A very dangerous threat to mankind has emerged as the outbreak of a dangerous respiratory virus, corona virus in China. It is spreading very rapidly and causing deaths in China. If ignored it may result in a big health problem to the world population.

The medical journal, Lancet published a study suggesting that people infected with the new coronavirus might be able to spread it even if they do not have flu symptoms. Wuhan is the centre of the recent outbreak in China. Chine’s authorities said, “We understand it’s a tough situation over there — the panic, the shortage of equipment, we just realised the situation is very serious — more serious than we thought.”

A study shows this new coronavirus is able to transfer from person to person, this is exactly what makes this new disease difficult to control. A Chinese, Dr Yuen, characterised the disease as “asymptomatic walking pneumonia.”

The fast-spreading infection has caused Chinese authorities to quarantine several major cities and cancel some New Year events.The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the number of cases is likely to rise further. The WHO has not yet classed the virus as an “international emergency,” partly because of the low number of overseas cases, but said it “may yet become one”.

Outside China, confirmed cases have been recorded in Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, Nepal, Japan, the US and France. Other nations are investigating suspected cases, including the UK and Canada. Many countries have announced screening measures for passengers from China.

Coronaviruses are common and typically cause mild respiratory symptoms, such as a cough or runny nose. But some are more serious, such as the deadly SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). The recent outbreak – Known as novel coronavirus (nCoV) - is a new strain that has not been previously identified in humans.

It starts with fever, followed by a dry cough and then, after a week, leads to shortness of breath. But in more severe cases, infection can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure and even death. Most victims have been elderly people, suffering from other chronic diseases, including Parkinson’s and diabetes. There is not yet a specific anti-viral treatment for the infection, so people with the virus are currently being treated for their symptoms.

The WHO has advised people in affected areas to follow standard procedures of hygiene to reduce the chance of catching coronavirus, including hand and respiratory hygiene as well as safe food practices. People are advised to avoid close contact with people suffering from acute respiratory infections; wash hands regularly, especially after direct contact with ill people or their environment and avoid unprotected contact with farm or wild animals.

Avoid eating raw or undercooked animal products. As the corona virus is present in birds, especially bats which is used as food in China. Those with symptoms of coronavirus should practise “cautions”, including maintaining distance, covering mouth while coughing and sneezing with disposable tissues or the inside of an elbow, and washing hands.The people diagnosed with the virus must be isolated and should be placed in separate rooms.

The WHO advises that patients should be assessed quickly and treated for the level of severity of the disease they have mild, moderate, or severe,and immediately implementing infection prevention measures, including staff wearing protective clothing and patient should remain in a room away from other patients and staff and be prevented from using communal (shared by all members of a community ) toilets. General Practioners are advised to place patients suspected of having coronavirus in isolation and avoid physical examinations.

Coronaviruses are known to cause significant percentage of common colds (15 to 30 percentage) and studies have shown that these viruses primarily infect rats, mice, cats, dogs, turkeys, horses, cattle and pigs as well as humans.

Coronavirus get their name because their surfaces contain the crown-like projections. “corona” is Latin word that means “crown.” or “halo.” In 1937, for the first time, the coronavirus was isolated from poultry stock that was infected with an infectious bronchitis virus. Many coronaviruses infect many different animal species including camels and bats but rarely the humans. In the 1960s, Human coronaviruses (HCoV) were identified first time in the nasal cavities of patients infected with common cold. Most often, they attack the humans during cold season of the year especially in winter and early months of spring.

The WHO has advised people in affected areas to follow standard procedures of hygiene to reduce the chance of catching coronavirus, including hand and respiratory hygiene as well as safe food practices.

It is very common for an individual to get cold caused by this contagious coronavirus and then it attacks again after about four months. This happens due to short life span of coronavirus antibodies and because these antibodies are not useful against other strains of coronaviruses.

Currently, six recognised kinds of strains of coronavirus are known that can infect humans.They are categorised differently on the basis of severity of illness and other respiratory signs they cause in humans. They are catagrsied as:

Alpha coronaviruses

Beta coronaviruses

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) is a dreadful contagious disease that is caused by a novel strain of coronavirus named as SARS- CoVthat was identified in 2003. It can lead to life-threatening form of pneumonia. The first epidemic started in the South China in November 2002, from where it reached to Hong Kong and eventually spread to 37 countries.

SARS-CoV is unique in nature because it can cause infection both in the upper and lower respiratory portion and can lead to gastroenteritis. SARS symptoms take about a week to develop in patients and start with a fever. During initial phase, flu-like symptoms appear such as dry cough, breathlessness, chills, diarrhea, aches and pneumonia may develop afterward.

During the advance stage of the disease, SARS may cause failure of heart, liver or lungs. Older adult people were more susceptible to these complications and among diseased people, 50% of the infected people over 65 years did not survive.

MERS-CoV is another fatal novel strain that was first identified in humans in 2012 and causes a dangerous respiratory disease named as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). MERS was first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012 and since then it has spread and caused infection in the people of more than 25 countries including U.S.

MERS outbreak occurred in Korea in May 2015, which was considered as the largest outbreak till now outside of the Arab world. This illness includes common symptoms like fever, coughing, breathlessness and associated symptoms such as chest pain, chills, sore throat, headache, malaise, nausea, diarrhea or vomiting. This respiratory disease transfers via close contact with infected people.

Coronavirus usually involves in cold or flu-like symptoms and other respiratory tract infections. After coronavirus infection, these symptoms appear and are typically mild.Symptoms include,runny nose,sneezing ,cough ,fatigue ,sore throat ,fever (in rare cases),severe asthma

Coronavirus transmission occurs through fluid droplets secreted from the respiratory tract, sneezing and coughing from uncovered mouth and nose can sprinkle the fluid droplets into air, thus spreading the infection. Hand shaking and coming in touch with a person infected with coronavirus can transfer the virus among persons. Having physical contact with object such as doorknobs containing the virus and after that touching your eyes, mouth, or nose. Rarely, a coronavirus transmission may occur through contact with faeces.

Most people get coronavirus infection at least once in their lives. Young individuals are more likely to come in contact with coronavirus, and people can be attacked with this infection more than one time over the lifetime. Unfortunately, there is no specific treatment of coronavirus infection. So treatment of coronavirus includes taking care of patient, supportive medication, bed rest and avoid overexertion. Drink plenty of water. Remain away from smoky areas and do not smoke. Take brufen and paracetamol to reduce pain and fever.

To prevent coronavirus infection, stay in bedroom and take rest during appearance of symptoms. Don’t make close contact with affected persons. During sneezing and coughing, the covering of nose and mouth with a handkerchief or tissue can stop the spread of infection. Discard any used handkerchief or tissue, keep yourself clean and maintain hygiene around the living area.

The 2019-20 China pneumonia outbreak in Wuhan is due to a coronavirus, which is labeled as 2019-nCoV by WHO. The most recent common ancestor of the coronavirus has been placed at 8,000 years BC. It appears that bats and birds, the warm blooded flying vertebrates, are ideal hosts for the coronavirus.