Abbey Forum 4

Abbey Forum 4

by Deleted user -
Number of replies: 3

I definitely believe that there could be another infectious disease in our future. It may even be coming a lot sooner than most would think. I would predict the “Next Big One” to be a SARS outbreak from coronaviruses. Not to be obvious but with current events in China, we could possibly be watching this outbreak unfold right now. The coronavirus outbreak originating from the city of Wuhan, China has been growing fast and possibly spreading without anyone even realizing. An update that was made today (Jan. 28) was that there is an updated total of 5,974 cases and now 132 deaths in China. Though officials have been trying to limit the travel of possible patients, this coronavirus can infect a host and spread to others before symptoms are seen. There have been 58 confirmed cases found in 15 countries besides China since the outbreak. This just shows how easily the virus can escape these airport scans and are able to move from place to place. In the United States specifically, there are 110 patients under investigation for the coronavirus, 32 that have tested negative and five positive cases. 

Since the first reported case on Dec. 30 of 2019, the virus has been spreading across China. The race to creative a vaccine for the virus began on the 10th of this month. Creating vaccines has always been a very risky and expensive process but researchers are still looking since the spread and number of cases and fatalities are rising every day. It might not seem like a huge outbreak now but I predict a lot of people will be shocked by the spread of fatality and infections to other countries. No matter how hard officials try, it is very likely people from China will travel by plane and continue to spread the disease. How else could the cases in the other 15 countries get there?

Evidence from this outbreak in just the few weeks since it has been discovered has shown just how dangerous this coronavirus can be. And if our past proves anything, it proves a SARS like virus can do serious damage. If spread isn’t eradicated and patients are not treated or quarantined in time this virus could very possibly be the Next Big One. 

 “Coronavirus Live Updates: Death Toll Climbs, and So Does the Number of Infections.” New York Times. New York Times Company, 28 Jan. 2020. Web. 

WebMD News Staff. “Coronavirus 2020 Outbreak: Latest Updates.” WebMD. WebMD Health News, 28 Jan. 2020. Web.


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In reply to Deleted user

Re: Abbey Forum 4

by Deleted user -
Hey Abbey, I thought it was so interesting that you chose to take this post in a direction that was relevant in what we are seeing right now with the new corona virus out of China. I hadn’t even considered that it could be our next major outbreak, but from what you said it seems like it might be well on its way. The picture painted by the documentary was so different than the struggles we would face today with a pandemic like this. Just to name one that you brought up; airplanes are a huge obstacle that we would have to overcome in a situation like this that just weren’t a concern in 1918. You raised several good points throughout your forum post, I really enjoyed reading it.

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In reply to Deleted user

Re: Abbey Forum 4

by Connor West -
I think you are very right about it being SARS especially because it is so airborne. The connection to the Corona virus was a very good example to relate. I definitely agree with the fact preventing a virus like Corona and Sars would be very difficult to stop it spreading on planes. We would almost just have to shutoff airports and keep everyone quarantined which would be very hard. The only way I could think of keeping airports open were if everyone would wear a mask. There would be people however, that would think they're not going to get it because they don't have symptoms yet, but like you said with the corona virus you could have it and spread it to another host without even having symptoms. Enjoyed reading the relation of SARS to such a modern day problem.

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In reply to Deleted user

Re: Abbey Forum 4

by Deleted user -
I think you have an interesting perspective. There is a potential outbreak on our hands currently. The coronavirus is real. I believe it could be a reoccurrence with SARS due to the similar symptoms. I understand that there can be similarities but I wonder what the holdup is. Do you think that once of the major reasons we haven’t heard much about it rather than new cases are because of the Chinese New Year? The Chinese New Year is a time of high travel. If there was a time where travel was down, the country could suffer financially. Not only would China suffer, but the rest of the world. I am looking forward to hearing more about this virus and the path it takes.

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