Scientists vs COVID 19
The deadly strain of COVID 19 has taken its toll around the world, killing over 15,000 at the time of writing, with a mortality rate of around 2 percent. In the desperation to undo the pandemic, innovation fights nature in an epic battle of science against disease, all across the globe. Right now, there is real terror in the world as the virus spreads like a fire through every population on Earth. It’s mutating, it’s escalating and no one really knows how or when this will end. By Richard Forsyth
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very so often, nature ambushes us and for all our knowledge, we are at its mercy. A lot of people knew this was going to happen one day and now it has. In December 2019, somewhere in the busy, primal Huanan Seafood Wholesales Market in Wuhan, China, the deadly strain of the Coronavirus now known as COVID 19 took hold of one of the caged animals there, like an unexploded viral bomb, ticking away. There were over 100 animals, many wild and illegally trafficked, listed in the market for sale, kept in small cages in unsanitary conditions. The list included bats, beavers, pangolins, peacocks, snakes and wolf cubs, all destined for dinner plates. Such markets are not uncommon in China and in response, since the disaster escalated, the consumption and trade of wild animals has been banned in China. It was here that researchers now believe a bat or pangolin became the link to the human pandemic. COVID 19 leapt from an animal to a human. Human bodies have never seen this virus before and so have no immunity to it. Since that fateful moment in Wuhan, we all know what has happened.
Viral grip The coronavirus adopted its name from the word ‘corona’ meaning halo or crown – attributed to its appearance when viewed through an electron microscope as it has protrusions which it uses to attach to host cells. It has seven types and it causes different symptoms in different mammals. For example, cows and pigs can get diarrhea but in humans, it causes respiratory infections. Some strains do no more
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harm than a common cold but the latest strain, discovered late last year, now known as COVID 19, is different. As well as fever, coughing and breathing difficulty it can cause pneumonia, kidney failure or multiple organ failure and it can kill you, particularly if you are old, frail or have healthcare issues and preconditions. The true horror of this strain, just like previous virulent, serious strains such as SARS and MERS, is that of course, it is contagious and exponentially spreads (the WHO believe it has the RO around 2.5 – this is the average number of people infected by one person) and in addition, there are no known vaccines or antiviral drugs. It can attach to surfaces, making it easy to pick up, living on surfaces from two hours to nine days depending on material and conditions. If you catch it, you have to accept there is not much you can do, except hope and wait. It incubates, it travels across borders, it flies with people across oceans and it is now evidenced in 183 countries around the world. Cruise ships with outbreaks have been kept at sea, stadium games and events have been cancelled, hotels have been cordoned off, cities and now countries have been locked down and several transport routes are off limits. It has, at the time of writing, infected more than 350,000 people it is estimated, and claimed the lives of over 15,200 but the true figures are not known as not all cases are recorded. By the time this is published, the figures will have risen. We are living through an historic and terrible pandemic. These evolving strains are a cycle of nature today and many regard them as inevitable in current human culture. What’s different about this viral outbreak, is the way in which scientists have responded. Normally,
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