The coronavirus was first identified in Wuhan, a major city in Central China, in late December 2019. It had spread rapidly. Since then, Wuhan’s sick travelers have infected people throughout China and other nations, including the United States.
Researchers ought to provide answers to the questions people have. Consequently, this would help combat the threat to public health. All people, therefore, need a greater understanding of the coronavirus, its source, the transmission, prevention, and cure. The first thing researchers did was to search for the 2019-nCoV sequence in snakes.
Scientists have identified the origins of 2019 recently discovered coronavirus. This season it sparked an epidemic of a lethal respiratory contagious disease in China.
The culprits of the deadly disease are snakes, namely;
Scientists in China have identified and used a microscope on the virus ‘ samples collected from infected patients to determine the genetic code of the virus.
For this 2019 coronavirus epidemic, sources claim that the largest number of hospitalized patients were workers or consumers at a regional wholesale market with seafood. They also put on market processed meats. Infected patients lived and ate around these species, including chickens, donkeys, goats, pigs, camels, foxes, badgers, bamboo rodents, hedgehogs, and reptiles.
Nevertheless, as nobody has ever claimed to have found a coronavirus that infects marine animals, the outbreak may come from other species purchased from the market.
In the Journal of Medical Virology, the recent report firmly supports the conclusion that perhaps the 2019-nCoV originated from a consumer product from the market. Besides, the scientists performed a study, comparing the 2019-nCoV genomes and all other identified coronaviruses.
How the Zoonotic Virus is Transmitted
The infectious zoonotic viruses are both known as the SARS and MERS, suggesting infections emerged in animals that had the first victims infected. The virus developed a sequence of gene modifications inhabiting the animal, which enabled it to spread and replicate within the human species.
Today, the viruses transfer from one human to another. Medical studies confirmed that the root cause of SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV is the bat. That masked palm civets (a mammal from Asia and Africa) and camels acted as intermediary habitats between bats and humans, alike.
When researching the 2019-nCoV genetic makeup, it was found the current virus is strongly linked to dual specimens of SARS-like bats from China. Initially, it indicated that the bat could also be the host of 2019-nCoV, as is SARS and MERS.
The analysts also observed that the 2019-nCoV Spike Protein viral RNA coding gene is the “crown” of the virus specimen that identifies the transmitter in the host organism. This suggests that before infecting humans, the bat virus could have mutated.
However, when the scientists carried out a more comprehensive bioinformatics gene study of 2019-nCoV, this coronavirus originated from snakes.
The Origin of the Coronavirus – Bats and Snakes
The analysts examined the new gene sequences in the coronavirus. They matched protein codes associated with different animal hosts, such as birds, snakes, marmot, hedgehogs, and bats with infected humans. Strangely, they observed protein codes to be similar in snakes.
Snakes often feed amongst wild bats. Estimates show the snakes marketed by Chinese on the regional Wuhan seafood market. That implies the epidemic of 2019-nCoV spread from these particular species. That is, from bats to snakes and then to people. Nevertheless, it remains uncertain how the virus could have spread to both the cold-blooded and warm-blooded habitats.
Since the epidemic, though, the Chinese authorities have thoroughly cleansed the seafood market and closed it. That makes it incredibly challenging to identify the original animal of the new virus. It is crucial to extract viral RNA from animals purchased at the market, and from wild reptiles and bats to validate the virus ‘ origin. Nevertheless, the results published will also guide designing strategies for prevention and treatment.
The 2019 nCoV epidemic highlights the fact that wildlife intake, like snake consumption, should be limited to avoid viral infections.
No Vaccine for the Deadly Virus
The virus derives its name from its shape. When scientists analyze this virus with an electron microscope, it imitates a crown or solar corona.
Though most of the components of coronavirus cause only mild flu-like illnesses upon infection, SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV may affect both the upper and lower respiratory tract. Coronavirus is commonly found in the high and gastrointestinal areas of the bird and mammalian airways. These can, therefore, lead to severe cardiovascular disorders and other health abnormalities.
A current coronavirus is a disease responsible for this epidemic. This is a genus of pathogens that have killed thousands in the last 17 years, including the infamous Severe Acute Respiratory Coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and Coronavirus Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) Syndrome in the United Arab Emirates. In particular, the World Health Organization (WHO) significantly Identified the current coronavirus, 2019-nCoV.
The latest 2019-nCoV triggers the same SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV-like signs. There is an extreme inflammatory reaction among those diagnosed with these coronaviruses. Regrettably, no antidote or antiviral remedy effective for coronavirus disease is available.
Several researchers revised this report to specify that RNA, not DNA, was the genetic makeup of the virus.
Researchers;
- Haitao Guo, Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of Pittsburgh
- Guangxiang “George” Luo, Professor of Microbiology, the University of Alabama at Birmingham
- Shou-Jiang Gao, Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of Pittsburgh
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