The outbreak of the notorious virus, which began in Wuhan, China, has left hundreds of thousands sickened and infected and more than 20,000 people dead. [1] The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared it a pandemic, the United States has declared a national emergency, the US stock market has plunged, and several countries—such as India and Italy— are locked down. 

So, what is this coronavirus and how did it all get started? There is tons of information floating on the internet that you might have found, but how do you know what is right and what to follow? I suggest you visit the reputed source of the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention to find out more including the latest updates and safety recommendations.

To get to the bottom of the problem I decided to do some digging in the issue. This novel (seen for the first time) coronavirus 2019-nCoV was shutting down the world causing havoc and panic everywhere as scientists were scrambling to find where it all came from. I decided to share my findings with you in this blog post, so you don’t have to do the dirty work of reading through the technical jargon of medical journals.

Some early research published in the prestigious peer-reviewed medical journal The Lancet states that “documenting the presence of 2019-nCoV in a sample of patients, our study extends previous evidence that this virus has led to the novel pneumonia that has caused severe disease in Wuhan and other geographical localities. Currently available data suggest that 2019-nCoV infected the human population from a bat reservoir, although it remains unclear if a currently unknown animal species acted as an intermediate host between bats and humans.” [2]

The researchers additionally state that “viruses of the family Coronaviridae possess a single-strand, positive-sense RNA genome ranging from 26 to 32 kilobases in length. Coronaviruses have been identified in several avian hosts as well as in various mammals, including camels, bats, masked palm civets, mice, dogs, and cats. Novel mammalian coronaviruses are now regularly identified. For example, an HKU2-related coronavirus of bat origin was responsible for a fatal acute diarrhea syndrome in pigs in 2018.” [2]

Essentially, the scientists found a link between the various strands of several coronaviruses and mammalian origins for these viruses. Generally speaking, diseases from other animals often do not affect humans and vice versa. It seems as if in these cases, they can spread from a non-human, animal source to humans. That is the biggest danger of such viruses. 

The study also analyzed the origins of some previous infections that spread around the world and caused havoc earlier this century and attributes their origins to animals as well. Specifically, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) was a beta coronavirus that first came from Guangdong in southern China. This occurred in November of 2002 and was the cause of more than 8000 infections in humans and over 774 deaths distributed over 37 countries. Although the exact cause of this virus is unknown, it is known to be some mammalian animal. Moreover, the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), which led to over two thousand confirmed cases of infection and over 800 deaths worldwide, was also attributed to originating from a mammal—likely a bat. [2]

Having already encountered so many different types of earlier coronaviruses, it is sad to see another one making its way around the world infecting thousands of people. A key commonality between many of these viruses is that they came from consuming animals. Simply by following plant-based lifestyles, these diseases, including the most recent pandemic, might have been prevented. 

Nonetheless, a significant question remains: What can we do now in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic? Well, maintaining a whole food plant-based diet remains of the top actions you can take in addition to following all government guidelines regarding sanitation and social distancing. As the coronavirus is a respiratory infection, the same ways in which a plant-based diet help reduce influenza and pneumonia apply here. You can read more about influenza and pneumonia in an earlier blog post. Using a plant-based diet to fight asthma has also been found to be very beneficial as explained by the Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine. [3,4] 

All in all, we are in troubling times during this coronavirus pandemic. It is important that despite this unexpected disturbance to our lives, we continue to maintain healthy lifestyles by following a whole food plant-based lifestyle. It will not only help in response to the coronavirus but such a lifestyle will also leave you feeling energetic and amazing! I hope everyone stays safe and follows all government guidelines to keep both yourself and others in great health!

Sources:

[1] https://www.wsj.com/articles/coronavirus-lockdown-begins-in-india-as-global-cases-pass-420-000-11585133981

[2] https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30251-8/fulltext

[3] https://www.pcrm.org/health-topics/asthma

[4] https://www.pcrm.org/news/exam-room-podcast/asthma-and-coronavirus-how-plant-based-diet-could-help