COVID-19

 

                                                 COVID-19                                                                                

Corona is derived from the Latin word meaning crown because the virus contain a viral spike on the surface of the virus which looks like a crown.Corona-virus is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered Corona-virus. This virus was named initially, referred to as 2019-n COV and was also called as Wuhan Corona-virus because the first infected people came from the Wuhan city, Hubwei province of China.

It showed its first appearance on December 31,2019 but remain unknown by people, However Dr. Li Wenliang, who was the Ophthalmologist detected the corona-virus. He warned the government about this virus, but they didnt believe, instead they arrested him and warned him that he would be released in one condition that his warning was an unfound rumor and promised that he wouldn't commit any more illegal actions. 

On Jan 7,2020, Chinese health authorities announced that they had isolated the virus spreading in Wuhan. On Feb 11,2020, it was officially named as COVID-19 and the virus that cause it officially named SARS COV-2. 

Six species of human corona-viruses are known, with one species subdivided into two different strains, making seven strains of human corona-viruses altogether. Four of these strains produce the generally mild symptoms of the common cold:

1. Human corona-virus OC43 
2. Human corona-virus HKU1, β-CoV
3. Human corona-virus 229E 
4. Human corona-virus NL63 

 and three strains (two species) produce symptoms that are potentially severe; all three of these are β-CoV strains:

1. Middle East respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus(MERS)
2. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV or "SARS-classic")
3. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), previously known as 2019-nCoV or "novel coronavirus 2019"

Corona-virus infects the birds and mammals. SARS COV -2 began as infections in bats before mutating to infect humans. By comparing the available genome sequence data for known coronavirus strains, we can firmly determine that SARS COV-2 originated through natural processes said Kristian Andersen PhD an associate professor of Immunology and Microbiology at scripps Research and corresponding author on the paper. The evidence for natural evolution was supported by data on SARS COV-2 backbone- its overall molecular structure. If someone was seeking to engineer a new coronavirus as a pathogen, they would have constructed it from backbone of a virus known to cause illness. But the scientist found that SARS COV-2 backbone differed substantially from those of already known corona-viruses.

The scientists analyzed the genetic template for spike proteins, armatures on the outside of virus that it uses to grab and penetrate the outer walls of human and animal cells. They focused on two important features of the spike protein: The receptor-binding domain (RBD) a kind of grapping hook that grips onto the host cells and the cleavage site that allow the virus to crack open and enter the host cells.

The first known severe illness caused by coronavirus emerged with the 2003 SARS(severe acute respiratory syndrome) epidemic in China. A second outbreak of severe illness began in 2012 in Saudia Arabia with the MERS (mild east repiratory syndrome), and the third is COVID-19 started from the china and spread throughout the world.

Based on their genomic sequencing analysis, Andersen and his Collaborators concluded that the most likely origins for SARS COV-2 followed one of the two possible scenarios which are:

In one scenario, the virus evolved to its current pathogenic state through natural selection in a non-human host and then jumped to humans. This is how previous Corona-virus outbreaks have emerged, with humans contracting the virus after direct exposure to Civets(SARS) and camels(MERS). The researchers proposed bats as the most likely reservoir for SARS COV-2 as it is very similar to a bat Corona-virus.

In the other scenario, a non-pathogenic version of the virus jumped from an animal host into humans and then evolved to its current pathogenic state within the human population.

Symptoms are fever, coughing, sneezing, sore throat, tiredness, body aches and shortness of breathe.

There is no vaccine for this virus, however Researchers and Scientists are working for the cure if the vaccine have been made it will take few months for the trial. Recently the doctors have made a treatment for the disease in which the plasma cells are taken from the cured patients from Corona-virus and injected into patients who are suffering from this disease. Other than this, the best treatment is prevention, its better to prevent ourselves from social interactions, keep ourselves clean wear mask and gloves and most importantly Quarantine ourselves, in order to prevent the spread of disease.

The disease is spread through droplets of saliva or discharge from the nose when an infected person cough or sneezes. Most people infected with the COVID-19 will experience mild to moderate respiratory illness and recover without requiring special treatment. Older people, and those underlying medical problems like Cardiovascular disease, Diabetes, Chronic respiratory disease and cancer are most likely to develop serious illness.

According to the latest update uptill March 31,2020,  860,696 cases of coronavirus has been reported, out of which 42,352 people are dead and 178,537 people has been recovered.