Every few years, a serious disease appears on the planet, which many talk about. Avian Flu, Swine Flu, Ebola and many others. There are cases when serious epidemics pass by and do no harm to a person, but we just get a new type of virus and start looking for a way to save human lives from it. Fortunately, this is usually the case. But the 2019-nCoV coronavirus, which appeared not so long ago in China, could become something more dangerous. There is a lot of information on this virus, but all of it is superficial. Let's try to understand it in more detail and understand whether it is worth being afraid of.
First of all, let's figure out what coronavirus is - a word that is so often found not only in conversations about epidemics, but also simply in medical articles.
What is Coronavirus?
In fact, everything is simple and viruses with this name are simply combined under one name, which is obtained due to the visual similarity of the virus to the corona. This similarity is achieved due to the spine-like processes that extend from the shell in different directions.
That is, as we can see, the virus infects not only humans, but also animals with which it most often contacts in everyday life and in its economic activities. Animals, among other things, can become carriers of the virus, as was the case with H5N1. Birds become especially dangerous in this situation due to their ability to carry the virus over long distances.
The coronavirus was first detected in 1965 in a patient with acute rhinitis. After that, their number only grew. According to the type of human exposure, all coronaviruses manifest themselves in different ways. In addition to the fact that they can manifest themselves in the form of symptoms at different rates and bypass the immune system in different ways, they can affect different organs of the human body.
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The respiratory system, gastrointestinal tract and nervous system can be affected. Complications to other organs and systems are also possible. Primary reproduction takes place in the respiratory system, in particular in the nasopharynx and upper respiratory tract. In adults, this leads to a runny nose, and in children, due to imperfect immune systems, to bronchitis and pneumonia.
There are no effective remedies against many viruses, therefore, drugs are used as a treatment that fight against its individual manifestations, increase the overall resistance of the body, which helps it to more effectively resist danger.
We figured out the basic concepts of coronaviruses. Now you can go directly to its most relevant representative today - a virus called 2019-nCoV.
How did the 2019-nCoV virus appear?
The 2019-nCoV virus, which causes pneumonia, shortness of breath and invasive lung damage, was first recorded in China on December 31, 2019.
This virus was recorded in Wuhan city (Hubei province). By Chinese standards, the city can hardly be called very densely populated; nevertheless, it is home to 12 million people.
This is what Wuhan looks like.
Just 4 days after detection, 44 cases of infection with this virus have already been recorded. At the same time, a quarter of the sick were in critical condition. Chinese doctors reported this to the World Health Organization.
A hot pursuit investigation revealed that the virus was most likely originating from a city market that sells a lot of seafood and other animal products. To reduce the risk of further spread of the virus, the market was hastily quarantined. It happened on the first of January. That is, the next day, after fixing the first case of the disease.
The first death of an infected with the 2019-nCoV virus was recorded on January 9. The victim was a 61-year-old man who, incidentally, turned out to be a regular customer of this market.
Despite the fact that now in hospitals in China there are about 180 patients aged 25 to 89 years, 45 of whom are in serious or critical condition, 25 people were able to be cured. At the same time, the geography of the spread of the virus covers not only Wuhan, but also other large cities such as Beijing, Shenzhen, Shanghai and others. There are even cases of the virus spreading to Japan, South Korea and Thailand. All cases in these countries visited Wuhan.
Illegal animals on the market in China
China and many other Asian countries are known for their exotic foods. For example, they not only eat there, but also consider snakes, insects and various marine life to be a real delicacy, which do not cause any culinary interest among Europeans.
Similar products were sold in the Wuhan market. But besides this, judging by the latest data, some animals were sold there, the legality of trade in which raises some questions.
This is what the market in Wuhan looks like. Including there were illegal animals.
It is possible that one of these animals was originally the source of infection. There have already been such cases in history, so this option should not be ruled out.
How to protect yourself from the 2019-nCoV virus?
As it should be, in the very near future after the detection of cases of the disease, recommendations began to appear on how to protect yourself from it. Of course, the most logical option now is to refuse to visit the city of Wuhan. But of more serious advice, the World Health Organization gives the following.
The first step is to pay attention to all people with signs of a cold or flu. Even if you meet him far from the place where outbreaks were recorded, do not relax. Better to be safe.
Since the virus can be contained in food, it is worth paying attention to their proper handling. Everything that is not in the original packaging should be washed well, and meat, poultry, fish or eggs should be heat treated. Avoid raw or undercooked meats.
Naturally, hand washing should not be neglected. If you can't wash your hands, you should treat them with wet alcohol wipes or a special gel.
