An interesting tale of CORONAVIRUS which is now Wuhan Virus

We all know someone who works in healthcare. A spouse, a family member, a friend?

Whenever there are periods of raised healthcare concerns, it naturally means more workload to them

And health RISK...

Lessons from SARS which also came from CHINA

SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) was the most deadly outbreak of coronavirus. 

It killed more than 700 people around the world and sickened over 8,000 in end2002-2003.

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The originals were also from China in the Guangdong province, which borders Hong Kong.

The first infected person may be unknown.

Then, the local government or at least the chinese government discouraged its press from reporting on SARS. Hence, information was NOT or underreported World Health Organization (WHO). 

But In February of 2003, the illness could no longer be kept hidden in southern China. People knew that something dangerous was afoot, and thanks to mobile phone texts, they could alert family and friends.

In early February the message “There is a fatal flu in Guangzhou” was copied and pasted MORE than 125 million times through Guangdong Mobile.

That is why WHO and worldwide healthcare has learnt to be more cautious.

Young ballot dancers wearing a mask to protect themselves from SARS

SARS struck real fear to mankind

For a virus that is human-human and even airborne (for a distance), it meant REAL danger. Someone coughing could infect a nearby person.

SARS was also identified to spread through water channels like toilet and sewage.

321 SARS cases were reported alone in Amoy Gardens a housing estate in Kowloon HK.

If you read the literature, there is this term "SUPER SPREADER" which was the case in SARS.

A highly contagious person.

The 20% of "super spreader" may be responsible for 80% of transmissions. 

That is why HK scientist are warning of a potential outbreak from WUHAN VIRUS with mutation and infection.

My recollection of SARS was mainly the $80 Marina Mandarin Hotel room I bought for staycation. An absolute steal of a price for a 5* hotel. Simply because tourism had evaporated in SG back then.

I had obviously forgotten the losses that some others had suffered. But now that my wife is in healthcare, I feel the fear.

SARS differed from previous epidemic infectious diseases.

Its explosive spread caught the health and hospital authorities by surprise and ill-prepared.

These are five heroes in Singapore who lost their lives.

No one deserves to have a holiday disrupted by work.

And worse, lose a father who stood to his calling as a healthcare professional.

MERS-CoV was contained but will Wuhan Virus be?

You'd be surprised to know that SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV and Wuhan virus (2019-nCoV) all come from BATS.

Bats bite mammals like Civets for SARS-CoV and Camels for MERS-CoV which infected them. The virus further mutated to infect humankind.

In the case of Wuhan virus (2019-nCoV), it is suspected to be in snakes that ate the bats.

These snakes were sold in the Wuhan market. Live or cooked, I don't know.

Personally, I still don't understand why the Chinese need to trade and eat wildlife.

Chinese horseshoe bat

Do the RIGHT thing and further reading sources

We do not know the full extend yet at this moment of the Wuhan Flu (2019-nCoV).

There is no need to wear N95 masks but do maintain high personal hygiene during CNY.

In any case, the N95 mask must firstly be worn correctly and if yes should feel slightly difficult to breath. 

As of now wear only a normal facial mask if want to be cautious.

Be responsible if you are unwell.

And do NOT eat wildlife like snakes or bats, it is NOT cool! You risk getting infected.

Share this with more who should see and educate themselves.

没有被禁锢的城, 只有不离开的爱 

The above sharing comes from my interpretations from articles and medical journals. If you would like to do more reading, here are sources:

https://www.moh.gov.sg/diseases-updates/novel-coronavirus-infection-(mers-cov)

https://www.sciencealert.com/snakes-are-the-likely-source-of-china-s-deadly-coronavirus-here-s-why

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2005/09/sars-found-chinese-bats

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_SARS_outbreak

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC539564/

https://qz.com/687706/how-zhang-dejiang-helped-create-hong-kongs-fatal-sars-epidemic/