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Both to those making claims or asking about the severity of the Wuhan coronavirus The Guardian offers a sober perspective of the current situation. We don’t ye
by secondo 7y ago
Both to those making claims or asking about the severity of the Wuhan coronavirus The Guardian offers a sober perspective of the current situation.
We don’t yet know how dangerous the new coronavirus is – and we won’t know until more data comes in. Twenty-six deaths out of 800 reported cases would mean a 3% mortality rate. However, this is likely to be a overestimate since there may be a far larger pool of people who have been infected by the virus but who have not suffered severe enough symptoms to attend hospital and so have not been counted in the data. For comparison, seasonal flu typically has a mortality rate below 1% and is thought to cause about 400,000 deaths each year globally. Another key unknown, of which scientists should get a clearer idea in the coming weeks, is how contagious the coronavirus is. A crucial difference is that unlike flu, there is no vaccine for the new coronavirus, which means it is more difficult for vulnerable members of the population – elderly people or those with existing respiratory or immune problems – to protect themselves. One sensible step to get the flu vaccine, which will reduce the burden on health services if the outbreak turns into a wider epidemic.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/jan/24/what-is-the-coronavirus-wuhan-china-virus-symptoms https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/jan/24/what-is-the-...
- chrisco255 7y agoNo, the infections rose from like 650 to 1200 in the last 24 hours (at least, the published numbers did anyways). So almost half of the infections are less than 24 hours. Pneumonia can last for 1-2 weeks, so there's going to be a delay in calculating death rates.
- therightstef 7y agoCoronavirus is very bad news, especially if you are (a) older (<60), (b) male, (c) diabetic, or (d) have preexisting respiratory issues.[0-2] Most people are aware that CoV can cause pneumonia, but what really makes it devastating is that it can also attack your immune system, bowel, or kidneys depending on what cell surface receptors the strain can latch onto.[3-4] There are some treatment options. Steroids are given to tamp down inflammation and treat pneumonia in severe cases, but have a nasty side effect of osteonecrosis (bone death). Ribavirin with interferons may or may not be effective.[5-6] [0] https://academic.oup.com/aje/article/159/3/229/79939 https://academic.oup.com/aje/article/159/3/229/79939 [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16759303 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16759303 [2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5450662/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5450662/ [3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24732781 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24732781 [4] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4072739/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4072739/ [5] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24493194 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24493194 [6] https://academic.oup.com/jac/article/71/12/3340/2631297 https://academic.oup.com/jac/article/71/12/3340/2631297
- stock_toaster 7y agoThis also seems to paint it as not as bad as SARS or MERS: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/how-new-wuhan-coronavirus-stacks-up-against-sars-mers https://www.sciencenews.org/article/how-new-wuhan-coronaviru...