CORONA VIRUS, Facts you should know

CORONA VIRUS

An update about Wuhan corona virus (2019-nCoV)

The most discussed virus  among people now a day is coronavirus. Corona viruses were first        discovered in the 1960s from the nasal cavities of patients with  the common cold; name corona is a Latin word, was given to this virus due to its  bulbous surface projections creating an image reminiscent of a royal crown or of the solar corona. 

Corona viruses belong to the subfamily Corona virinae in the family Coronaviridae, in the order of Nidovirales.

There are seven known strains of human coronaviruses that infect humans

1.   Human corona virus 229E (HCoV-229E)

2.   Human corona virus OC43 (HCoV-OC43)

3.   SARS-CO V

4.   Human corona virus NL63 (HCoV-NL63, New Haven coronavirus)

5.   Human corona virus HKU1

6.   Middle east repiratary syndrom corona virus(MERS-CoV), previously known as novel corona virus 2012 and HCoV-EMC.(After the Dutch Erasmus medical center where virus was sequenced ) .It came to humans from camels.

7.   Wuhan  corona virus(2019-nCoV),  also known as novel coronavirus 2019/2020 (Wuhan pneumonia). 

      (2019 December china pneumonia outbreak in Wuhan was traced to a novel coronavirus, which is labeled as 2019-nCoVby WHO.) this is 70-80% identical to SARS-CoV.

CORONA VIRUS

Coronaviruses cause diseases in mammals and birds' symptoms include diarrhea in cows and pigs, upper respiratory disease in chickens and rare, but potentially lethal, human respiratory infections although these are often mild. 

On December 31, 2019, a new strain of the corona virus was reported in Wuhan city of China. As of January 2020, deaths caused by the new strain of the corona virus in Wuhan have risen to 17, with more than 540 cases confirmed. It is suspected to have originated either from snakes or from the bat.  It is closely related to several bat corona virus. Snakes often hunt the wild bats and in Wuhan, seafood market snakes are freely sold. Coronavirus might have jumped from bat to snakes and from snakes to humans.

China and the world had to pay a heavy price for the consumption of wild animals in the last years. Around 774 people got killed in 37 countries in the world from the SARS epidemic in 2002 -2003. The corona virus was traced to the civet cat, which is considered a delicacy in parts of southern China, where the epidemic began first.

In 2003, Over 8,000 people were infected following the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) named the SARS corona virus (SARS-CoV). Around  800 pt of whom died that time.

In September 2012, a new type of corona virus was identified, now officially named Middle East respiratory syndrome corona virus (MERS-CoV) By October 2013, there were 124 cases and 52 deaths in Saudi Arabia due to MERS-CoV. 

As of December 2019, 2,468 cases of MERS-CoV infection had been confirmed by laboratory tests, 851 of which were fatal, a mortality rate of approximately 34.5%

How corona virus spreads

It is a large droplet infection and spread by aerosol and fomites. It infects intrapulmonary epithelial cells more than the upper airways. It uses the same cellular receptor as SARS-CoV that is (human angiotensin-converting enzyme -2 )hACE2  receptor.

Symptoms of corona virus infection

Corona viruses primarily infect the upper respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts of mammals and birds. Coronaviruses also cause a range of diseases in farm animals and domesticated pets.

In humans, the median time from onset of symptom to first hospital admission was found to be 7 days in Wuhan coronavirus.
Corona viruses cause common colds like symptoms e.g. fever,  throat pain, swollen adenoids, runny nose, sore throat, cough, headache, for a couple of days.

those with week immune a system, elderly, pregnant women and very young people suffer more serious illness like pneumonia and bronchitis. the average age of infected people is around 40 years.Coronaviruses can cause pneumonia, either direct viral pneumonia or secondary
bacterial pneumonia and bronchitis, either direct viral bronchitis or a secondary bacterial bronchitis
Corona virus spreads in humans primarily in the winter and early spring seasons.  

Wuhan coronoavis is milder than MERS and SARS. It spread from human contact with the animal, human to human transmission is a possibility but not confirmed yet for Wuhan corona visrus.SARS and MERS mostly transmitted in hospitals but not confirm in the case of the Wuhan corona virus who is transmitting it most, hospital or community.

Treatment  of corona virus infection

There are no vaccines or antiviral drugs that are approved for prevention or treatment.
(TO READ ABOUT VACCINE CLICK HERE-VACCINATION GUIDELINE 2019-2020 -IAP

only symptomatic treatment is there.

Fluids intake -take water, juice and liquid diets to maintain proper hydration
Pain killers tablets for pain

Antipyretics for fever at every six hours.

Take proper rest and a good diet

Sleep properly for at least 8 hours a day
Some antiviral drugs like oseltamivir and nelfinavir are being used but the results of these drugs are uncertain till now.

For serious patients, hospitalization in the isolation ward is a must. For breathing difficulties, oxygen support is given and a ventilator required in severe pneumonia.

HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM CORONA VIRUS INFECTION

Wuhan health authorities said in an announcement that "the possibility of human to human transmission cannot be excluded." in the case of the Wuhan corona virus.

No vaccine available at present, but a trial for the MERS vaccine underway and still it will take years to come in the market for public use.

To stop the spread of infection people should do followings.

Avoid touching the infected person avoid handshake and hugs.

Avoid travel to the affected area.

Avoid contact from a person coming from affected areas. 

Cover mouth and nose when sneezing, use face and nose mask in community places and hospitals.hospital staff should also wear a gown and mask.

Proper handwashing is a must to stop the spread infection.

It spread from human contact with the animal, so be careful with pets and wild animals.
Avoid eating raw meat/cook properly.
Don't eat raw eggs and undercooked seafood.

FOR LATEST UPDATE OF CORONA VIRUS CLICK HERE-Latest update of corona virus(Wuhan)

Precautions in India

No case detected yet. All the passengers coming to India from affected areas getting health checkups done at New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata airports.

According to the Govt of India's statement till date 23 Jan 2020, a total of 9156 passengers gets examined for any symptoms and all were found negative for corono virus .

Seafood consumption in India is almost nil, so very low chance to spread it from animals to humans.
Human to human infection is weak.