CORONAVIRUS

Coronavirus is a broad class of virus which belongs to CORONAVIRIDAE family group.

It causes illness which ranges from common cold to more severe disease such as pneumonia..etc.

Three distinct genetic and serological groups of coronaviruses have been defined.
Coronaviruses from groups 1 and 2 are known to cause disease in humans .
Human coronavirus 229E (HCoV-229E), a group 1 virus, and human coronavirus OC43 (HCoV-OC43), a group 2 virus, cause mild upper respiratory tract infections that result in self-resolving common colds in otherwise healthy individuals or severe pneumonia in immunocompromised people.

Sources:-

The main source of coronavirus are camels , bats , cats , pigs and other animals.
Sometime it get infected to humans when the came in contact in the infected animals.
Coronavirus generally transmitted from an infected person to other non infected person by means of air generally by means of coughing and sneezing.

Coronavirus virions contain one copy of a 27- to 32-kb-long, capped, and polyadenylated single-stranded RNA of positive polarity, which is helically encapsidated by nucleocapsid proteins.
The filamentous ribonucleocapsids are surrounded by matrix proteins, which form the virus cores.
These cores are wrapped in envelopes formed during coronavirus budding from a host cell.
The membranes contain distinct club- or petal-shaped protrusions identified as S proteins. It is these proteins that give the virions a crown-like appearance (Latin, coronae) in electron microscopic images. S proteins are the major antigenic determinants of coronaviruses, and as described below, they mediate receptor association and fusion of the viral and cellular membranes.

Severe diseases caused by coronavirus are :-

1.Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and

2.Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV).

The symptoms of most coronaviruses are similar to any other upper-respiratory infection, including :- 1.runny nose

2.coughing,

3.sore throat, and

4.sometimes a fever.
If a coronavirus infection spreads to the lower respiratory tract i.e your windpipe and your lungs .

Then it may result in pneumonia, especially in older people and people with heart disease, or people with weakened immune systems.

Antiviral drugs and corticosteroids are used in the treatment of SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV.

Lungs are the major site of infection, the brain is also infected in some patients.
Brain was a major target organ for infection in mice that are transgenic for the SARS-CoV receptor (human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2). Scientists use mice to show that virus enters the brain primarily via the olfactory bulb, and infection results in rapid, transneuronal spread to connected areas of the brain.
Lungs infected with coronavirus suffers from pneumonia which causes respiratory related problems which may even cause death .

DATE- 18-01-2020 By RK@nn

AUSHADHI CHIKITSA