The novel coronavirus and the human illness it causes , COVID-19 , are pernicious and spreading tight .
As of Monday , more than3,000 hoi polloi have break from the computer virus that emerged in December in Wuhan , China , and another 89,250had been confirmed ominous with the sickness , which prompt febricity , coughing , and curtness of breathing space .
The computer virus is now observe onevery continent , save quick-frozen Antarctica , and the telephone number of new infections reported aroundthe globe is zoom , even as transmittance in Chinaappears to be slow up down dramatically . There is no treatment or vaccine for the computer virus , which scientists thinkoriginated in batsand may have hopped into an intermediary host animate being before infecting people .
Still , some arepeddling misinformationabout where the computer virus comes from and how to " cure " it , with people around the ball thirsty for easy answer to combat the spread of this new and comparatively unknown virus .
Here are a few of the most gross claims we ’ve heard so far , as well as some of the best advice from experts on how to actually stay salubrious and disease - free . First , it ’s important to know there is no treatment or medication for the illness . Taking antibiotic wo n’t help , since it ’s a computer virus and not bacterial .
Treatment for the novel coronavirus is a luck like the flu . patient are advised to rest up and drink peck of fluids .
In severe cases , people who are make trouble external respiration may take oxygen support . So far , old people are more susceptible than youngsters under 15 , and most of the fateful vitrine have been among the older and patients with preexisting health precondition .
There is no vaccine for the coronavirus yet . Though the computer virus is believe to have originated in bat , there ’s no evidence that meat - eating is yoke to the coronavirus , and you ca n’t get it from your pets .
mass can distribute the coronavirus to each other by having close contact ( usually computer virus particles get extend around within 6 foot of an infected person ) , butthere ’s no good evidence that cats and andiron can get infect or give the virus to their owners .
It ’s dependable that scientists suspect that the virusoriginated in a Chinese cockeyed market , where people coexist in halter quarter alongside animals both alive and bushed , but it ’s not exact to say the virus is link up to eat center , asPETA UKhas .
" We get new virus all the metre , " Dr. Robert Amler , the dean of the School of Health Sciences and Practice at New York Medical College who was previously chief aesculapian officer at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , of late tell Business Insider at a coronavirus conference . " There ’s so much commerce and telephone exchange between people that it is fully expected that some of these cases will diffuse . “The virus is very fragile outside the human body , which means you ca n’t get it from a software package or an envelope . Some the great unwashed have nurture concerns that they might be able to abridge the coronavirus from imported good packed by multitude in other countries .
But public - health experts orient out that the computer virus can live for only a few minute on hard surface , and the only way it ’s beingspread among people is through close physical contact .
For lesson , the first case of human - to - human infection in the US wasbetween a husband and married woman living together . Other cases have also been spreadbetween patient role and doctorsin Chinese infirmary .
The coronavirus particles are very heavy and commonly fall to the ground right around a sick person , rather than lingering in the melodic phrase , becoming airborne . This makes thevirus far less contagiousthan some others , like the measles . Epidemiologists learn the novel coronavirushave receive that a single septic person tends to spread out the illness to one to three other people , much like the seasonal flu .
So far , children haveproved rather resilient to this computer virus . Much like SARS , there are few COVID-19 deaths in people under 15 . A mother with the novel coronavirusreportedly give birth to a utterly tidy infant , and the median age of coronavirus patient role , inone recent Lancet study , was about 55 yr old . COVID-19 is not like the seasonal flu . Evidence so far suggests it is more pestilent . Medical staff hug each other at a infirmary in China ’s easterly Shandong province on January 28 , 2020.STR / AFP via Getty ImagesA compositor’s case of COVID-19 usually starts out with a fever and dry cough . 80 % of diagnosis are mild , andmost multitude who ’ve gotten sick in China are recoveringfrom it well . However , the computer virus appear to be more pernicious than the seasonal flu .
COVID-19 has about a 2.3 % death pace , according to number gathered fromthe Chinese Center for Disease Control . For equivalence , thedeath rate from seasonal fluis typically about 0.1 % .
But not everyone share the risks associated with the disease evenly . The novel coronavirus lean to be mostdangerous formedically vulnerable groups like smokersand the elderly .
Children seem to be some of the least at - jeopardy individual : noCOVID-19 death in people under 10years old have been reported . Do not use any " miracle mineral solution " to combat the computer virus . It ’s industrial bleach , and it is dangerous and unhelpful .
As BusinessInsider ’s Gabby Landsverk previously reported , " the ' miracle mineral solution , ' as it ’s know on-line ( MMS for shortsighted ) , is a solvent of 28 % sodium chlorite in distilled urine . "
The message is not a curative for the coronavirus , but it is serious to human wellness , and it can promptsevere vomiting , diarrhea , low stock pressure , and knifelike liver failure .
Some bleaching agent - based cleanser , however , are helpful for keep Earth’s surface computer virus - free .
TheWorld Health Organization said"bleach / chlorine - base disinfectants , ether solvents , 75 % fermentation alcohol , peracetic Zen and cholorform " are all great path to kill the fresh coronavirus on surfaces , wheretransmission is possible , if not likely .
But the chemicals are dangerous when people put them on their skin , under their noses , or in their mouths , and they have " little or no impact on the virus " that way , the WHO say . too , algae is not a intervention for the young coronavirus . There is some evidence that red marine algae may inactivate certain virus , like the ones that cause common cold sore ( herpes virus ) . But the same has n’t been shown of the novel coronavirus .
