A mysterious virus unknown to science is spreading, causing serious lung diseases

A mysterious virus unknown to science is causing serious lung disease in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

More than 50 people have been infected. Seven are currently in critical condition.

A new virus that reaches the stage, leaving patients with pneumonia, is always a concern, and doctors worldwide are on alert.

But is this a brief explosion for tomorrow or the first sign of something far more dangerous?

What is this virus?

Viral samples were taken from patients and analyzed in the laboratory. Doctors in China and the World Health Organization have concluded that infection is a coronary.

Coronavirus is a large family of viruses and is known to infect humans.

The acutely severe respiratory syndrome (Sars), which was caused by a coronary, killed 774 of the 8,098 infected persons in an explosion that started in China in 2002.

There is a strong memory of Sars, where much fear arises, but we are much better prepared to deal with those types of diseases”, says Dr. Josie Golding, from Wellcome Trust.

Is it serious?

Coronavirus can cause symptoms ranging from a mild cold to death.

This new virus seems somewhere in the middle.

When we look at a new coronary, we want to know how severe symptoms are this is more than symptoms similar to cold. This is a concern, but it's not as serious as Sars”, says Prof Mark Coolhouse, of the University of Edinburgh.

Where did it come from?

New viruses are discovered all the time.

If we recall the bombings in the past and if it is a new coronary, it would have come from a animal reservoir”, says Prof Jonathan Ball, a virologist at Nottingham University.

Sars jumped from cat to cat to human.

Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome (Mers), which has killed 858 of the 2,494 recorded cases since its appearance in 2012, was caused by the sleeper camel.

What animal?

Once the animal reservoir is discovered where the virus normally leaves the camp, the problem becomes much easier to deal with.

Cases have been linked to the vast sea market in southern China, in Huhan.

But while some marine mammals may carry coronarys (such as the Beluga whale), there are also live wild animals on the market, including chickens, bats, rabbits, snakes, who are more likely to be the source.

Why China?

Prof Coolhouse says it's because of the size and density of the population and close contact with animals that protect viruses.

No one is surprised that this explosion is in China or in that part of the world”, he says.

How concerned are experts?

Dr. Golding says: “For now, until we have more information, it's really hard to know how worried we should be.

Until we have a source confirmation, it will always make us anxious. ”

Prof Ball says: “We need to worry about any virus that affects people for the first time because the first major obstacle has been overcome”.

Once it is within a [human] cell and repeats, it can begin to generate mutations that can allow it to spread more efficiently and become more dangerous”.