PITTSBURG, Pennsylvania: Snakes – the Chinese krait and the Chinese cobra – may be the original source of the newly discovered coronavirus that has triggered an outbreak of a deadly infectious respiratory illness in China this winter.
The illness was first reported in late December 2019 in Wuhan, a major city in central China, and has been rapidly spreading. Since then, sick travelers from Wuhan have infected people in China and other countries, including the United States.
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Using samples of the virus isolated from patients, scientists in China have determined the genetic code of the virus and used microscopes to photograph it. The pathogen responsible for this pandemic is a new coronavirus.
Its in the same family of viruses as the well-known severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS), which have killed hundreds of people in the past 17 years.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has named the new coronavirus 2019-nCoV. But there are many questions that need to be answered to curb the spread of this public health threat.
MORE: Our coverage of the Wuhan virus and its developments
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THE DEADLY WUHAN CORONAVIRUS
The name of coronavirus comes from its shape, which resembles a crown or solar corona when imaged using an electron microscope.
Coronavirus is transmitted through the air and primarily infects the upper respiratory and gastrointestinal tract of mammals and birds.
Though most of the members of the coronavirus family only cause mild flu-like symptoms during infection, SARS and MERS can infect both upper and lower airways and cause severe respiratory illness and other complications in humans.
Passengers at Wuhan's train station are being monitored for the new virus using thermal scanners. (Photo: AFP)
This new 2019-nCoV causes similar symptoms to SARS and MERS. People infected with these coronaviruses suffer a severe inflammatory response.
Unfortunately, there is no approved vaccine or antiviral treatment available for coronavirus infection.
A better understanding of the life cycle of 2019-nCoV, including the source of the virus, how it is transmitted and how it replicates are needed to both prevent and treat the disease.
THE PROBLEM WITH ZOONOTIC TRANSMISSIONS
Both SARS and MERS are classified as zoonotic viral diseases, meaning the first patients who were infected acquired these viruses directly from animals.
This was possible because while in the animal host, the virus had acquired a series of genetic mutations that allowed it to infect and multiply inside humans.
READ: China halts flights and trains out of Wuhan as WHO extends talks
READ: Masks, disinfectants in low supply as China virus spreads
Now these viruses can be transmitted from person to person.
Field studies have revealed that the original source of SARS and MERS is the bat, and that the masked palm civets (a mammal native to Asia and Africa) and camels, respectively, served as intermediate hosts between bats and humans.
In the case of this 2019 coronavirus outbreak, reports state that most of the first group of patients hospitalised were workers or customers at a local seafood wholesale market which also sold processed meats and live consumable animals including poultry, donkeys, sheep, pigs, camels, foxes, badgers, bamboo rats, hedgehogs and reptiles.
The Wuhan Huanan Wholesale Seafood Market, where a number of people related to the market fell ill with a virus, sits closed in Wuhan, China on Jan 21, 2020. (Photo: AP/Dake Kang)
However, since no one has ever reported finding a coronavirus infecting aquatic animals, it is plausible that the coronavirus may have originated from other animals sold in that market.
The hypothesis that the 2019-nCoV jumped from an animal at the market is strongly supported by a new publication in the Journal of Medical Virology. The scientists conducted an analysis and compared the genetic sequences of 2019-nCoV and all other known coronaviruses.
The study of the genetic code of 2019-nCoV reveals that the new virus is most closely related to two bat SARS-like coronavirus samples from China, initially suggesting that, like SARS and MERS, the bat might also be the origin of 2019-nCoV.
The authors further found that the RNA coding sequence of 2019-nCoV spike protein, which forms the “crown” of the virus particle that recognises the receptor on a host cell, indicates that the bat virus might have mutated before infecting people.
READ: Commentary: The Wuhan virus clock is running down on scientists
But when the researchers performed a more detailed bioinformatics analysis of the sequence of 2019-nCoV, it suggests that this coronavirus might come from snakes.
