Health experts have yet to announce official information on how the novel coronavirus spreads but recent findings on clusters in Japan may provide clues about the factors that encourage the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus.
Japan Clusters Suggest Clues Regarding CoViD-19 Spreading
According to the New York Times, health officials are studying whether there is a concrete link between clusters that emerged in Japan and how the coronavirus spreads even beyond the outbreak's epicenter in Wuhan.
So far virologists have found two potential reasons as to how the clusters in Japan spread.
One of the scenarios virologists are looking at is the possibility that people independently contract an infection in surfaces contaminated with a virus. As of now, no clear timelines have been discovered regarding the length of survival viruses can stay on some surfaces.
Another scenario is the possibility that a super-spreader, or someone whose body has more capacity to spread the disease, is exposed to a large group of people.
These scenarios came to mind among health experts and virology specialists after a significant number of passengers from the Diamond Princess cruise ship tested positive of the Wuhan coronavirus.
As of Wednesday, 621 passengers of the cruise ship docked in Yokohama have tested positive.
New Studies on Bats Indicate Hundreds of New Coronavirus Strains
Kevin Olival, a disease ecologist with nonprofit research firm EcoHealth Alliance, has been studying the link between viruses carried by bats and spillovers of the infections from bats to humans.
Olival told NPR that over the past years, their studies brought them to the discovery of around 400 new coronavirus strains in bats that were sampled in China. The finding suggests that there are hundreds of potential strains that could spur another outbreak aside from the existing one.
Usually, viruses that spread to humans from animals need a mutational step to get humans sick. An infected bat, for instance, would require another host to get infected. The second host should be one that is in closer contact with humans so the infection will take place.
However, Olival explained that through their studies over the years, SARS-related strains in bat populations across China have the capacity to directly infect humans without the need for a second host.
Studies are still underway to establish concrete data on how many coronavirus strains are in bat populations in China.
Research Suggests CoViD-19 More Contagious than SARS
When the SARS outbreak kicked off in 2002, researchers discovered that it was easier to contain the virus since it was not as fast-spreading as expected. However, things are much different with the Wuhan coronavirus.
Researchers who have been studying the novel virus since it started late in December believe that one person who carries the strain has the capacity to infect up to three other people, Vox reported.
If the theories come out to be true in the near future, it could mean that the new coronavirus is more infectious and fast-spreading as opposed to the period and capacity that comes with SARS and seasonal flu.
The said studies were published in the New England Journal of Medicine paper.
Multiple Routes for CoViD-19, Study Suggests
Meanwhile, a recent study published in Emerging Microbes & Infections suggested that there are other routes of infection for the Wuhan coronavirus aside from what has already been established.
According to Chinese scientists who authored the study, they found evidence indicating that the CoViD-19 strain can have an oral-fecal transmission route. Samples were collected from 178 hospitalized patients in a Wuhan hospital.
The study's results are the first to suggest that the novel coronavirus can infect other people through body fluids, respiratory, and oral-fecal routes.
The fight against CoViD-19 continues and while the number of infected cases in China has dropped over the past few days, the outbreak appears to be just starting in other countries such as Japan and South Korea.
