Influenza epidemic: a new type of dangerous coronavirus emerged
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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The World Health Organization reports that information has appeared on four additional cases of coronavirus infection of a new type, similar to SARS. Three sick people, one of whom died - the inhabitants of Saudi Arabia, two more infected were discovered in Qatar.
For the first time coronaviruses - a vast family of viruses, were discovered in the 1960s. The causative agents of this infection are called coronaviruses due to formations that grow on the surface of the pathogen and resemble the corona in shape. These viruses can cause many diseases not only in humans, but also in animals - ranging from common colds and ending with atypical pneumonia. However, despite the similarity with the symptoms of SARS, the new coronavirus genetically does not have the slightest resemblance to it.
In 2002, it was the SARS virus ("SARS") that killed more than 900 people
The World Health Organization calls on all countries to continue monitoring the spread of severe respiratory infections. While there is no new information, the World Health Organization proposes to be reinsured and do not assume that the virus spreads only within the two countries in which the first cases were recorded.
Scientists believe that the contact with animals could become the cause of human infection by this new kind of coronavir.
According to the studies, there is no danger of large-scale infection with the new virus, however, the World Health Organization notes that four episodes of infection occurred in one family. Now, experts are trying to find out if the infected people will be the ultimate vectors of the infection and whether the virus can be transmitted from person to person as HIV, which has made an interspecific jump, originally appeared in primates.
Coronavirus manifests its presence by fever and the appearance of a cough, can lead to inflammation of the lungs, and you can get infected when you are in contact with a sick person.
The International Health Protection Agency reports that there is a need for additional virus research to better understand its mechanism. The organization also calls for investigating any outbreaks of severe respiratory infections.
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