The coronavirus is not new there have been at least seven outbreaks in the last 150 years.
The worrying part is that three of those outbreaks happened this Century: Sars, MERS and the current nCoV - 19. The reassuring part is that nCoV - 19 does not appear to be as virulent as The Blue Soldier (formerly The Spanish Flu) of 1918 - 20. The causes range from habitat loss to consumption of exotic animals.
The Blue Soldier started at Ft Riley in Kansas, but that's only part of the story. The surrounding land was once open grassland where buffalo roamed. The bison were slaughtered and the land converted to feed lots for the beef industry - fertile breeding ground for pathogens to mutate. The Blue Soldier eventually killed more humans than WW I.
This Century saw three outbreaks (SARS, MERS and nCoV - 19) all from consumption of exotic animals. SARS from bats, MERS from camels and now it increasingly looks like nCoV - 19 derives from traditional Chinese medicine. We know about the use of rhino horn to increase virility and supposedly boost the immune system (as yet unproven) but what uses are there for the pangolin? They are also been wiped out by Chinese medicine, it's scales are ground and drunk with water. Now it is believed but not yet confirmed that nCoV - 19 is a mutation from pangolin scales.
They are native to the Philippines and Indonesia.
The worrying part is that three of those outbreaks happened this Century: Sars, MERS and the current nCoV - 19. The reassuring part is that nCoV - 19 does not appear to be as virulent as The Blue Soldier (formerly The Spanish Flu) of 1918 - 20. The causes range from habitat loss to consumption of exotic animals.
The Blue Soldier started at Ft Riley in Kansas, but that's only part of the story. The surrounding land was once open grassland where buffalo roamed. The bison were slaughtered and the land converted to feed lots for the beef industry - fertile breeding ground for pathogens to mutate. The Blue Soldier eventually killed more humans than WW I.
This Century saw three outbreaks (SARS, MERS and nCoV - 19) all from consumption of exotic animals. SARS from bats, MERS from camels and now it increasingly looks like nCoV - 19 derives from traditional Chinese medicine. We know about the use of rhino horn to increase virility and supposedly boost the immune system (as yet unproven) but what uses are there for the pangolin? They are also been wiped out by Chinese medicine, it's scales are ground and drunk with water. Now it is believed but not yet confirmed that nCoV - 19 is a mutation from pangolin scales.
They are native to the Philippines and Indonesia.