As virus spreads, anxiety rises in China and overseas

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By EMILY WANG, DAKE KANG and YANAN WANG

WUHAN, China (AP) — Face masks sold out and temperature checks at airports and train stations became the new norm as China strove Tuesday to control the outbreak of a new virus that has reached four other countries and territories and threatens to spread further during the Lunar New Year travel rush.

Anxiety grew both at home and abroad after Chinese government expert Zhong Nanshan confirmed fears on state television late Monday that the new type of coronavirus can spread from human to human.

Six people have died and 291 have been infected in China, the National Health Commission said Tuesday.

The stock prices of some companies that sell masks rose Tuesday, but markets fell in much of Asia as investors worried about the potential impact on tourism and the economy.



Workers spray antiseptic solution on the arrival lobby amid rising public concerns over the possible spread of a new coronavirus at Incheon International Airport in Incheon, South Korea, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2020. Heightened precautions were being taken in China and elsewhere Tuesday as governments strove to control the outbreak of a novel coronavirus that threatens to grow during the Lunar New Year travel rush. (Suh Myung-geon/Yonhap via AP)


Read more: https://apnews.com/91a4b52778f1d0baeb1ef6856287671d

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[YOHABLO]

1. More than 80,000 people died from the flu last season in U.S.

This year's vaccine is only 58% effective. Let's wipe out the flu virus first.

[ancianita]

3. Flu virus swap DNA immediately. There's no wiping out the infinite permutations of it.

There could be fungi-based microbes (that swap DNA, too) to unleash that eat virus permutations, though.

[Iwasthere]

8. Impossible!

You must have 95% to achieve herd immunity. Will NEVER happen. Too many with compromised systems that cannot get the shot.

[dewsgirl]

2. Yesterday, I was reading about a super spreader

one person that can pass the virus, to up to 30 people.😳 They think this is how the 14-16 Chinese healthcare workers got the virus.

[LonePirate]

4. We definitely need to watch this as one unlucky mutation can spell deep trouble for our species.

[cstanleytech]

5. Natural viruses wiping out the entire species is unlikely especially since there are still some

pockets of humanity that have little to no contact with the outside world like North Sentinel Island for example or for a handful of tribes living deep in central South America.

[YOHABLO]

6. Well that's encouraging. I think (?)

[LonePirate]

7. Killing a 100 million - 1 billion people is still very harmful even if the species survives.

That is certainly possible with a bad mutation. It is unlikely but not impossible.

[clayton72]

11. This is why I hate nukes

Bad things will happen if reactors and waste storage is not maintained. The can has been kicked down the road for 70 years. That will not end well for life on this planet.

[cstanleytech]

16. Except then you have the area around Chernobyl where life like plants and animals are

doing fine so far.
Granted there might be more mutations in the area but it has not killed all life so far.
No, for radiation to kill most if not all life I suspect it would have to be a sudden massive exposure more powerful than even our worlds entire stockpile of nukes like say a direct blast from a close GRB.

[cstanleytech]

14. We have a population of 7 billion though so we could survive as a species even if 6 billion were

to die due to a naturally occuring virus which is extremely unlikely.

[csziggy]

17. Wiping out a high percentage of a population causes severe cultural damage

Loss of knowledge, for one.

When European diseases killed off 90% of the indigenous populations of the Americas, the cultures basically had to rebuild in the face of the invasion of European peoples. Knowledge of hunting grounds, location of resources, and technologies made it much easier for Europeans to take over new territories. When the Pilgrims arrived, they were allowed to take a location whose native population had died in an epidemic. The neighboring groups at first were willing to let the newcomers live there since their own numbers were decimated and they were concerned that they would be invaded by other local tribes.

By the time Europeans were moving west the Indian populations had recovered enough to fight for their territories, thus beginning the genocidal wars that continued through the 1800s. If the Indians had not lost technologies and their cultural knowledge, the European invasion may not have been as effective and the political landscape would be completely different.

[Coventina]

20. I often wish that the disease problem had worked the other way.

That the contact between Native Americans and Europeans had killed 90% of the Europeans.
Just imagine how much better off the planet would be right now!

(Perhaps I'm wrong, but it's an interesting thought/wish experiment for me).

[csziggy]

22. Antyhing that would have killed Europeans would have wiped out Asia and Africa, too

Syphillis is the only disease believed to have gone that way. It was first reported in Europe in 1595 and the early symptoms were much more dire than they became later.

You can find the answer to that question in Jared Diamond's book Guns, Germs and Steel. He states that people get infected by their pets and that all great epidemics (variola, tuberculosis, malaria, plague, influenza ...) evolved from animals. Microbes needs a mass of people to spread around so big societies, living in cities and connected with good trading roads, were is the best place for them. They can't survive in small societies because they kill anyone who isn't resistant and therefore fails to spread. Those who survive develop antibodies. Microbes can't survive in small communities of farmers and hunters.

Because american Indians didn't have antibodies to European diseases so many died - sometimes the whole villages. In this diseases it is also success in Pizarro's and Cortes' success. Some scientist believe that there were 95 % decrease in population in 200 years after Columbus.

The only infectious disease coming from America to Europe was syphilis. In America there were great civilizations living in big cities: Aztecs, Incas and Indians who lived in Mississippi. But this cities were never connected with trading paths so microbes couldn't spread as they did in Europe and Asia. The main reason for lack of infectious diseases is that there were no animals, living in herds. There were only five domestic animals: a turkey, a lama, a cavy, some bird and a dog - and they were no source of microbes as cows, sheep.

It doesn't mean that there are no infectious diseases, but there are not so many. But epidemics, diseases of masses, can appear only in dense crowd. This started with agriculture 10.000 years ago and increased with building cities. People live close to each other, they also have pets ...

If I sum it up: according to Jared Diamond there were no epidemics in Americas before 1492.

https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/2872/plagues-in-pre-european-americas

[appalachiablue]

23. Tx for the link. *Syphillis was first recorded in Europe in 1494.

The one pandemic disease we know of that has a good chance for having an origin in the Americas is syphilis.

When it first hit Europe in 1494 it spread rapidly and the mortality rate was very high (as is typical with new diseases that hit an immunologically naieve population).

As Jared Diamond describes it, "[W]hen syphilis was first definitelyrecorded in Europe in 1495, its pustules often covered the body fromthe head to the knees, caused flesh to fall from people's faces, andled to death within a few months." The disease then was much morelethal than it is today. Diamond concludes,"y 1546, the disease hadevolved into the disease with the symptoms so well known to ustoday."

Given the history of other pandemic diseases, it isn't too much of a stretch to speculate that it would have been even more devestating when it first broke out in the Americas, at least among the more densely settled communities, before both disease and host evolved to live with each other better.

I'm unaware of any archeological proof of this though (skeleton bone studies, etc). Most of the evidence behind the Americas theory of syphilis is currently circumstantial. https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/2872/plagues-in-pre-european-americas

[cstanleytech]

21. I never said knowledge would not be lost just that the species would likely survive.

[Coventina]

9. Meh, we've vastly overstayed our welcome on this planet.

No one will miss us but the dogs.

[mr_lebowski]

12. I tend to agree, grumpy old misanthrope that I am ... (nt)

[Coventina]

13. Hey Mr. L! Yeah, the older I get, the more I hate my species.

We've done some good, but collectively.....

We've been a curse on this lovely planet.

[mr_lebowski]

15. Yup!

Hey Coventina

[csziggy]

18. Cats would miss us

They'd have to learn to work for a living!

[Coventina]

19. LOL! Thanks for the chuckle!

[FarPoint]

10. Is tRump planning a visit to China?

Just wondering...