
Coronaviruses can cause symptoms that range from a mild cold to death.
This new virus seems to be somewhere in the middle.
“When we see a new corona virus, we want to know how serious the symptoms are – this is more than just a cold-like symptom, and it is worrying, but it is not as serious as Sars,” said Prof. Mark Woolhouse from the university Edinburgh.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is considering declaring an international public health emergency regarding the virus – just like swine flu and Ebola.
Where does it come from?
New viruses are constantly being detected.
They jump into humans from a species of which they went unnoticed.
“If we think about past outbreaks when it is a new corona virus, it will come from an animal reservoir,” said Prof. Jonathan Ball, virologist at the University of Nottingham.
Sars jumped from the civet to the human.
And the Middle East (Mers) respiratory syndrome, which has killed 858 of the 2,494 registered cases since its inception in 2012, regularly makes the leap from dromedary camel. Coronavirus in wuhan china
Which animal?
Once the animal reservoir in which the virus normally deposits is discovered, the problem is much easier to solve.
The cases have been linked to the South China fish wholesale market in Wuhan.
While some marine mammals can infect corona viruses (like the Beluga whale), there are also live wild animals on the market, including chickens, bats, rabbits and snakes, which are more likely to be the source.
Why China?
According to Prof. Woolhouse, this is due to the size and density of the population and the close contact with animals that harbor viruses.
“No one is surprised that the next outbreak will be in China or part of the world,” he says.
How easily does it spread?
Chinese officials say there have been cases where the virus has spread from one person to another. Some health care workers got infected after looking after patients with the same illness.
This is a problem with new viruses that infect the lungs because coughing and sneezing are a very effective way of spreading a virus.
It is too early to know how many people could get sick.
How quickly does it spread?
The outbreak was believed to be limited, but new cases have been reported since the beginning of December.
While the outbreak is focused on Wuhan, there have been two cases in Thailand, one in Japan and one in South Korea. These people recently traveled from Wuhan.
Experts say more cases could go undetected.
A report from the MRC Center for Global Infectious Disease Analysis at Imperial College London found that there could be more than 1,700 infections.
“The Wuhan outbreak of a novel coronavirus is likely to have caused far more cases of moderate or severe respiratory disease than currently reported,” the report said. Dangerous virus in china.
There are concerns that the virus could spread to hundreds of millions of people traveling to the Chinese New Year later this month.
Singapore and Hong Kong have investigated Wuhan passengers, and the U.S. authorities announced similar measures starting Friday at three major airports in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York.
How did the Chinese authorities react?
Infected individuals were treated in isolation to minimize the risk of the bug spreading.
Additional checks, such as B. Temperature scans were performed to check travelers.
And the fish market was closed for cleaning and disinfection.
The United States and most Asian countries have increasingly searched for travelers from Wuhan, and the WHO has warned hospitals worldwide that a major outbreak is possible.
How concerned are the experts?
Dr. Golding says: “At the moment it is really difficult to know how worried we should be until we have more information.
“Until we have confirmation of the source, it will always make us uncomfortable.”
Prof. Ball says: “We should be concerned about all viruses that humans first research because they overcome the first major barrier.
“Once it is in a [human] cell and replicates, mutations can occur that can make it spread more efficiently and become more dangerous.
“You don’t want to give the virus an opportunity.” Coronavirus in wuhan china
Source of the news original article : https://www.bbc.com/news/health-510483