Many reports refer to the newly identified coronavirus in Wuhan, China, as a "mystery" virus. Is it really a mystery? Do masks help keep you from getting infected? If an animal carries the virus, will cooking it make it safe to consume?
These are some of the questions circulating about the virus called 2019-nCoV. Here are some answers.
But there's little evidence to suggest that the face masks worn by members of the public prevent people from being infected by breathing in the virus, says William Schaffner, a professor in the division of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. "There really are no good, solid, reliable data."
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the kind of flimsy masks that people often buy in pharmacies may not tightly fit the face, so the wearer can still breathe in air — and infected droplets.
Stanley Perlman, a professor at the University of Iowa who studies coronaviruses, agrees that the mask won't necessarily prevent infection. But they do have some value, he says: Wearing a mask may stop an individual from directly touching their mouth and nose, which is a common way that viruses and germs enter the body. Masks provide some protection this way, he adds. "But what we teach is that they're not very good."
To protect themselves from infection, health care workers don't wear the kind of thin, over-the-mouth masks you see in operating rooms, which are designed to keep germs from leaving the mouths and noses of medical staff in the room. When it comes to preventing infection from their surroundings, health-care workers wear N95 respirators, which fit much more tightly, says Schaffner. These respirators haven't been tested for effectiveness when worn by the general public, so there's no evidence to support a general recommendation, he adds.
But there is one thing that experts endorse as a preventive: "Hand hygiene is the answer," Schaffner says, suggesting soap and water, since the abrasiveness of soap helps remove infectious particles from the hands. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends scrubbing your hands for at least 20 seconds. Make sure to clean the backs of your hands, between your fingers and under your nails, advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And scrub for 20 seconds — about as long as it takes to sing, at a moderate pace, the alphabet song.
"It was mysterious when we didn't know what it was," says Stanley Perlman, a professor at the University of Iowa, who studies coronaviruses. But once it was identified as a member of the family of coronaviruses, it was no longer so mysterious, he adds.
Indeed, the Wuhan coronavirus appears to behave in ways that are similar to other coronaviruses like SARS and MERS. Health officials believe that like these two well-known coronaviruses, the Wuhan virus can be passed from person to person via exchange of fluids from the respiratory tract, although they still don't know precisely how.
While it's no longer such a mystery, there are still open questions about the Wuhan virus. We don't know how long it takes after exposure to get sick or which animal was the original source of the virus. "Each one of the rogue viruses that jumped species from animals to humans has its own characteristics," says William Schaffner, a professor in the division of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Any method of cooking will work, says William Schaffner, a professor in the division of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. "It's heat. The mode of delivering the heat doesn't matter," he adds.
So how are people infected by an animal that harbors the virus? "It's in the preparation that there might be some risk," says Schaffner. Handling raw before cooking presents a risk.
And at the market in Wuhan, where some people seemed to become infected, live animals are sold and slaughtered. It isn't clear exactly how the virus spread from animals to people, but when an infected animal is killed and then skinned, small pieces of tissue or droplets of blood could spread into the air and transmit the virus, Schaffner says.
"In terms of mortality rate, we're on the lower spectrum, which gives me some room for optimism," says Kevin Olival, vice president for research at the EcoHealth Alliance, who specializes in emerging infectious diseases
As doctors and officials learn more about the spread and scale of the virus, it will become more clear if the virus poses any significant concern to Americans.
As of Jan. 25, there are nearly 1,300 confirmed cases and 41 deaths linked to the 2019-nCoV virus in China, according to The New York Times. On Jan. 24, the second person in the United States (a woman in Chicago) was confirmed to have the virus; the first case was confirmed in a man in Washington state. Both individuals had recently returned from Wuhan.
The first cases of the pneumonia-like virus were reported in Wuhan, China on Dec. 31, 2019. Since then, the virus has spread to various other countries, including Thailand, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the United States, Australia, France, among others.
The first U.S. case was confirmed on Jan. 21 in a man in Washington state who had recently traveled to Wuhan. On Jan. 24, officials confirmed a second case in a woman from Chicago who had also recently traveled to the Chinese city. Both cases were hospitalized, but doing well, officials said.
The CDC is also investigating more than 60 people in 22 states for a possible infection with the new virus, officials said Friday (Jan. 24). Eleven of those people have so far tested negative for the virus.
Since the virus first popped up in Wuhan in people who had visited a local seafood and animal market, officials could only say it likely hopped from an animal to humans. In a new study, however, researchers sequenced the genes of 2019-nCoV (as the virus is now called), and then they compared it with the genetic sequences of more than 200 coronaviruses that infect various animals around the world. Their results, detailed in the Journal of Medical Virology, suggested that 2019-nCoV likely originated in snakes.
As for what kind of snake, the scientists noted there are two snakes that are common to southeastern China where the outbreak originated: the many-banded krait (Bungarus multicinctus) and the Chinese cobra (Naja atra).
However, some experts have criticized the study, saying it's unclear if coronaviruses can indeed infect snakes.
—the air (from viral particles from a cough or sneeze);
—close personal contact (touching or shaking hands);
—an object or surface with viral particles on it (then touching your mouth, nose or eyes before washing your hands);
—and rarely from fecal contamination.
