Bats Unconfirmed Vectors Of Coronavirus
Researchers and scientists alike find it reasonable to believe the most recent outbreak of Coronavirus, labeled 2019-nCoV, also dubbed COVID-19, originated from bats. While this is still unconfirmed, the assumption derives from the fact that the COVID-19 has a 96% similar genome structure to bat coronavirus, a disease which has affected bats for years. Bats are a colonizing animal, with some colonies larger than 1 million bats. Bats regularly come into physical contact with each other during daytime roosting, making them very susceptible to spreading disease amongst each other.
Because of their frequent exposure to a wide range of diseases, bats have evolved accelerated immune systems that have the ability to combat most viruses. Bats have a built-in antiviral and anti-inflammatory response when they contract a virus, so most diseases die-out in the population before a large number of bats are infected.
That said, when other mammals, such as humans, are infected with the same kind of viruses, our bodies do not respond as fast to combat the virus, because our immune systems are much slower than that of bats. This enables the virus to stay in our bodies longer, and so the virus has a greater chance of mutating before our bodies can build a defense against the virus.
Another reason bats are high on the list of suspects for causing COVID-19 is due to their responsibility for a number of other well-known viruses and diseases, including SARS, MERS, and Ebola. SARS and MERS in particular have a similar cell structure to Covid-19.
Even though this image of the coronavirus portrays its beauty it sidetracks us from the potential harm it can do to us.
Update: On February 13th, 2020, the largest outbreak of Coronavirus in a single day was recorded. This follows a change in the way Coronavirus is diagnosed. More than 15,000 people were infected with COVID-19 and 254 people died from the disease on this day. The disease is expected to spread at a greater speed from this point forward, unless preventative measures can prevail.
Countries including South Korea, Iran, and Italy have all experienced a large number of infections. A great tool for tracking Coronavirus infections and updates on death tolls, etc, can be found here: https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com
While a certain degree of fear is not unfounded, the new Coronavirus isn’t as horrible as some people are making it out to be. We like to stick to the facts. The death rate of infected individuals is around 2% which mostly consists of elderly people with weaker immune systems falling victim to the virus. Healthy adults with no medical complications have shown a high recovery rate.
The US stock market has experienced a huge drop lately due to Coronavirus fears. In fact, the US stocks have dropped even further than China’s, indicating a clear overreaction in economic circles in the west. That’s not to say the Coronavirus is to be taken lightly, but, the fearful mentality in the west does not correlate to the actual severity of the virus to date. Time will unfold all.
Recorded First Cases Of Coronavirus
The first cases of COVID-19 were traced back to an exotic food market in Wuhan, China in December of 2019. Although they were selling some pretty outrageous things, which 99.9% of us would never dream of trying, bats were not on the menu at the market.
Wuhan, China faces serious issues with production closed down throughout the city. Due to numerous factory shutdowns in a number of areas in China, oil consumption has dropped which caused dropping oil prices here in the United States.
This has raised suspicion that another animal was a vector/carrier of the disease. In other words, a bat infected another animal with the virus, and that animal was then consumed by people at the exotic foods market in Wuhan, successfully passing the virus to the first victims. That is one theory, anyway.
The Ever Evolving Coronavirus
Virus mutation plays a big role in why certain diseases become highly contagious. It’s as if the virus hacks our genetic code and figures out what our body’s response will be, and so it mutates to build a defense against our body’s defense – before it even happens. This occurs in bats as well, but due to their accelerated immune systems, their bodies can kill the virus before it can mutate. We humans are not so lucky, but we have also have medical science and technology on our side. We are hopeful that a breakthrough can be made in producing a vaccine to prevent the virus, which scientists have estimated a vaccine may be ready by late 2020.
You can follow the spread of the coronavirus at Gisanddata. You can track the real-time scope of the virus interactively and observe the total confirmed cases, total deaths and total recovered.
Coronavirus Slow To Show Symptoms
COVID-19 is mostly dangerous due to the vast amount of time it takes for an infected individual to show symptoms. It has been observed that it may take anywhere from 2-14 days for symptoms of COVID-19 to appear, while the infected person would have been capable of passing the virus to others during that time. It’s been difficult for officials to detect who has the virus and who should be quarantined, due to the inability to screen someone who isn’t showing symptoms but is positive for the virus.
This problem has lead to large-scale travel bans in many Asian countries, including the Philippines, who’s president Rodrigo Duterte issued a travel ban on February 2nd barring any flights going to and from China. Many people have been stranded in China because of these sorts of travel bans. Furthermore, many local sponsored events have also been canceled in many countries, including concerts, sporting events, and more.
Will The Coronavirus Hit Big In The US?
The disease has not yet made a strong presence in the United States, but scientists are saying it will take a stronger foothold in the near future once more people become infected. President Donald Trump has been taking precautions, but it’s hard to stop the spread of a virus this contagious. We can hope for the best but should also prepare for the worst.
US Hospitals reported 13 cases of the coronavirus. Chicago reported 2 cases, and both people recovered. The eleven other cases remain in question.
We advise people to educate themselves on preventative safety measures before the virus further affects the United States.