China coronavirus: what do we know so far?

Dear Editor,

Elisabeth Mahase has noted that MRC Centre researchers have found that the risk of person to person infection of the Novel coronavirus is higher than initially predicted.[1] The worry of spread among the population of the UK has been heightened by cases in the UK and France over the last couple of weeks. There is a high level of fear among the public that they could contract the coronavirus unexpectedly at any given moment, with disastrous consequences. We are students in secondary schools in the UK. We have noticed that there is an increasing level of misunderstanding among the student population and their families in the West Midlands around methods of transmission. Some pupils are actively avoiding any student of ethnic Chinese background, regardless of whether they have visited the Far East in recent months. As such, this is causing distress to those students, and raises of risk of mental illness and bullying within the school. Within the school and elsewhere, there is a need for better education to help the public understand that the coronavirus can be spread from anyone who has visited a relevant part of the world or been in contact with an infected individual, and a person does not have to be of a Chinese race in order to be contagious. Until the government addresses this public health educational need, children in schools will continue to experience prejudice from others as a result of this issue and be labelled in a manner which excludes them from interaction with their friends and classmates. This could have detrimental effects on a child’s academic progress, self-esteem and mental health.

[1] Mahase, E. China coronavirus: what do we know so far? BMJ 2020, 368:132.

Dear Editor：
Owners need to take better care of their pets. A pet is healthy if it has no contact with a sick person or a suspected infected person. If a pet is exposed to an outbreak outside, to a patient, the pet needs to be monitored. We should take care of our pets and avoid contact with pathogens.[1] But don't ignore your pets. Treat them like your family. However, it is always a good idea to wash your hands with soap and water after contact with pets.[2]

Reference：
[1] Li lanjuan: the virus spreads from mammal to mammal and pets need to be monitored for exposure https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1657120653830980793&wfr=spider&for=pc
[2] WHO: No evidence that pets are infected with new coronavirus
https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1657128908394579430&wfr=spider&for=pc

Dear Editor

How do we assess such a situation? [1] Everyone's life is unique and valuable: however, it may be in a city the size of Wuhan that something of the order of 10,000 people could die routinely every month, and many will likely die of non-specific respiratory conditions. It may distort the picture, and be a waste of resources, to root out every case of Wuhan Virus because it is new, if it is new. This perhaps needs to be borne in mind when considering the agenda of something like Event 201 held last October by Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in collaboration with the World Economic Forum and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which on its own could turn the world upside down [2,3].

I often think of the interview in Der Spiegel with Tom Jefferson at the time of the Swine Flu scare [4]:

"SPIEGEL: Mr. Jefferson, the world is living in fear of swine flu. And some predict that, by next winter, one-third of the world's population might be infected. Are you personally worried? Are you and your family taking any precautions?

"Tom Jefferson: I wash my hands very often -- and it's not all because of swine flu. That's probably the most effective precaution there is against all respiratory viruses, and the majority of gastrointestinal viruses and germs as well."

[1] Elizabeth Mahase, 'China coronavirus: what do we know so far?',
BMJ 2020; 368 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m308 (Published 24 January 2020)

[2] http://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/event201/

[3] Event 201 Pandemic Exercise: Highlights Reel, https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=AoLw-Q8X174&feature=emb_...

[4] ''A Whole Industry Is Waiting For A Pandemic: Interview with Epidemiologist Tom Jefferson' Spiegel International 21 July 2009, https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/interview-with-epidemiologist...

Dear Editor
We are ignorant about a lot of things. However, the readers might be interested in
1. The Lancet on line first.
Emerging understanding of 2029-n W
Published Jan 24.
27/cases had direct exposure to the Wuhan seafood market.
At first you might be forgiven for thinking that this market sold items like, fish, prawns, crabs etc.
But the internet tells us that the market sells various species of mammals, reptiles as well. The species thought to be responsible for harbouring the virus and unwittingly transmitting it to the humans has not yet been identified. But before the culinary habits of the Wuhan residents are blamed, we might care to bear in mind that similar animals have been eaten in other parts of East Asian countries for hundreds, even thousands of years. ( I know from an ancient relative, dead over 70 years that while trekking with the Survey of India in Burma and North East Indian hill tracts he very often ate reptiles and certain mammals - which were locally available and which the local tribes consumed) .

2. I ask the epidemiologists: can they really blame bats and other unfamiliar ( to us in the UK) animal foods merely because Corona viruses have been found in these animals?
“ Bush meat “ has been blamed by Europeans for Ebola epidemics. Yet, bush meat imported secretly has been consumed in Europe for scores of years. Have we had any cases of Ebola in Europe, acquired from handling or eating bush meat?
I fear our prejudices might lead us in to blind alleys.