Despite sharing some symptoms that were similar to SARS, there "are some important differences," such as the absence of upper respiratory tract symptoms like runny nose, sneezing and sore throat and intestinal symptoms like diarrhea, which affected 20% to 25% of SARS patients, lead author Bin Cao, from the China-Japan Friendship Hospital and the Capital Medical University, both in Beijing, said in a statement.
There are no specific treatments for coronavirus infections and most people will recover on their own, according to the CDC. So treatment involves rest and medication to relieve symptoms. A humidifier or hot shower can help to relieve a sore throat and cough. If you are mildly sick, you should drink a lot of fluids and rest but if you are worried about your symptoms, you should see a healthcare provider, they wrote. (This is advice for all coronaviruses, not specifically aimed toward the new virus).
There is no vaccine for the new coronavirus but researchers at the U.S. National Institutes of Health confirmed they were in preliminary stages of developing one. In addition, the drug company Regeneron announced that it is in the early stages of developing a treatment for this virus, according to NBC News.
Major airports in the U.S. are conducting screenings to make sure incoming passengers aren't infected. However, U.S. officials said on Friday (Jan. 24) that they are currently reevaluating the effectiveness of this screening.
The CDC also recommends avoiding nonessential travel to Wuhan. On Jan. 23, the U.S. State Department ordered all non-emergency U.S. personnel and family to leave Wuhan, the department said in a statement.
These are some of the questions circulating about the virus called 2019-nCoV. Here are some answers.
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| Residents wearing masks and Buying Vegetables in China |
Will a mask protect me?
There's a run on masks in China, with the belief that wearing one in public will protect an individual from exposure to droplets sneezed or coughed out by someone infected with the Wuhan virus.But there's little evidence to suggest that the face masks worn by members of the public prevent people from being infected by breathing in the virus, says William Schaffner, a professor in the division of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. "There really are no good, solid, reliable data."
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the kind of flimsy masks that people often buy in pharmacies may not tightly fit the face, so the wearer can still breathe in air — and infected droplets.
Stanley Perlman, a professor at the University of Iowa who studies coronaviruses, agrees that the mask won't necessarily prevent infection. But they do have some value, he says: Wearing a mask may stop an individual from directly touching their mouth and nose, which is a common way that viruses and germs enter the body. Masks provide some protection this way, he adds. "But what we teach is that they're not very good."
To protect themselves from infection, health care workers don't wear the kind of thin, over-the-mouth masks you see in operating rooms, which are designed to keep germs from leaving the mouths and noses of medical staff in the room. When it comes to preventing infection from their surroundings, health-care workers wear N95 respirators, which fit much more tightly, says Schaffner. These respirators haven't been tested for effectiveness when worn by the general public, so there's no evidence to support a general recommendation, he adds.
But there is one thing that experts endorse as a preventive: "Hand hygiene is the answer," Schaffner says, suggesting soap and water, since the abrasiveness of soap helps remove infectious particles from the hands. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends scrubbing your hands for at least 20 seconds. Make sure to clean the backs of your hands, between your fingers and under your nails, advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And scrub for 20 seconds — about as long as it takes to sing, at a moderate pace, the alphabet song.
Is this virus mysterious?
Judging by headlines, it is. Many media outlets refer to the Wuhan virus as "China's mystery virus.""It was mysterious when we didn't know what it was," says Stanley Perlman, a professor at the University of Iowa, who studies coronaviruses. But once it was identified as a member of the family of coronaviruses, it was no longer so mysterious, he adds.
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| (Image credit: Shutterstock) |
Indeed, the Wuhan coronavirus appears to behave in ways that are similar to other coronaviruses like SARS and MERS. Health officials believe that like these two well-known coronaviruses, the Wuhan virus can be passed from person to person via exchange of fluids from the respiratory tract, although they still don't know precisely how.
While it's no longer such a mystery, there are still open questions about the Wuhan virus. We don't know how long it takes after exposure to get sick or which animal was the original source of the virus. "Each one of the rogue viruses that jumped species from animals to humans has its own characteristics," says William Schaffner, a professor in the division of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
If you cook an infected animal, does it kill the coronavirus?
Cooking an infected animal until the meat reaches about 150 degrees Fahrenheit inactivates the coronavirus, says Stanley Perlman, a professor at the University of Iowa who studies coronaviruses.Any method of cooking will work, says William Schaffner, a professor in the division of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. "It's heat. The mode of delivering the heat doesn't matter," he adds.
So how are people infected by an animal that harbors the virus? "It's in the preparation that there might be some risk," says Schaffner. Handling raw before cooking presents a risk.
And at the market in Wuhan, where some people seemed to become infected, live animals are sold and slaughtered. It isn't clear exactly how the virus spread from animals to people, but when an infected animal is killed and then skinned, small pieces of tissue or droplets of blood could spread into the air and transmit the virus, Schaffner says.
How worried should people outside of China be?
