Chronicles of the Coronavirus – Week 2

New Week, New Revelations

Hi all! I hope everyone has been safe and healthy. Within a span of a week, many new urgencies and revelations have come to light about the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). The race to combat this infectious illness has become more urgent than ever. According to an article in the Nature Research Journal, a different organism has been pinned the new potential origin of the 2019-nCoV: pangolins. That’s right, pangolins. Pangolins are anteaters that have a distinct scaly skin and are commonly found in Asia. If you’re wondering how one gets into contact with a pangolin, you’re not the only one. In China, they are used as a source of meat, as well as an ingredient in medicine. It is reported that the genome sequence of the strand of virus from the pangolin matches as high as 99% of that of the 2019-nCoV. That is incredibly high! This is even higher than what was noted of that of the strand in the bat (noted in last week’s post about the coronavirus)! Moreover, both the virus in the pangolins as well as the 2019-nCoV both contain receptors that closely resemble one another. These receptors are used to attack healthy cells. It is important to note that this discovery has not yet been officially published. Nevertheless, it emphasizes the complexity of this illness and its origin.

With this new revelation of the potential source of the virus, it is only increasing my worry regarding what diseases other animals may be carrying. As mentioned in class, zoonotic diseases are dangerous to humans because these infectious microbes are foreign to the human body and so, they have no defense system against them yet. The answer to the question of what organism started it all is not so black and white. It requires much more research and patience. No matter what the source was, this virus does not look like it is going away anytime soon. We can only hope for the best.

Domino Effect

The coronavirus has left its mark not only on the health of the population of the world, but also on people’s whereabouts as well. Moreover, according to an article from The New York Times, passengers on a cruise ship by the coast of Japan are not allowed to leave its vicinity because there has been at least 61 people who have been infected with the virus on the boat. Moreover, this means that approximately 2,000 people are trapped in their cabins on board the boat as scientists evaluate the situation at hand. Can you imagine going on vacation only to have your fun stop at a halt because of a dangerous virus circling around? That is quite terrifying. It gives me chills thinking about this because I went on a cruise with my family this past summer. I believe that disinfectants, such as soap, are not readily available on cruise ships as they are when you are on land. Since this is an enveloped virus, its transmission could be prevented with the use of disinfectants. In addition, it is very crowded on a cruise ship, which increases the amount of microbes that passengers can come into contact with.

Not too far from Japan, the country of Italy has been combating the virus in its own way, according to the same article from The New York Times. As of February 7th, it has been reported that there are three cases of the coronavirus present in the country. What I think is really interesting is the treatment that the hospital in Italy is using. Ritonavir is a drug normally prescribed for H.I.V. patients. However, the hospital, as well as the World Health Organization, has stated that this medication has depicted an effectiveness against the coronavirus itself. Here, it is important to acknowledge the power of medicine, as its use can give us some insight on how to create additional drugs to combat these viruses. While ritonavir is not the true treatment of the coronavirus, it is a good start.