Coronaviruses are a group of viruses which typically tend to affect human and other mammal’s respiratory tract and their guts. The viruses are closely associated with infections like pneumonia, the common cold and conditions like severe acute respiratory syndrome(SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome(MERS).
In 1937, coronaviruses were first identified as an infectious bronchitis virus with which birds suffered that could devastate poultry stocks. Today, the viruses are the cause of the common cold in 15% to 30% of all cases. In the past 70 years, researchers have found camels, cattle, cats, dogs, horses, mice, pigs, rats and turkeys that were infected with coronaviruses.
There is currently no official name for the virus. Some Chinese researchers call the disease NCIP or novel coronavirus–infected pneumonia. The World Health Organization has proposed calling the illness “2019-nCoV acute respiratory disease”. They suggested the virus be called “2019-nCoV”. The “‘n” stands for the word novel while the “CoV” stands for coronavirus. The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses will decide the official name of the virus.
The World Health Organization’s Best Practices for the Naming of New Human Infectious Diseases encourages using descriptive terms like “respiratory disease”, “neurologic syndrome”, “severe” or “progressive”. It also recommends using the known pathogen in the name of the disease. The World Health Organization discourages using animals, species, classes, people, geographic locations or foods as part of the official name for any disease.
it has incubation period of 2-14 days
People infected with the 2019 novel coronavirus begin to experience mild cold or flu-like symptoms in two to four days. Although the symptoms can vary from one person to the next, they typically include sneezing, coughing, runny nose, fatigue, sore throat and fever.
According to healthcare experts one of the simplest things people can do to protect themselves from the 2019-nCoV virus is to wash their hands regularly with soap and water after making contact with people who could potentially have it. They recommend washing hands for at least 20 seconds before touching your eyes, nose, mouth or food.
Currently there’s no cure for the 2019-nCOV virus. Common treatments that have proven to be somewhat effective in controlling the symptoms include taking over-the-counter medication, drinking lots of water, getting adequate rest, avoiding overexertion, not smoking, staying away from smoky areas and using clean mist vaporizers or humidifiers.
Taking medications like acetaminophen, ibuprofen and naproxen can help to reduce the pain and fever associated with the illness.