Dr. John Campbell gives us basic information about the novel Coronarvirus, currently in China and currently spreading further throughtout the world.
Coronaviruses (CoV)
A large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe respiratory diseases.
A new novel virus identified from humans December 29, 2019, 2019-nCoV
Human respiratory viral infections
 Cold often caused by rhinovirus
 Influenza (flu) caused by influenza virus
Coronaviruses virion
 CoV is a single stranded RNA
 Protein envelope (protein shell or capsid)
 Crown shaped virions
 Less than 100 nm
Coronaviruses are zoonotic
 MERS   Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, 2012 
 SARS   Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, 2003 
 Novel previously unidentified in humans, 2019 – nCoV
Clinical features of the Coronavirus
 Fever 98%  
 Cough 76%
 Myalgia or fatigue 44%
 Sputum production 28%
 Headache 8%
 Haemoptysis 5%
 Diarrhoea 3%
 Dyspnoea 55%
Severe acute respiratory infection – pneumonia
Acute respiratory distress syndrome
Radiology
Median duration from illness onset to dyspnoea 8·0 days
Median time from onset of symptoms to first hospital admission 7·0 days
Time from onset of symptoms to mechanical ventilation was 10·5 days 
Leucopenia less than 4 × 109/L   25%
Lymphopenia less than 1·0 × 109/L  63% 
Transmission
 Direct from animals, vectors
 Human to human
 Droplet, nasal or mouth mucosa, eyes
 Coughs and sneezes spread diseases – over 2 metres
 Catch it – bin it – kill it
 Surfaces – hands – mucous membranes
 Virus contained in an envelope, so virus can stay dormant for 5 days
 Fomites
 Closed environments, less likely outside
Sometimes people with mild or no symptoms can be carriers
Contagious for a few (2-5-14) days of incubation period, feeling well but still contagious.
Protection
- Stay home, avoid planes, buses, trains, busy areas
- No visitors avoid close contact with symptomatic people or potential carriers
- Wear a quality medical mask
- Wrap around glasses
- Gloves and meticulous hand hygiene, don’t touch eyes, nose mouth
- Don’t trust hand sanitizers
- Avoid hospitals
Same infectiousness as SARS, lower mortality (SARS) 10% v 3%
2 to 3 people get new infection of the Coronavirus for every infected case
Treatment
 Supportive
 Keep warm
 Hydration
 Eat if hungry
 No specific coronavirus antiviral drugs
 Oxygen for hypoxaemia
 3% mortality
 No vaccine as yet
More information about Coronavirus from Dr. John Campbell on YouTube
About Dr. John Campbell
Dr. John Campbell is a Senior Lecturer in Nursing studies at the University of Cumbria. He has been a clinical nurse and a nurse tutor for over 30 years. In addition to writing books, he has also produced a range of videos and podcasts on various health and nursing related topics. As well as selling his materials in the Western countries, many are distributed at no cost, or low cost, to students in poorer countries.







