viruses from other animals (corona virus outbreak)
THE new coronavirus is the latest example of a disease that jumped from animals into humans. When infections do this they can be deadly – and 2019-nCoV is no exception. The zoonotic diseases, are diseases which come from animals rather than other people. 2.5 billion people fall ill every year and kill 2.7 million, according to a 2012 estimates. They are deadly is that we lack pre-existing immunity to them. Viruses aren’t adapted to humans. Viruses that normally circulate among people can evolve to become less lethal, as this helps them spread. people need to come into contact with the animal the virus usually infects. This is most likely with domesticated animals. Many viruses that jump into people, like MERS, seldom spread from person to person. but still infect thousands. whereas Ebola, can spread from person to person, but aren’t very good at it and so cause relatively small outbreaks. The 2019 coronavirus, by contrast, appears quite good at spreading from person to person. researchers have been comparing its genome to that of other coronaviruses. This showed that it derives from a strain that infects bats, possibly the intermediate horseshoe batbats are known to harbour many viruses, including coronaviruses. Viral infections are especially likely to spread among bats as they can fly long distances and roost close to each other. Bats also seem able to carry infections without getting ill, The new coronavirus might have jumped from bats into another animal a few months or even a few decades ago, and then from that intermediate host into humans. Samples from animals at the Wuhan market where the virus appears to have emerged are being tested, but no results have been announced. It took years to trace the origins of SARS, but technology has greatly improved since then. As little we can do to stop people coming into contact with animals that may carry dangerous viruses. So, we need to have vaccines ready in advance. This could mean creating vaccines that are effective against a wide range of viruses or developing vaccines that require only minor tweaks to work against a new viral strain.
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