Epidemics in 21st century

Subject: Science and tech

Context:

“SARS CoV2 virus behaves very differently from SARS and that is why it is much more difficult to contain it” said renowned virologist Malik Peiris who was credited for his role in discovering that a novel coronavirus was the cause of SARS in 2003.

Concept:

SARS vs COVID

• In case of SARS, most of the transmission took place five or six days after the patient developed symptoms. So, the first few days after a patient was ill, there was very little transmission. But in the case of COVID-19, they transmit even before they develop symptoms; it becomes very difficult to control.
• The other big difference is that whereas with SARS most of the patients who got infected had symptoms, in the case of COVID-19, it is clear that quite a number of patients, who get infected, have no symptoms at all.

SARS

• SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV) – virus identified in 2003. SARS-CoV is thought to be an animal virus from an as-yet-uncertain animal reservoir, perhaps bats, that spread to other animals (civet cats) and first infected humans in the Guangdong province of southern China in 2002.
• Transmission of SARS-CoV is primarily from person to person.
• Symptoms are influenza-like and include fever, malaise, myalgia, headache, diarrhoea, and shivering (rigors).
• The disease appeared in November 2002 in the Guangdong province of southern China. This area is considered as a potential zone of re-emergence of SARS-CoV. Other countries/areas in which chains of human-to-human transmission occurred after early importation of cases were Canada, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China, Chinese Taipei, Singapore, and Viet Nam.
• Experimental vaccines are under development.

MERS

• Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) is a viral respiratory disease caused by a novel coronavirus (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus, or MERS‐CoV) that was first identified in Saudi Arabia in 2012.
• Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that can cause diseases ranging from the common cold to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
• Typical MERS symptoms include fever, cough and shortness of breath.
• MERS-CoV is a zoonotic virus, which means it is a virus that is transmitted between animals and people. Studies have shown that humans are infected through direct or indirect contact with infected dromedary camels.
• The virus does not pass easily from person to person unless there is close contact, such as providing unprotected care to an infected patient.
• Since 2012, 27 countries have reported cases of MERS including Algeria, Austria, Bahrain, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Islamic Republic of Iran, Italy, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Oman, Philippines, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, and Yemen.
• Approximately 80% of human cases have been reported by Saudi Arabia.
• No vaccine or specific treatment is currently available, however several MERS-CoV specific vaccines and treatments are in development. Treatment is supportive and based on the patient’s clinical condition.