So, What the Heck is Coronavirus Anyway? And no, it isn’t really Corona beer virus. I promise it has nothing to do with Corona Beer at all! You may even have had a coronavirus…
Coronaviruses were first identified in the 1960s. They were named “corona” because their shape resembles a crown. This large family of viruses can be found in both animals and humans. Some can be transmitted between them, but it is rare. Coronaviruses cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases.
Most people have had a coronavirus. Either in the form of a cold or other slight respiratory illness. (Even more than have ever had a Corona Beer!)
The more virulent type of coronavirus that spreads easily and rapidly is the concern. Both Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) are caused by coronaviruses. The SARS outbreak in 2002-2003 killed approximately 800 people worldwide. MERS was first identified in Saudi Arabia in 2012. It is believed to be responsible for 862 deaths worldwide between 2012 and January 2020.
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) website, 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) is the cause of an outbreak of respiratory illness first detected in Wuhan, China. Early on, many of the patients in the outbreak in Wuhan, China reportedly had some link to a large seafood and animal market. This suggested animal-to-person spread.
However, a growing number of patients reportedly have not had exposure to animal markets. Therefore, this can’t be the only way it spreads. The growing number of patients world-wide who had not traveled to China indicates that it spreads person-to-person.
It is still unclear how easily this virus spreads between people, or how long the incubation period is.
However, most reports project an incubation period of approximately 14 days. But in some instances, it may be as few as two days. Most troubling is the possibility that people are spreading the infection before they show any signs of illness!
The latest situation updates, particularly for the United States, are available on CDC’s web page.
Check our previous post for more details. And the page in our Health and Fitness category with details on Herbal medicine may help.
This post was written and compiled by L.H.R. ( I may have edited a couple of paragraphs to make it work for this blog, so any errors are entirely mine.)
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