What is Coronavirus and What Should I Do if I Have Symptoms?
CoronaVirus, or COVID19, to give it its newly-coined official name, burst into the international spotlight last December 2019 when the first cases were reported in Wuhan City in China. The earliest cases appear to have been traced to the Huanan seafood wholesale market in the centre of the Chinese city. Whether the initial infection was from a worker or a customer is open to conjecture, and is by now irrelevant anyway.
Unfortunately, the disease had managed to spread considerably before China’s Health Authorities even knew of its existence.
Where Do Coronaviruses Come From, and How Do Humans Contract Them?
Coronaviruses are a family of organisms that are classified as zoonotic, meaning they are transmitted between animals and people. There are many known zoonotic viruses, and a number have previously made the jump from various animal species to humans. (AIDS was originally a zoonotic virus, though not a coronavirus)
Coronaviruses are responsible for illnesses ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV).
Investigations have established that SARS-CoV was transmitted from civet cats to humans and MERS-CoV from dromedary camels to humans.
In many cultures, people live and work in close contact with various animals. An infectious viral disease like a coronavirus is easily transmitted cross-species, especially if good hygiene isn’t observed.