![]() ![]() ![]() Larger droplets will quickly fall to the ground, but smaller, lighter ones - known as aerosols - can stay suspended in the air. What wasn’t clear - and is still a matter of debate - is how big those droplets need to be, and how far they can travel. This could happen through direct contact or indirect transmission, such as through droplets expelled during a cough, or even a simple exhalation. Moreover, older people, men and those with It quickly became apparent that SARS-CoV-2 is not just a respiratory virus.” It soon became clear that SARS-CoV-2 could hop from one person to another. Chest scans showed patchy shadows - known as ‘ground glass opacities’ - in the lungs of many patients, according to early studies from hospitals in Wuhan3. Not just a respiratory virus Initial reports of the disease, named COVID-19 on 11 February, described a severe respiratory illness similar to that caused by SARS-CoV-1. One of the teams, led by Shi Zhengli at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, also determined that the closest known relative of the new virus was a bat coronavirus2. Together, these researchers firmly implicated this new coronavirus as the cause of the disease. Although Zhang’s team had sequenced the virus from only a single patient, simultaneous work by other groups identified the same virus from other people with pneumonia. Their findings were subsequently published in Nature1. ![]() In doing so, they alerted the world to the existence of a new coronavirus that was related to SARS-CoV-1. On 11 January, Yong-Zhen Zhang at Fudan University in Shanghai and his colleagues deposited the genome sequence of a virus isolated from a 41-year-old who had worked at the animal market into a public database. #TAGR TRADES 3MIN CODE#This time, advances in sequencing technologies meant that scientists were able to unpick the virus’s RNA code within weeks of the first cases appearing. #TAGR TRADES 3MIN FULL#When the original SARS virus, now known as SARS-CoV-1, emerged in humans in 2002, it took months to obtain a full sequence of the virus genome. Researchers in China immediately began working to isolate and sequence the virus. Many of the first cases to be identified were linked to a single live-animal market in the city. Cracking the virus code When an outbreak of a disease similar to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) emerged in Wuhan, China, at the end of 2019, scientists suspected that a new coronavirus had spread to humans. We begin, this week, with how the virus was identified how it transmits between people and the many ways in which it affects the human body. #TAGR TRADES 3MIN SERIES#In a series of editorials, we look back at key scientific findings that have revealed important characteristics of the virus and COVID-19, including emerging approaches to treatment and prevention. Something in the air I n the space of eight months, the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 and the disease it causes, COVID-19, have dominated the work of thousands of researchers in an unprecedented global effort. In the first of a series of editorials, we look back at some of the key findings from scientists’ race to demystify the new coronavirus. We now know that symptoms of COVID-19 can include gastrointestinal, neurological, renal, cardiovascular and other complications8. Autopsies have found the virus in organs other than the lungs, including the kidneys, liver, heart and brain, as well as in the blood7. It also affects blood vessels, causing thrombosis5 and strokes6. But it quickly became apparent that SARS-CoV-2 is not just a respiratory virus. The international journal of science / 20 August 2020 Progress report on a pandemic other diseases were more likely to be admitted to intensive care, whereas children seemed to have milder disease4. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |