A Novel Coronavirus Outbreak: A Teaching-Case Study Mara Bognaski University of Southern NH IHP-330: Principles of Epidemiology Dr Terry Cobb April 7, 2024
A study of 99 cases were observed at Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital in January of 2000. The cases presented with fever and cough, with some of them with respiratory distress and organ failure. 67.6% of the cases were men and the average age was 55.5 years of age. (Haitham Bashier) Some disparities between the case study participants are age, sex, and fatality rates. Symptoms of the participants also varied, especially with severity of symptoms and rapidness of the disease. While seventeen patients developed acute respiratory distress, eleven of these patients died from multiple organ failure. This case study was done very early on in the Coronavirus outbreak however it shows the tread the disease followed. Most men were mostly hospitalized by Coronavirus and their mortality rate was higher. (Kharroubi, 2022) The true mortality rate of Coronavirus is still unknown due to multiple factors including other commodities, lack of resources in areas of the world to report a positive case, and a lack of unified testing. (The true death toll of COVID-19, 2021) The public health issue of Coronavirus in this case study was first believed to be seafood and animal centered from a seafood market in Wuhan; however, most of the cases presented with respiratory symptoms (ie pneumonia). The nature of the severity of the cases varied with 31.3% of the cases being discharged from the hospital shortly after admission, however the mortality rate was 11.1%. After the initial discovery and reporting of the novel virus in Wuhan, other countries began reporting cases as well. The high travel volume throughout Wuhan was believed to be the cause of the novel virus being transported to other countries. Due to the rapid transmission of the novel virus between humans, a Global Health Emergency was declared on January 20, 2000 by the World Health Organization. This comes
after on just January 23, 2000 Dr Tedros of the World Health Organization declared "This is an emergency in China, but it has not yet become a global health emergency. It may yet become one" (Haitham Bashier) At the time of this study, it seemed likely that the virus was seafood based, given the commonalities of the confirmed cases and the history of other coronaviruses that have been animal based in etiology. Given what is now known about Coronavirus and what the results were from this study, it is fair to say that the results of this small study were an indication of what was to come. Th original hypothesis of it being animal based was incorrect, however the population of human species it effected and how it affected them was accurate of the original study of the novel virus.