2019 Coronavirus – looking beyond the headlines

I have been frustrated by the media’s propensity to exaggerate, stretch the truth, add hype and mislead and scare the public. For examples, the headlines in the Weekend Australian (1/2/20) states “Virus Deadlier than it Looks”.  So where to find information without the hysteria?

By way of introduction, human coronaviruses have long been considered inconsequential pathogens, causing the “common cold” in otherwise healthy people, a little like rhinovirus. However, 2 pathogenic coronavirus have emerged from animal reservoirs  to cause global concerns. You may recall from 2002 severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and and in 2014, Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV). In December 2019, another pathogenic coronavirus, now known as 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), was recognized in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, and has caused serious illness and deaths. This outbreak evolving.

Coronaviruses are large, enveloped, positive strand RNA viruses Four human coronavirus (HCoV 229E, NL63, OC43, and HKU1) are…