Transmission Of COVID-19
- Incident
COVID-19 virus was first detected in the Wuhan province of China on 12th December 2019. Health experts say this infection spread in Wuhan from a seafood market. Upon analysis of the sample of COVID-19 researchers concluded that the natural reservoir of this virus is bats. Though it is very unclear as to how did the virus found its way to the fish market, health experts say that there was an intermediate host through which it reached the fish market.
- Distribution Of COVID-19
Bats are known to be the natural reservoirs for most of the Coronavirus strains including the SARS-Corona Virus and MERS-Corona Virus. Upon genome sequencing of COVID-19 conducted by qualified health experts of the biotechnology department in China it was found that the genome of COVID-19 shared identity with the Bat coronavirus genome CoV RaTG13 by 96.2% and it also shared identity with SARS-Corona virus by 79.5%.
This made it obvious that Bats must also carry this newly found virus strain of COVID-19 under genus Coronaviridae. Upon protein sequence alignment and phylogenetic analysis showed that the same receptor is present in many species which provided a possibility of what kind of species could have acted as an intermediate host between Bats and Humans. For now Sea Turtles and Pangolins are under suspicion.
Direct contact with intermediate host or consumption of wild animals was considered to be the main route of COVID-19 transmission. However, the source(s) and route(s) are still shrouded by mystery.
Direct contact with intermediate host or consumption of wild animals was considered to be the main route of COVID-19 transmission. However, the source(s) and route(s) are still shrouded by mystery.
COVID-19 is labeled as very contagious by the world health Organization as something as simple as physical contact can be lethal.
COVID-19 mainly spreads through respiratory secretions of an infected individual which remain in the air in the form of tiny droplets which in turn cause a chain of infection to form. Once an individual is infected it is very hard to tell how many more individuals will be infected by Coronavirus. Novel-Coronavirus in about a month has become a global epidemic and is causing huge problems across the globe. It is no doubt that the economic sector of every country is severely affected by the impact of COVID-19. One of the major problems is the detection of COVID-19.
Currently private medical companies are searching for a detection method for pathogens of COVID-19 by trying to create devices that use PCR technology on the sample of respiratory secretion of the infected individual. Though it will take its own share of time to be available for commercial use by the public. Also its cost will decide the real game.
Visit our RT-PCR blog post to know more about PCR technology and why it is not as reliable as you think it is.
Is RT-dPCR technology reliable for detecting COVID-19 infection?
Currently private medical companies are searching for a detection method for pathogens of COVID-19 by trying to create devices that use PCR technology on the sample of respiratory secretion of the infected individual. Though it will take its own share of time to be available for commercial use by the public. Also its cost will decide the real game.
Visit our RT-PCR blog post to know more about PCR technology and why it is not as reliable as you think it is.
Is RT-dPCR technology reliable for detecting COVID-19 infection?