Sars-Cov 2 (Covid-19)
What is Coronavirus?
According to the World Health Organization; Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses which may cause illness in animals or humans. In humans, several coronaviruses are known to cause respiratory infections ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). The most recently discovered coronavirus causes coronavirus disease COVID-19. The name of the virus is actually “Sars-Cov-2”, however it has begun to be used interchangeably with Covid-19 or Coronavirus. Covid-19 is the name of the disease and abbrevation for “Coronavirus Disease 2019”.
The virus first seen in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, and the World Healh Organization has declared an outbreak on 30 January 2020. Later, on 11 March 2020 the WHO declared that the outbreak has evolved to a pandemic level. The virus spreads among people by close contact and via respiratory droplets resulting from coughs or sneezes. It usually enters the human body by binding with human cells. The transmission mainly occur when a body is exposed to respiratory droplets from coughs and sneezes within a range of about 1.8 metres. However, there were several cases where indirect contact via contaminated surfaces caused the infection. It is believed that the virus may remain active on plastic (polypropylene) and stainless steel (AISI 304) for up to three days, but can not not survive on cardboard for more than one day or on copper for more than four hours. There are also some evidences that it is possible for human to animal transmission. The incubation period of the disease is still uncertain and there have been cases where the incubation period was as long as 14 days. However, researches showed that the disease reached its peak approximately four days after infection.
Sars-Cov-2 has four structural proteins named as; the S (spike), E (envelope), M (membrane), and N (nucleocapsid) proteins. The spike protein is mainly responsible for allowing the virus to attach to and merge with the membrane of a host cell. This way the host cell does not recognize the virus as a threat and it enters the body easily. The virus is still spreading and according to the WHO, there is still some time needed in order to invent the vaccine. In this case, the best approach to take when fighting against Sars-Cov-2 (Covid-19) is to be cautious and prevent its contamination speed by improving our immune system, constantly cleaning our surroundings and use disinfection units regularly.