The incubation period of 2019-nCoV is estimated to be about a week
On Friday, January 24, it became known that the number of people infected with the new coronavirus, called 2019-nCoV, has increased dramatically, now there are more than 800 people in China and abroad. And American virologists generally believe that the number of cases can reach up to 1700!
The second bad news is that the virus is still transmitted from person to person. Chinese authorities have confirmed that health care providers, who were the first to take the hit, could have contracted the virus from their patients. And, finally, the worst thing – the disease has already claimed the lives of 26 people.
All this cannot but cause concern, because today in China they celebrate the Eastern New Year, and this is the time of the most active trips of the inhabitants of the Middle Kingdom throughout the country and abroad. The advent of the new year in China, as well as in Russia, is customary to meet with family, so the Chinese these days make up to 10 million trips.
Now imagine that a new type of coronavirus, which causes pneumonia and because of which 26 people have already died, and the total number of victims can be 1.7 thousand, will scatter with Chinese tourists all over the planet. Doctors have already given the virus a name, its approximate symptoms are known, but nobody knows the main thing yet: how to treat it.
“Indeed, before scientists did not encounter something similar, the virus belongs to the family of coronaviruses that can cause various diseases in people: from the common cold to SARS like TARS or SORS. The latter can be fatal, ”says virologist Victoria Oreshkina.
– And why did you give such a beautiful name, does the virus have a crown?
“These viruses have something like spikes that allow them to attach to cells.” Having penetrated inside, they use them as a kind of “factory” that produces new viruses – so they infect a new cell, and the process repeats and repeats.
– Given that WHO first spoke about the dangers of a new coronavirus only at the end of December, and now hundreds of people are sick and 26 have died, the disease is developing rapidly.
– Viral infections generally spread very quickly. Take the banal ARVI, one sick person came to work, and after a week the floor of the office coughs and sneezes. But if we compare the coronavirus of 2020 with what we observed in 2010, then the disease spread much faster. Then extremely pathogenic coronaviruses were easily transmitted from person to person, and now Chinese doctors only suggest that their colleagues who were in contact with the first patients could become infected from them. And in terms of the number of deaths they cannot be compared: in the early 2000s, nearly 800 patients died. In the early 2010s, nearly 2,500 people were infected, about 850 died.
– And how long does the incubation period last?
“Presumably about a week.” But since the new type of coronavirus is still very poorly understood, and there is even no clarity as to which animal could infect people, then it is definitely impossible to talk about the incubation period.
“But they wrote that those Wuhan residents who bought snakes at the wholesale market became infected.”
– Yes, a number of Chinese scientists suggested that snakes could serve as a reservoir for the virus, but there is another opinion that bats became the spread of the new virus. In fact, this type of virus is found in many animals, including livestock. When a virus enters the human body, it can cause fever, respiratory infections, and pneumonia. In people with weakened immune systems, especially the elderly, these viruses can cause severe respiratory infections.
– When does a person infected with a coronavirus become dangerous to others?
– Ordinary viral infections are transmitted from person to person by airborne droplets, and rotovirus infections through dirty hands. How this type of virus spreads is hard to say with accuracy. But Chinese scientists managed to isolate and decipher its genetic code in patients, eliminating other potential causes, such as flu, and confirming that the virus is completely new. However, the genetic code indicates that this virus has about 70% similarity to SARS coronavirus.
– And how can decoding the genetic code help?
“This will allow scientists to create tests that can identify the virus from patient samples and develop a vaccine.” According to preliminary data, the new strain of coronavirus in 2020 is similar to SARS. Bats became the source in the case of SARS, then it was transmitted to the mammals living on the trees, from which it passed to humans. But in 2003, the scale of the problem caused by coronavirus was two orders of magnitude higher: the virus spread to 29 countries and caused the disease in more than 8.5 thousand people. Moreover, in Russia only one case was registered then, the patient recovered. So I see no reason to panic this time either. But I would not advise your readers to go to China now. This is the first. And the second – you must always follow the simplest, but at the same time the most important hygiene rules. Wash your hands, cover your nose and mouth when you sneeze and cough, and even better – wear a mask if you get sick, and do not infect others. For those who feel bad, I advise you under no circumstances to self-medicate and immediately consult a doctor who will determine what you are sick with and how you should be treated.
See also: “The truth about the coronavirus epidemic was revealed by a Russian musician from China”
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