As news of the first human-to-human transmission of the Wuhan coronavirus in the US spreads, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced today that the viral strain is a global health emergency.
Around 99 percent of the over 7,000 cases have been in China, but the virus has infected people in 18 countries.
According to Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, this declaration does not amount to a “vote of no confidence” in China.
China has received international attention for its efforts to fight the virus. Dr. Ghebreyesus clarified that this declaration was meant to alert countries with less robust health systems.
In Chicago, a husband and wife became the first confirmed US case of person-to-person transfer of the virus. Health officials expressed anxiety over the potential of the virus to rapidly spread from person to person. Up to this point, the only people in the US with the disease contracted it while in Wuhan, China.
However, officials told the US that the chances of getting the disease here are very, very low. Authorities are monitoring the disease closely.
This virus is a new strain of coronavirus that began in Wuhan, China.
The disease likely started in animals before jumping to humans. This makes it similar to two of its cousins: the infamous SARS and MERS respiratory diseases. Both viruses jumped from animals to humans before their discovery.
Coronaviruses can rapidly infect humans, similar to the flu. They also cause similar symptoms as influenza.
These symptoms can include fever, achey muscles, fatigue, nausea and vomiting. Coronaviruses can be deadly.
The virus could be fatal to people with weak immune systems. Older people, very young people, pregnant women and people with compromised immune systems could develop complications from the disease that could prove deadly.
