I am dr Seema Yasmin.

I'm an expert in epidemics, the spread of disease and the spread of misinformation about disease.

Over the next few weeks, I'll be responding directly to your questions as you send them to me.

But right now, what I want to do is go through the 50 most googled questions about coronavirus asked this week, Starting from 50 and working down to one.

Yeah, Question 50 will corona virus mutate.

So right off the bat, we're talking about the new coronavirus.

It's real name is SARS COv two and it's part of this family of viruses called corona viruses.

And yes, like every virus this novel corona virus does mutate even though it has mutated, it doesn't seem to have mutated in a way that makes any meaningful difference to the way it spreads or causes disease in humans are symptoms sudden so they could be sudden onset.

But we see that more with the influenza virus, it looks like with covid 19 symptoms can be more gradual.

Does coronavirus affect animals?

So, yes, it can.

And it looks like this coronavirus may have originated in a bat, gone to another animal and then arrived in humans.

Does coronavirus kill healthy people?

Yes, it can.

And that's why we're making this point about social distancing.

The higher death rates are in older people and people with preexisting conditions and a suppressed immune system.

Can I get infected with the new coronavirus if I'm wearing a mask?

Yes, but it does greatly reduce your chance of getting infected.

The point here, though, is that because we have this massive shortage of masks, were encouraging people not to wear them unless they really need them, meaning they have symptoms or their near somebody who has symptoms.

Because we want to conserve as many masters possible for our first responders and healthcare workers.

When will a vaccine come?

Right now?

We're seeing the beginnings of Phase one clinical trials.

And the Phase one is where you're testing it only in healthy volunteers and a very small group of them.

From that point, it's then at least 18 months.

If not many years before you have a vaccine that both works and can be scaled up, do coronavirus symptoms come and go from the time somebody gets infected, it takes on average about five days for them to show symptoms.

But it could be as early as two days or as long as 14 days.

Once somebody is sick, it can be anywhere from around 2 to 6 weeks that they continue to have these symptoms.

Why is it named coronavirus?

When you look at it under an electron microscope, you see this.

The virus is studied with the spike proteins and they give it the appearance of having a halo or a crown and corona happens to be the latin word for crown.

Did coronavirus slowdown in china?

Yes, the virus seems to have reached a peak on the epidemic curve and then cases started to decline.

When was coronavirus discovered?

So it was back in december around december 26 that a chinese physician noticed an unusual pneumonia.

And then it was on january 7th that the new virus was identified.

Will coronavirus go away in the summer?

It's unlikely.

And especially here in the states will coronavirus affect the stock market?

Yes, we've already seen that happen.

Why is coronavirus called novel?

Novel?

Just means new.

Has coronavirus been around before that family of coronavirus is has been around for a very long time.

Four of them are what caused the common cold in us.

But this particular one, SARS-COv-2, is brand new.

Does coronavirus need isolation when somebody has symptoms?

We know they're contagious.

We want to keep them away from others to prevent the spread of disease.

What are coronavirus symptoms?

It causes fever, cough, shortness of breath And it can cause very severe pneumonias and potentially even death walk coronavirus go away.

Probably not totally.

Look at what happened with H1N1 flu in 2009.

It caused a pandemic that year and now it's a commonly circulating flu.

It's likely we'll see the same thing with this novel coronavirus.

Did coronavirus come from snakes?

Highly unlikely.

Why did the coronavirus start in China, China's a country of more than 1.3 billion people.

The chances of something starting there are just higher than starting in a smaller country and increasingly all of us, humans are living in closer proximity to animals.

So this happened in china, but it could have happened in many places.

Can coronavirus spread through water?

So.

No, there's no evidence right now that the virus can spread through water.

Will coronavirus end the world?

No, let's all take a collective deep breath.

I know it feels like the end of the world, but it isn't.

Is coronavirus in Mexico?

Yes, it has spread.

There can coronavirus spread through close.

Yes, it looks like the virus can survive on fabrics which coronavirus is in china.

I think this question is asking about the new coronavirus called SARS cov two.

Can the coronavirus be stopped?

Yes, it can eventually with isolating people who are sick practicing social distancing what the pandemic is at its peak.

And also developing antiviral treatments and vaccines.