Another important point, which will rather not protect you, but will reduce the risk of spreading the virus, is proper sneezing and coughing. Sneezing and coughing should only be done in a handkerchief or bent elbow. Even without the need to prevent this particular virus, it is worth sneezing into the elbow, not the palm. Sneezing into the palm, usually the right one, then we grab onto everything, shake hands with each other and thereby spread the infection even more than if we just sneezed into space.
A visual demonstration of how to sneeze correctly.
Another preventive measure is a gauze bandage or medical mask when visiting public places. It is not one hundred percent capable of protecting against the disease, but there is a certain effect from this. Moreover, this method will prevent the spread of the virus by its carriers, even if they do not yet know about it.
Symptoms of the Chinese 2019-nCoV virus
I don’t want to scare very suspicious readers, but the symptoms of infection with the 2019-nCoV virus are very similar to the common cold or flu. The difference appears a little later.
It all starts with a rise in temperature. This is how the body fights against foreign bodies that have got inside. In addition, among the first manifestations, fatigue and cough with a small amount of phlegm can be noted.
About 90 percent of those who become ill in the first stage experienced these very symptoms. In addition, another 20 percent reported chest tightness. 20 percent of patients had shortness of breath. 15 percent feel short of breath (dyspnea). Naturally, these symptoms could appear both together or one at a time. On the other hand, all patients, without exception, were diagnosed with pneumonia based on the results of the roentgenogram.
Why is the 2019-nCoV virus dangerous?
The main danger of the virus is the likelihood of death. So far, the number of such cases is about 1.5 percent of those who asked for help.
Perhaps this is the reason why the World Health Organization is calling for no restrictions on trade and tourist flow to China yet. Including the same city of Wuhan.
Fortunately, the current virus is still far from the most destructive epidemics. For example, the famous Spanish flu or "Spanish flu" in 1918-1919. claimed the lives of about 100 million people (about 5 percent of the world's population at that time). At the same time, the mortality rate was about 20 percent of the total number of cases.
Ebola has killed about 1,250 people. This is about half of all people with fever. At the same time, mainly only animals suffered from the famous “bird flu”, since the number of human deaths was relatively small at such a scale. Against the background of all this, several deaths from the new virus seem to be something because of which it is not worth raising a panic, but it is not yet known what this may result in in the future, since not even a month has passed since the virus was fixed.
Special events are held in the Wuhan city market.
As mentioned above, there is no effective way to combat some viruses. This is especially true for new viruses. This is one of the dangers of the "novelty". So far, only symptomatic treatment is used to help patients, but it bears fruit. In this way, more than two dozen people have already been saved (about 10 percent of the sick).
The problem is that January 25 will be Chinese New Year. At this time, the inhabitants of the Celestial Empire traditionally disperse around the world. This slightly increases the risk of the virus spreading to other countries. Moreover, the virus is transmitted from person to person, although at first this method of spread was considered impossible.
Chinese disease or Asian virus. What measures are being taken?
Over the years of development of means of fighting viruses, international agencies, including the World Health Organization, have developed a mechanism for the protection and regional localization of infections.
To prevent the infection from spreading, quarantine is immediately introduced in those places where the virus could presumably start its journey. And so it happened with the city market, which was visited by all the sick. After that, restrictions are introduced at train stations and airports.
Given the speed of our modern life, only 10-12 hours is enough for the virus to end up not just in another place, but on the other side of the planet. So, in a matter of hours, it can cover all continents. That is why measures are being introduced against aircraft and trains arriving from a dangerous region. He himself observed thermal imagers and sample temperature measurements of suspicious passengers when he flew between Asian cities in China, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, and other countries. If the risk of proliferation is very high, checks cease to be selective and the temperature is measured for all passengers, after which those with deviations from the norm are sent for additional examination.
Similar systems can scan people in the stream and in case of excess body temperature, inform the operator about it.
All this does not allow the spread of the disease to be completely eliminated, since the incubation period for some people may be longer than usual, or simply the passenger will bring food from the region where the epidemic is raging. By the way, this is why, even in quiet times, the customs of almost all countries have a very negative attitude to the transport of food products, especially perishable ones (cheese, fruits, animal products). Only such measures can reduce the risk of proliferation in our high-speed world.
But, do not forget that sometimes panic becomes unnecessary. I'm talking about those cases when journalists, hungry for sensations, exaggerate the problem to a universal scale, sometimes forgetting about common sense. This also became a consequence of the acceleration of our world. We are not the only ones who move quickly in space. Information “moves” even faster. She is able to sow panic.
In the case of the 2019-nCoV virus, nothing extraordinary has happened yet. The number of cases is large, and a new strain of the virus does not open every day, but it is too early to sound the alarm. Moreover, the responsible persons, apparently, work very competently and prevent the virus from becoming widespread. The main thing is to take into account all the precautions and refrain from visiting the problem region. If all goes well, there will be no serious epidemic.
Artem Sutyagin