The general public should not worry at this time, says William Schaffner, a professor in the division of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. "There's an outbreak of coronavirus anxiety. I think we all ought to take a deep breath and step back," he adds. Compared coronavirus to the flu cases seen each winter, he predicts that the Wuhan virus will be "a tiny little blip on the horizon.""In terms of mortality rate, we're on the lower spectrum, which gives me some room for optimism," says Kevin Olival, vice president for research at the EcoHealth Alliance, who specializes in emerging infectious diseases
As doctors and officials learn more about the spread and scale of the virus, it will become more clear if the virus poses any significant concern to Americans.
How many people have the new virus?
A representation of a doctor looking for symptoms of the new Wuhan coronovirus in a patient.As of Jan. 25, there are nearly 1,300 confirmed cases and 41 deaths linked to the 2019-nCoV virus in China, according to The New York Times. On Jan. 24, the second person in the United States (a woman in Chicago) was confirmed to have the virus; the first case was confirmed in a man in Washington state. Both individuals had recently returned from Wuhan.
How far has the virus spread?
Map that depicts the spread of the new coronavirus.The first cases of the pneumonia-like virus were reported in Wuhan, China on Dec. 31, 2019. Since then, the virus has spread to various other countries, including Thailand, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the United States, Australia, France, among others.
The first U.S. case was confirmed on Jan. 21 in a man in Washington state who had recently traveled to Wuhan. On Jan. 24, officials confirmed a second case in a woman from Chicago who had also recently traveled to the Chinese city. Both cases were hospitalized, but doing well, officials said.
The CDC is also investigating more than 60 people in 22 states for a possible infection with the new virus, officials said Friday (Jan. 24). Eleven of those people have so far tested negative for the virus.
Where did the virus come from?
A new study suggests snakes may be the source of the new coronavirus causing an outbreak in China. Above, an image of Naja atra, a type of snake common in Southeastern China.Since the virus first popped up in Wuhan in people who had visited a local seafood and animal market, officials could only say it likely hopped from an animal to humans. In a new study, however, researchers sequenced the genes of 2019-nCoV (as the virus is now called), and then they compared it with the genetic sequences of more than 200 coronaviruses that infect various animals around the world. Their results, detailed in the Journal of Medical Virology, suggested that 2019-nCoV likely originated in snakes.
As for what kind of snake, the scientists noted there are two snakes that are common to southeastern China where the outbreak originated: the many-banded krait (Bungarus multicinctus) and the Chinese cobra (Naja atra).
However, some experts have criticized the study, saying it's unclear if coronaviruses can indeed infect snakes.
How did the virus hop from animals to humans?
Some viruses are known to become capable of transmitting to humans, and this coronavirus is one of those. But how? The study published in the Journal of Medical Virology, revealing the likely snake host, also found that a change to one of the viral proteins in 2019-nCoV allows the virus to recognize and bind to receptors on certain host cells. This ability is a critical step to entering cells, and the researchers said that the change in this particular protein may have helped the virus hop to humans.Can the virus spread between people?
Yes, in limited cases, according to the CDC, but the primary mode of transmission seems to be from animal to human. In terms of how one would catch the virus, the CDC says that human coronaviruses are most commonly spread between an infected person and others via:—the air (from viral particles from a cough or sneeze);
—close personal contact (touching or shaking hands);
—an object or surface with viral particles on it (then touching your mouth, nose or eyes before washing your hands);
—and rarely from fecal contamination.
What are the symptoms of the new coronavirus and how do you treat it?
Symptoms of the new coronavirus include fever, cough and difficulty breathing. These symptoms are similar to those caused by SARS, according to a recent study published in the journal The Lancet.Despite sharing some symptoms that were similar to SARS, there "are some important differences," such as the absence of upper respiratory tract symptoms like runny nose, sneezing and sore throat and intestinal symptoms like diarrhea, which affected 20% to 25% of SARS patients, lead author Bin Cao, from the China-Japan Friendship Hospital and the Capital Medical University, both in Beijing, said in a statement.
There are no specific treatments for coronavirus infections and most people will recover on their own, according to the CDC. So treatment involves rest and medication to relieve symptoms. A humidifier or hot shower can help to relieve a sore throat and cough. If you are mildly sick, you should drink a lot of fluids and rest but if you are worried about your symptoms, you should see a healthcare provider, they wrote. (This is advice for all coronaviruses, not specifically aimed toward the new virus).
There is no vaccine for the new coronavirus but researchers at the U.S. National Institutes of Health confirmed they were in preliminary stages of developing one. In addition, the drug company Regeneron announced that it is in the early stages of developing a treatment for this virus, according to NBC News.
What is being done to stop the spread of the coronavirus?
The Chinese government has stopped most of the travel to and from Wuhan as well as 12 other nearby cities, according to The New York Times. This "lockdown" affects about 35 million people, the Times reported.Major airports in the U.S. are conducting screenings to make sure incoming passengers aren't infected. However, U.S. officials said on Friday (Jan. 24) that they are currently reevaluating the effectiveness of this screening.
The CDC also recommends avoiding nonessential travel to Wuhan. On Jan. 23, the U.S. State Department ordered all non-emergency U.S. personnel and family to leave Wuhan, the department said in a statement.
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