Coronavirus the new deadly disease that emanated from China.
A virus that has infected over 400 people and caused nine deaths. Here's everything we know about the mysterious new disease.
What is a coronavirus?
Coronaviruses belong to a family of viruses known as Coronaviridae and look like spiked rings under an electron microscope. They are so named because of these spikes, which form a halo around their viral envelope.
Coronaviruses contain a strand of RNA within their envelope and cannot reproduce without getting inside living cells and hijacking the machinery found within. The spikes on their viral envelope help them bind to cells, which gives them a way in. It's like blasting the door open with C4. Once inside they turn the cell into a virus factory, using its molecular conveyor belt to produce more viruses which are then shipped out. The virus progeny infect another cell and the cycle starts anew.
Typically, these types of viruses are found in animals ranging from livestock to household pets and wildlife such as bats. When they make the jump to humans they can cause fever, respiratory illness and inflammation in the lungs. In immunocompromised individuals, such as the elderly or those with HIV-AIDS, they can cause severe respiratory illness.
The causative agent of severe acute respiratory syndrome and Middle East respiratory syndrome were extremely pathogenic coronaviruses, and were found to be easily transmitted from human to human. SARS infected more than 8,000 people and resulted in nearly 800 deaths, MERS almost 2,500 with over 850 deaths.
Where did the virus come from?
The virus appears to have originated in the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, a Chinese city of over 11 million people approximately 650 miles south of Beijing. The market sells fish, as well as a panoply of other animal meats. However, it's still unknown whether it emerged from an animal species like previous coronaviruses, SARS and MERS.
Markets have been implicated in the origin and spread of viral diseases in past epidemics and a large majority of the confirmed cases seen so far had been to the Huanan Seafood marketplace in recent weeks. The market seems like an integral piece of the puzzle, but researchers will need to undertake a range of experiments and testing to confirm the virus' origin.
"Testing of animals in the Wuhan area, including sampling from the markets, will provide more information," said Raina MacIntyre, a head of the biosecurity research program at the University of New South Wales' Kirby Institute.
How many confirmed cases have been reported?
Four hundred forty cases have been confirmed as of Jan. 22. The bulk are in China, but cases have been confirmed in Thailand, Japan, South Korea and now the US, where a man in his 30s in Washington state presented with the disease at a local hospital.
A list of confirmed cases and their locations are below:
China: 440 confirmed cases
Thailand: 2 confirmed cases
Japan: 1 confirmed cases
South Korea: 1 confirmed case
US: 1 confirmed case
Australia: 1 suspected case
National authorities in China continue to monitor over 1,300 residents who attended the Wuhan market or have had prolonged contact with those presenting symptoms of the novel disease.
China's National Health Commission said the virus is responsible for nine deaths as of Jan. 22. The first death was a 61-year-old man who had frequented the Wuhan market and had chronic liver disease and abdominal tumors. The second was a 69-year-old man who went to a hospital with severe damage to multiple organs.
A study, published by the Imperial College London on Jan. 17, estimates the total number of 2019-nCoV cases could be much higher than reported, with over 1,700 cases. The work, led by Neil Ferguson, calculated how far the virus is likely to spread based on its incubation period and the amount of travel in and out of Wuhan since it was first detected.
WHO's full situation report was last updated on Jan. 21 but only includes data up to Jan. 20.