More than 50 people have been infected. Seven are currently in a critical condition. A new virus arriving on the scene, leaving patients with pneumonia, is always a worry and health officials around the world are on high alert. But is this a brief here-today-gone-tomorrow outbreak or the first sign of something far more dangerous?
Officials in China and the World Health Organization have concluded the infection is a coronavirus. Coronaviruses are a broad family of viruses, but only six (the new one would make it seven) are known to infect people. Coronaviruses can cause symptoms ranging from a mild cold all the way through to death. This new virus appears to be somewhere in the middle.
Perhaps the single most reassuring fact about this outbreak is that the new virus does not appear to spread from one person to another If it was going person-to-person, then you would expect cases in healthcare workers as they come into close contact with sick patients. Chinese officials say that has not happened.
Article submitted by, Great Gazoo.