The novel coronavirus has understandably been problematic globally. Others report a feeling of déjà vu.
According to an article in the "American Journal of Roentgenology" (AJR), the imaging features of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are variable and non-specific. The results reported similarities with that of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS).
The novel coronavirus is diagnosed from the presence of pneumonia symptoms (e.g., fatigue, dry cough, myalgia, fever, dyspnea) along with recent travel to China or known exposure.
In a study published on February 7 named "Cell Host & Microbe," researchers annotated three 2019-nCoV genomes and identified both differences and similarities compared with other genomes, including that of SARS and MERS.
The results indicated five nucleotide differences - in a total genome of about 29,800 nucleotides - among the three 2019-nCoV genomes.
SARS and MERS' mortality rates are well identified, but the definition of COVID-19 diagnoses is still shifting and it may take years until the exact number of cases is discovered.
SARS was initially discovered in November 2002 in the Guangdong province of southern China, while MERS was first identified in Saudi Arabia in 2012.
According to the New York Times, there are currently more than 3,000 deaths associated with COVID-19 as of March, exceeding due to SARS, which 774 fatalities worldwide.
It is ambiguous how the new coronavirus compares in severity to SARS and MERS, as it has caused severe symptoms and death in some patients while causing only mild sickness in others.
SARS and MERS are both caused by coronaviruses that were passed on from animals. SARS alarmingly infected more than 8,000 people and killed more than 750. MERS' human-to-human transmission is less prevalent but has greater lethality with 35% of 2,500 people diagnosed with the disease died.
SARS is thought to have spread likely from bats to civet cats before the first human patient was infected. Infections were passed from person-to-person. MERS is a zoonotic virus, meaning it is transmitted between animals and humans. Scientists said MERS is most likely transmitted from bats to dromedary camels before passing on to humans.
COVID-19 might have originated from animals then jumped to people at a Chinese wet market where live and dead animals were sold. SARS, another coronavirus, started in a wet market too.
Another novel coronavirus According to WHO, the novel coronavirus "appears not as deadly as other coronaviruses," but the outbreak has already infected and killed more people than SARS and MERS combined.
The novel coronavirus, SARS, and MERS are all under the "Coronaviridae" family. The 3 epidemics are claimed to have been transmitted from bats.
The novel coronavirus may more likely involve both lungs on initial imaging, unlike SARS and MERS. The 2 other diseases have initial chest imaging abnormalities that are most often unilateral.
According to Melina Hosseiny of the University of California at Los Angeles, "To our knowledge, pleural effusion, cavitation, pulmonary nodules, and lymphadenopathy have not been reported in patients with COVID-19."
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