Can the coronavirus live on surfaces?

Yes, we think it can survive on surfaces anywhere from a few hours to a few days, but it depends on the exact type of surface and on the environmental conditions.

Was coronavirus engineered?

No, it wasn't.

Whereas the coronavirus in the us, it's been detected in all 50 states.

Can coronavirus spread through food?

So right now, there's only evidence of this N virus spreading from one person to another.

There isn't evidence of people contracting the infection from touching a contaminated surface.

But that's theoretically possible.

And that could include food as well.

Can coronavirus spread through mail?

Now that we know it can potentially survive from a few hours to a few days on a variety of surfaces.

It is a possibility that male could be contaminated.

Why is coronavirus deadly?

It's deadly because it attaches to receptors on the surface of ourselves in our lungs and our respiratory tract.

And it can cause a very severe pneumonia that then causes a lung failure.

And then we can also see multi organ dysfunction as well.

Did the new coronavirus come from bats?

What we think at the moment is that this new virus came to us from bats who infected an intermediate animal and then that animal may have infected humans.

Why is the new coronavirus dangerous?

It's dangerous because it causes a respiratory tract infection?

It's also dangerous because this is the first time humans have been exposed to this virus and it means we have no preexisting immunity to it.

How did the new coronavirus spread in china?

So as I mentioned, we think that this new virus originated in bats.

Is coronavirus worse than the flu?

And getting asked this question so much.

I think people are wondering, well flu kills tens of thousands of americans every year.

Why are we so worried about this new virus?

Here's why I'm worried.

It looks like the death rate from the new coronavirus is at least 10 times higher than the death rate from seasonal flu.

Does coronavirus go away?

So I already answered that has coronavirus reached India?

Yes, sadly it has.

We've been seeing cases there reported since the end of january.

Is coronavirus pandemic?

Yes.

Is coronavirus new?

Yes.

Can coronavirus in dogs spread to humans?

There's one case of a dog infected with this new coronavirus.

It didn't show any signs of disease and there's no evidence of transmission from a dog to a human.

How does coronavirus work?

The virus enters the respiratory tract through the nose, the eyes or the mouth and then it takes over ourselves own machinery to its own ends to make more copies of the virus is corrupt.

God is coronavirus man made?

No it is not.

Is coronavirus in the U.

S.

Yes, it is definitely here can coronavirus be treated, sadly there's no specific antiviral treatment just for this coronavirus.

But what we do as doctors is treat the symptoms is coronavirus fatal.

Yes, sadly this new coronavirus can cause death, particularly in people who are older have a compromised immune system or have a pre existing health conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease.

Things like that is coronavirus curable.

No, we don't have a specific treatment for this.

New coronavirus is coronavirus airborne.

This one is so tricky because there's no universal definition of exactly what airborne means.

When a person who is infected with the new coronavirus coughs or sneezes, they dispersed droplets from their respiratory tract And those droplets can be full of virus.

They're said to travel about 3-6 ft.

Now compare that to somebody who has measles and sneezes the virus then clings to particles that hang in the air.

Those are much smaller particles compared to droplets.

They can travel further and they can just stay suspended in the air for a lot longer.

Now.

I will say this is a new virus right now.

What we're saying is that there's a droplet transmission.

We're not calling it airborne.

How did coronavirus start?

So this new coronavirus, as I've mentioned a few times, probably originated in bats, went from bats to an intermediate host, some other animal.

And then from that animal to humans, how does coronavirus spread?

So like I just mentioned with those droplets, what we understand is that an infected person coughs or sneezes and those virus laden droplets can land on another person make their way into the person's respiratory tract.

And that's how it spreads.

It could also spread through inanimate surfaces, maybe an elevator button or a door handle, But that's still being studied right now.

The evidence is person to person spread.

Is coronavirus deadly?

That's the number one question.

And the answer is yes worldwide.

This new coronavirus has killed more than 6000 people as of March 17th 2020.

So those are the most googled questions as of this week.

I do think there's a lot of power in information and a lot of comfort in dialogue.

So if you have any questions all, please put them here in the comments, Reach me on social media and I'll be back here in the wired channel, responding to your questions and concerns.

Mhm.