" The problem is that there are some 4,000 specie of such alga , some of which may work against some viral infection but not against others , " theMcGill Office for Science and Societywrote online . " Without any ordinance about right labeling and without any necessity for verification of contents , it is a dirt shoot . "
Nevertheless , at least one " holistic " healer , Gabriel Cousens , told his follower in a late email that they should use red algae to prevent and potentially handle the coronavirus , even though no scientist has ever studied the upshot of red algae on this virus .
" I ca n’t make a title for the effectiveness of red algae against the coronavirus , " Cousens enjoin . Nor will eat garlic or sesame oil do much for you .
It ’s on-key that garlic contains organosulfur compound that may helpkeep our hearts , heading , and gutsrunning swimmingly and might evenhelp keep or fight Crab .
TheWHO also saidgarlic " may have some antimicrobial holding , " but there ’s no rationality to conceive it can ward off the coronavirus , and sesame oil ( either applied topically or ingested ) wo n’t kill the computer virus either . Marijuana is not a cure for this coronavirus . Despiteany postsyou may have seen on Facebook suggesting that " scientist are shocked to chance on that gage kills coronavirus , " that ’s not true .
There is respectable grounds thatmarijuana contains antibacterial cannabinoidsthat can down bacteria . This is why scientists suspect weedmay one day help treat antibiotic - resistant diseases , but again , the novel coronavirus is a viral illness , not a bacterial one , so skunk ’s not go to be much economic consumption in this eruption . Neither is cocaine .
Once again , cut anymiracle cocain coronavirus curesthat might crop up up on Facebook .
The the true is that cocaine is a extremely addictive substance and cancause respiratory problems . That is certainly no avail when you ’re dealing with a virus that ( in severe sheath ) can make it difficult to breathe . Coconut oil is smooth and robust , but it also has no billet in coronavirus intervention .
At leastone wellness official in the Philippinesrecently paint a picture that coconut meat oil was " being looked into " to kill the new coronavirus , but that ’s not honest in any serious mode .
There are some studies , in mouse , that have shown coconut crude oil might , just might , help kill bacteria that cause some Staphylococcus ( staphylococcus ) infections . But thatdoesn’t mean the same will ever be honest in people .
In fact , scientists do n’t even have sex if our bodies are subject of making thecompound deduct from a cocoanut ’s lauric acidthat could provide such a bacterium - drink down incentive . Besides , the fresh coronavirus is not the same as staphylococci , anyway . Vitamin C wo n’t do much for someone with the coronavirus , just as it does n’t help oneself supply much moderation for people with a coldness . At least one ego - bill " megavitamin military man " haspromoted the mind onlinethat intravenous vitamin C is being administer to coronavirus patient in China . But there ’s no evidence that ’s going on , and also no meter reading that vitamin vitamin C can help heal or still a case of COVID-19 .
Even for the common coldness , take vitamin ampere-second regularly provides only marginal benefitsto extremely athletic people likemarathon smuggler and soldiers .
Rinsing your nose with saline or gurgling mouthwash will not prevent the spread of the coronavirus .
Yes , some kinds of gargle can kill microbes in your sassing , and rinse your nostrils out ( like with a neti muckle ) can feel good if you have a unaired olfactory organ , but neither will forbid the spread of COVID-19.There are a few basic , science - backed things everyone can do to prevent the banquet of this refreshing coronavirus . No . 1 , rinse your hands . often , and with liquid ecstasy and water .
" If I could teach one thing to the populace that would forbid most of the disease that I have to dish out with , it would be wash your hands and instruct your children how to rinse hands , " Dr. Sherlita Amler , an accessory professor of public wellness at New York Medical College who is commissioner of health in Westchester County , said Friday . " Believe it or not , most people do not have much of an idea how they really should lap their hands , and in fact , I reckon some people really essay to do it without getting their manpower wet . "
Amler said it was important to expend soap and was " the frictional motion of your paw that in reality catch the bacteria off of your hands . "
Hand sanitizer is helpful in a pinch , but nothing beats a unspoiled 20 - second hang-up with soap and waterfollowed by a ironical - off with a newspaper towel . Getting your influenza shot ( if you have n’t already ) is also a great means to protect yourself from viral illnesses this season .
Amler allege it ’s a large way to serve yourself remain calm in this outbreak .
" It ’s much less probable that you ’re going to have the influenza , which means you ’re less likely to have respiratory symptom , which means you ’re less potential to feel anxious that , ' Oh my God , do I have this new disease that they ’re utter about ? ' Probably not . You in all likelihood had the flu . “Stay away from tired of hoi polloi , and do n’t go to work or schoolhouse if you ’re sick . “If you ’re inauspicious , your mob members are ill , continue house , do n’t spread out those disease , " Amler say . " fundamentally that ’s what they ’ve done in China , they have isolated everyone . “And remember , face masks do n’t really help much , unless you put them on the people who are already sick , to protect others .
Amler allege face masquerade party might be vaporize off shelf around the Earth more for psychological reasons than preventive one .
" I think the job is they do n’t know what else to do , " Amler say . " They ’re just try anything that they can do to help prevent themselves from pay back sick . "
Her hubby , also Dr. Amler , agreed .
" Paper , surgical - type masks that you see in operating rooms … these are designed to forestall your own coughing and elimination from getting into other multitude , " he suppose . " They are really not to protect the wearer , they ’re design to protect the mass all around you . "
Read next on Business Insider : There ’s only one way to have sex if you have the coronavirus , and it involve machines full of spittle and mucous secretion
