coronavirus; symptoms and all you need to know about the virus

What is coronavirus?

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), coronaviruses are a family of virus that causes sickness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). The name coronavirus comes from a Latin word corona, meaning crown or halo. Under an electron microscope, it looks like it is being surrounded by a solar corona.

These viruses were originally transmitted from animals to people. SARS, for instance, was transmitted from civet cats to humans while MERS moved to humans from a type of camel. There are still several types of coronaviruses that are circulating in animals that haven’t yet infected humans.

Symptoms of coronavirus

The symptoms of coronavirus include fever, cough, sneeze, shortness of breath and difficulty in breathing. In more severe cases, it can lead to pneumonia, multiple organ failure and even death. However, some infected patients can also be asymptomatic, meaning they don’t show any signs of the virus despite having the virus in their system.

The time between infection and the onset of symptoms, ranges from 1 to 14 days. Most infected people show symptoms within 5 to 6 days of contacting the virus. The virus multiplies in the respiratory tract and can cause a variety of symptoms.

According to Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, who heads the WHO’s health emergencies program. “You have mild cases which look like the common cold, which have some respiratory symptoms like sore throat, runny nose, fever and pneumonia. And there can be different levels of severity of pneumonia all the way through multi-organ failure and death,” she told reporters on February 7.

A study of 138 patients that were infected with the new virus in Wuhan, published in the journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) February 7, showed the most common symptoms were fever, dry cough and fatigue. A third of the patients reported muscle pain and difficulties in breathing, while about 10 percent had atypical symptoms, which includes diarrhea and nausea.

Patients ranging from the age of 22 to 92 were admitted to the Zhongnan hospital of Wuhan University between January 1^st and 28^th. “The median age of patients is somewhat in between 49 and 56 years, and cases in children have been rare” said JAMA.

About a third of the patients developed breathing difficulties and required intensive treatment. The critically ill were older people with underlying medical conditions such as diabetes and hypertension. Six of the 138 patients died (a figure amounting to a 4.3 percent death rate), which is higher than estimates from other parts of china.

Meanwhile, a study published in the lancet medical journal on January 24 found what is called a “cytokine storm” in infected patients who were seriously sick. Cytokine storm is a severe immune reaction in which the body produces immune cells and proteins that can destroy organs. Some experts say this could explain the deaths in younger people who are in their 30s, 40s and 50s, who are not known to have any prior medical issues.

The periodical progression of covid-19

According to JAMA, on average, people became short of breath within 5 days of showing symptoms. Severe breathing troubles were observed in about 8 days. On average, people who died from the virus did so within 14 days of been infected.

On January 31, a study conducted by the new England journal to examine the medical data of a 35 years old man, the first case of infection in the United States. The first symptom was a dry cough, followed by fever. On the third day, he reported nausea and vomiting, followed by diarrhea and abdominal discomfort on the sixth day. By the ninth, he had developed pneumonia and difficulty in breathing. On the twelfth day, his condition had improved and his fever was subsiding. However, he developed a runny nose, but on the 14^th day he showed no signs of the infection except a mild cough.

According to media reports, he was brought into medical care on January 19^th and was discharged from hospital in the first week of February.