FROM BATS TO SNAKES
The researchers used an analysis of the protein codeRead More – Source
PITTSBURG, Pennsylvania: Snakes – the Chinese krait and the Chinese cobra – may be the original source of the newly discovered coronavirus that has triggered an outbreak of a deadly infectious respiratory illness in China this winter.
The illness was first reported in late December 2019 in Wuhan, a major city in central China, and has been rapidly spreading. Since then, sick travelers from Wuhan have infected people in China and other countries, including the United States.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Using samples of the virus isolated from patients, scientists in China have determined the genetic code of the virus and used microscopes to photograph it. The pathogen responsible for this pandemic is a new coronavirus.
Its in the same family of viruses as the well-known severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS), which have killed hundreds of people in the past 17 years.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has named the new coronavirus 2019-nCoV. But there are many questions that need to be answered to curb the spread of this public health threat.
MORE: Our coverage of the Wuhan virus and its developments
Advertisement
Advertisement
THE DEADLY WUHAN CORONAVIRUS
The name of coronavirus comes from its shape, which resembles a crown or solar corona when imaged using an electron microscope.
Coronavirus is transmitted through the air and primarily infects the upper respiratory and gastrointestinal tract of mammals and birds.
Though most of the members of the coronavirus family only cause mild flu-like symptoms during infection, SARS and MERS can infect both upper and lower airways and cause severe respiratory illness and other complications in humans.
Passengers at Wuhan's train station are being monitored for the new virus using thermal scanners. (Photo: AFP)
This new 2019-nCoV causes similar symptoms to SARS and MERS. People infected with these coronaviruses suffer a severe inflammatory response.
Unfortunately, there is no approved vaccine or antiviral treatment available for coronavirus infection.
A better understanding of the life cycle of 2019-nCoV, including the source of the virus, how it is transmitted and how it replicates are needed to both prevent and treat the disease.
THE PROBLEM WITH ZOONOTIC TRANSMISSIONS
Both SARS and MERS are classified as zoonotic viral diseases, meaning the first patients who were infected acquired these viruses directly from animals.
This was possible because while in the animal host, the virus had acquired a series of genetic mutations that allowed it to infect and multiply inside humans.
READ: China halts flights and trains out of Wuhan as WHO extends talks
READ: Masks, disinfectants in low supply as China virus spreads
Now these viruses can be transmitted from person to person.
Field studies have revealed that the original source of SARS and MERS is the bat, and that the masked palm civets (a mammal native to Asia and Africa) and camels, respectively, served as intermediate hosts between bats and humans.
In the case of this 2019 coronavirus outbreak, reports state that most of the first group of patients hospitalised were workers or customers at a local seafood wholesale market which also sold processed meats and live consumable animals including poultry, donkeys, sheep, pigs, camels, foxes, badgers, bamboo rats, hedgehogs and reptiles.
The Wuhan Huanan Wholesale Seafood Market, where a number of people related to the market fell ill with a virus, sits closed in Wuhan, China on Jan 21, 2020. (Photo: AP/Dake Kang)
However, since no one has ever reported finding a coronavirus infecting aquatic animals, it is plausible that the coronavirus may have originated from other animals sold in that market.
The hypothesis that the 2019-nCoV jumped from an animal at the market is strongly supported by a new publication in the Journal of Medical Virology. The scientists conducted an analysis and compared the genetic sequences of 2019-nCoV and all other known coronaviruses.
The study of the genetic code of 2019-nCoV reveals that the new virus is most closely related to two bat SARS-like coronavirus samples from China, initially suggesting that, like SARS and MERS, the bat might also be the origin of 2019-nCoV.
The authors further found that the RNA coding sequence of 2019-nCoV spike protein, which forms the “crown” of the virus particle that recognises the receptor on a host cell, indicates that the bat virus might have mutated before infecting people.
READ: Commentary: The Wuhan virus clock is running down on scientists
But when the researchers performed a more detailed bioinformatics analysis of the sequence of 2019-nCoV, it suggests that this coronavirus might come from snakes.
FROM BATS TO SNAKES
The researchers used an analysis of the protein codeRead More – Source
