The Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus is a viral respiratory illness first reported in Saudi Arabia about a year ago. The illness is caused by a coronavirus called MERS-CoV. In general, a coronavirus is an enveloped virus with a positive RNA genome and a nucleocapsid of helical symmetry. Typically, human coronaviruses are known to cause upper-respiratory tract infections. Although there is no treatment yet, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention is currently researching the development of a vaccine. Some symptoms of this respiratory infection include fever, cough, renal failure, pneumonia and shortness of breath. Sadly, about half of the known worldwide cases of MERS have resulted in death. Research has indicated that the virus spreads through the air via respiratory droplets, which leaves health care physicians extremely susceptible. As the disease has spread, scientists and experts have become fearful that the virus could mutate and become more transmittable.
In recent news, scientific investigators have confirmed the presence of the MERS coronavirus in a camel, which one belonged to a Saudi man who was also sick with the new virus. This discovery has proven to be pivotal because the finding now provides critical evidence on the virus's animal hosts and transmission. Primarily, the discovery adds credibility to the common theory that the virus originates in bats and typically spreads to humans through camels. This is because in most of the earlier cases of MERS, the first patient to become ill had contact with an infected sick camel. The virus usually spreads gradually from person to person after first appearing in a community, but medical experts have been baffled in terms of the virus’s original source...
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...e genetic composition of the MERS virus must be evaluated to determine the disease’s method of replication and transmission. Simply, viruses are packages of DNA or RNA surrounded by protein shell called a capsid. To replicate, viruses rely on the processes of transcription (DNA to RNA) and translation (mRNA to protein). Because viruses cannot self-reproduce, they must infect a host cell in order to replicate. Ultimately, viruses infect cells by either entering the host cell or injecting its DNA or RNA directly into the cell. Thus, in order to limit the spread of the illness and develop an immunization, biologists and disease experts must determine the genetic sequence and infection cycle of the MERS coronavirus. All in all, the scientific relevance in relation to the MERS outbreak is apparent and scientific research is needed to decode this esoteric illness.
[1, 4, 5, 9, 13] There have been no documented cases where a human has contracted the disease from another human. [4] It appears, based on field and lab data, that infection requires direct contact with the virus through means such as contact with infective bodily secretions, urine, or tissues. [12] It is unknown to scientists how the virus can be maintained in the bat populations and avoids extinction as the host species becomes immune to its presence. [14] The incubation period from time of infection to the onset of symptoms is about 5-14 days in experimentally induced animals [4] and 8-14 days in natural field cases.
The medical field is a vast land of beauty but with great beauty comes immense horror. There are many deadly viruses and diseases found in the medical field. In the novel, The Hot Zone by Richard Preston, the author discusses the many deadly viruses found in the field. The viruses are widespread due to the errors that occur when the viruses are in the presence of human beings. The effects of the errors performed by the human race include a decrease in population and wildlife. The viruses are spread in many different ways in the novel, but all are due to human mistakes.
Croup: Croup is another common airway inflammation caused by virus that can affect the trachea, larynx and possibility the bronchi (Murray, Sidani, & Zoorob, 2011) thus causing infection in the upper respiratory tract. Murray et al. describes it as the most common illness in children under the age of 6 to 36 months and cause for cough mostly when a child cries; acute stridor and hoarseness in febrile children (Murray et al., 2011). It can be a life-threatening situation in the life of the young infant and the family. Croup symptoms exhibit as hoarseness, barking cough, inspiratory stridor, and respiratory distress. I chose this diagnosis as my first preference because when I read the mother’s subjective report it matches that of croup symptoms: a barking cough, no fever, severe at night and when the baby cries, fatigue due to excessiveness of the tears, pain due to inflames and swollen of the airway. Murray et al., led us to understand that the etiologies of this viral causing agent can be traced to the parainfluenza viruses, type 1. (2011). This virus is commonly spread through contact or droplet secretion.
This virus searches for a new vulnerable host in order to survive and carry the disease to the next victim. The critical aspect around the spread of a virus is how drastically the reproduction process occurs. Without being controlled, the contamination throughout any species causes the spread to take place in a toxic way, “On day one, there were two people. And then, four, and then, sixteen. In three months, it’s a billion.
The Influenza virus is a unique respiratory viral disease that can have serious economic and social disruption to society. The virus is airborne transmitted through droplets release by coughing or sneezing from an infected person or by touching infected surfaces. Symptoms range from mild to severe and may even result in death. People with the virus usually experience fever, headache, shivering, muscle pain and cough, which can lead to more severe respiratory illness such as pneumonia. People most susceptible to the flu virus are elderly individuals and young children as well as anyone whose health or immune system has been compromise. The most effective way to counteract the influenza virus is to get the flu vaccine which is available by shots or nasal spray before the flu season as well as practicing safe hygiene. (CDC, 2013)
Viruses are the simplest and tiniest of microbes, and are made up of proteins, nucleic acid, and lipids. The nucleic acids contain the genetic code that helps them grow and reproduce, but only once they find their way into a living organism. Viruses themselves are not considered living organisms because they don’t have cells, they don’t metabolize nutrients, produce and excrete wastes, and they can’t move around on their own. The remains of the nucleic acid then forms a covering, called the capsid. Once the capsid gets removed, viruses use the building materials of th...
