The numbers of this new disease are scary. Seeing them on a map is even more striking. The new cases and the deaths just keep rising like bubbles in a bathtub. As more countries register cases, more countries go into lock down and the markets take a free fall (except for the video-conferencing software Zoom, Campbell soup and some biotech companies).
Cases by date of report and Cumulative cases (Source WHO on 17.03.20; 20:45EAT)
But, what is this coronavirus, this COVID-19 that we are all talking about? The basics:
COVID-19 stands for Coronavirus Disease 2019. The causing agent is, as its name says, a coronavirus. Other similar viruses caused the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) and MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) outbreaks in 2002 and 2012 respectively. Coronaviruses happen to be a fascinating molecular biological engine. Their genetic information is stored in the form of RNA, which is by nature unstable and prone to mutations when being copied, but these viruses are somehow at the limit of RNA's capacity. COVID-19's genetic information is bigger than most viruses, allowing it to contain more information but limiting the number of changes that it can accumulate before becoming useless. All these are not inherently good or bad things; what makes the virus more spreadable and lethal may make an effective vaccine more plausible.
The disease seems to be mild for most of the population, which only develop flu-like symptoms (dry cough, fever, aches and pains). For a reduced percentage of people, though, COVID-19 can be severe and, for a smaller percentage of people, lethal. The percentages of each are not yet clear, but at the moment the tendency is for the disease to be worse the older the patient is, and it is specially severe when it meets other pulmonary or cardiovascular conditions. On the bright side, most children go through it showing mild or no symptoms. This is good news because their health will not be at high risk, but it should be taken into account that this makes children perfect vectors to carry the virus around and infect others.
After the Ebola outbreak of 2014, Bill Gates said we were not ready for the next epidemics and, boy, was he right. COVID-19 is a viral disease that has taken the world by surprise as if after SARS, MERS, H1N1, Ebola... we had the right to be taken by surprise. The WHO has already released 56 situation reports, and counting. Are we ready yet?
Countries are trying everything, some with better results than others. In Kenya we are trying to stay away from each other as much as possible, although there are no big restrictions to movement. Schools and universities have closed, gatherings are banned... Some call it keeping social distance. I've heard another one I like better. We could call it physical distancing for social solidarity. Unfortunately I don't know the original source to give them proper credit. Whatever we do and how we call it, it seems we should accept that this, Coronavirus, is our future.
No comments:
Post a Comment