The virus is primarily spherical shaped and roughly 200nm in size, surrounded by a host-cell derived membrane. Its genome is minus-sense single-stranded RNA 16-18 kb in length. It contains matrix protein inside the envelope, hemagglutinin and neuraminidase, fusion protein, nucleocapsid protein, and L and P proteins to form the RNA polymerase. The host-cell receptors on the outside are hemagglutinin and neuraminidase. The virus is allowed to enter the cell when the hemagglutinin/ neuraminidase glycoproteins fuse with the sialic acid on the surface of the host cell, and the capsid enters the cytoplasm. The infected cells express the fusion protein from the virus, and this links the host cells together to create syncitia.
Liam is a previously healthy boy who has experienced rhinorrhoea, intermittent cough, and poor feeding for the past four days. His positive result of nasopharyngeal aspirate for Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) indicates that Liam has acute bronchiolitis which is a viral infection (Glasper & Richardson, 2010). “Bronchiolitis is the commonest reason for admission to hospital in the first 6 months of life. It describes a clinical syndrome of cough tachypnoea, feeding difficulties and inspiratory crackles on chest auscultation” (Fitzgerald, 2011, p.160). Bronchiolitis can cause respiratory distress and desaturation (91% in the room air) to Liam due to airway blockage; therefore the infant appears to have nasal flaring, intercostal and subcostal retractions, and tachypnoea (54 breathes/min) during breathing (Glasper & Richardson, 2010). Tachycardia (152 beats/min) could occur due to hypoxemia and compensatory mechanism for low blood pressure (74/46mmHg) (Fitzgerald, 2011; Glasper & Richardson, 2010). Moreover, Liam has fever and conjunctiva injection which could be a result of infection, as evidenced by high temperature (38.6°C) and bilateral tympanic membra...
Emerging Infectious Diseases (EIDS) are a disease of infectious origin whose incidence in humans has increased within the recent past threatens to increase in the near future. Over 30 new infectious agents have been detected worldwide in the last three decades; 60% of these are of zoonotic origin, and more than 2-3rds of these have originated in the wildlife (Dikid et al., 2013).
This virus is similar to Ebola, because it started in the same place. Lab workers in Germany, in 1967, contracted the new virus while working with African Green Monkeys, which had the virus. The virus is described as a hemorrhagic fever. It has a fatality rate up to 90% and spreads through human to human contact. The first symptoms can be as simple as a fever and a headache, then can progress to organ failure, and fatal internal bleeding.
Marburg hemorrhagic fever (Marburg HF) is a rare but acute hemorrhagic fever that affects both humans and primates. Transmission is mainly human-to-human, resulting from close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected persons. Illness caused by Marburg virus begins abruptly, with high fever, severe headache and severe malaise. The individuals at the highest risk of transmission include family members and hospital staff who care for patients infected with Marburg virus. Individuals who have close interaction with African fruit bat, human patients, or non-human primates disease-ridden with Marburg Virus are at risk. The variance diagnoses usually consist of malaria, typhoid fever, shigellosis, cholera,
Viruses have emerged as causes of foodborne disease, according to data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Viruses cause a wide range of diseases in plants, animals and humans. These infections do not occur at random: each group of viruses has its own typical host range and cell preference. Viruses were probably always a cause of food borne disease; however with recent developments in detection we are now able to confirm the presence of viruses. Previously, those outbreaks may have been recorded as having an unknown causative agent.
for which no cure has yet been created. It is important to know however, that methods are currently available which can prevent the transfer of this virus, and even slow down its malicious effects. before they become fatal. It is equally important to know how to avoid getting the virus and also the symptoms in case you might run across them. They are all a lot.
Murray, M.2006. The epidemiology of SARS. In SARS in China: Prelude to pandemic?, ed. A. Kleinman and J. Watson, 17-30. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.
Dengue virus (DENV) is any of the four serotypes that cause the dengue fever or dengue hemorrhagic fever. It is a single positive-stranded RNA virus belonging to the family of Flaviviridae. Its genome is consisted of 11,000 bases that code for three structural proteins, membrane protein M (prM), envelope protein E, capsid protein C, seven nonstructural proteins NS1-NS5, and a short non-coding region on both the 5’ and 3’ ends 2, 6, 19.