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Understanding Life
Understanding Coronavirus
Since the identification of the first cases of the coronavirus in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, there has been a significant amount of confusion regarding the origin and spread of the so-called 'coronavirus', officially named SARS-CoV-2, and the cause of the disease COVID-19. Conflicting messages from the media and officials across different countries and organizations, the abundance of disparate sources of information, unfounded conspiracy theories on the origins of the newly emerging virus and the inconsistent public health measures across different countries, have all served to increase the level of anxiety in the population. Where did the virus come from? How is it transmitted? How does it cause disease? Is it like flu? What is a pandemic? What can we do to stop its spread? Written by a leading expert, this concise and accessible introduction provides answers to the most common questions surrounding coronavirus for a general audience.
- GenresScienceNonfiction
136 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 9, 2020
47 people are currently reading
59 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
July 26, 2020
A very concise and clear book, rather a handbook on the pandemic that has put the entire world in a tailspin. Since the time the first cases of COVID-19 were unearthed in the Hubei province of Wuhan, surmises, conjectures and conspiracy theories have abounded about the origin, nature and trajectory of the pandemic that in transmissibility has taken the entire planet by devilish storm. At the time of writing this review, more than sixteen million spanning 215 nations have been afflicted with this virus with close to 650,000 succumbing to it. Even as the medical and scientific community is racing against time to develop a vaccine/drug for this highly infectious virus, the discourse surrounding the same has taken on contours ranging from the sublime to the silly.
In his book, “Understanding Coronavirus”, Professor in the Departments of Systems Biology and Biomedical Informatics at Columbia University, Raul Rabadan tries to set matters straight. Mr. Rabadan us also the Director of the Program for Mathematical Genomics at Columbia University. A former fellow at the Theoretical Physics Division at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, in Geneva, Switzerland, Mr., Rabadan joined the School of Natural Sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey in 2003. He has been faculty at Columbia University since 2008. He has been named one of Popular Science’s Brilliant 10 (2010), a Stewart Trust Fellow (2013), and he received the Harold and Golden Lamport (2014), Diz Pintado (2018) and Phillip Sharp (2018) awards. Impeccable credentials indeed. In a language that is easy and bereft of alphabet soup and “medicine speak”, Mr. Rabadan handholds his readers through the basics of the workings of the corona virus and a possible cure.
As Mr. Rabadan informs his readers, that “at the end of December 2019, an outbreak of pneumonia cases of unknown origin was reported in Wuhan, Hubei province, China. The patients presented with high fever and had difficulty breathing. Most of these cases were related to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, where, in addition to seafood, a variety of live animals were also sold. Other infections occurred in people staying at a nearby hotel on December 23–27. All tests carried out by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention for known viruses and bacteria were negative, indicating the presence of a previously unreported agent. A month later, by the beginning of February 2020, the virus was found in several countries across the globe, and on March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared it a global pandemic. The disease caused by the new coronavirus was called coronavirus disease 19, or COVID-19.”
If any of you wondered how the viruses are named, you need not look beyond Mr. Rabadan’s book. The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) represents a group of experts that determine how to name and classify viruses based on a series of criteria, including the similarity with other viruses and the hosts they infect. The committee on taxonomy of viruses determined on February 11, 2020 that the new coronavirus responsible for the outbreak in Wuhan in December 2019 belongs to the existing species of SARS-like viruses.
Mr. Rabadan goes on to highlight the various factors associated with the virus such as the basic Reproduction rate, the transmissibility potential, the myriad health care initiatives undertaken by countries across the globe in response to this virus, the progression of the disease, the most vulnerable segment of the populace and the limited risk mitigation measures by way of treatment that we have at our disposal. Mr. Rabadan also dispels the myth that COVID-19 is akin to Influenza in its working. To paraphrase him, “these are very different viruses. Influenza viruses are similar in size to coronaviruses, but the genome of influenza is much smaller, with only 13,000 nucleotides split into eight different segments. The replication strategy, the way of entering the human cells, and the range of hosts are very different from SARS-CoV-2. Influenza and coronaviruses are two very different viruses, belonging to two very different families and having very different means of entering cells and replicating. They also encode their genomic material in different ways, and the proteins and genes of the two viruses have no resemblance to each other. They have different incubation periods – a couple of days for influenza and five or more for SARS-CoV-2 – and the pattern of infections is different. Seasonal influenza is mostly a disease of the upper respiratory tract. Although complications and pneumonias can occur, they are not as common as in COVID-19. Seasonal influenza morbidity and mortality are associated with the very young and the old, whereas COVID-19 cases in the young population are rare. There are specific drugs and vaccines for seasonal influenza, whereas no drugs or vaccines are available for the 2019–2020 COVID-19 outbreak.”
Mr. Rabadan also explains concepts such as “super spreaders” in a manner that is easy to comprehend and grasp. “Super-spreaders have been identified as deviations in the number of infections from the expected number. By estimating the R0 of an infectious disease, one can calculate the maximum number of infected people from an infected individual. Deviations from that number indicate the presence of super-spreading. For instance, if the R0 is estimated to be 1, the probability that a single individual infects more than 10 would be very low, less than one in a million. If we find a few individuals infecting more than 10 cases in a disease with an R0 of 1, it would suggest that there are super-spreading events.”
Dexamethasone an anti-inflammatory steroid, has, in a trial conducted in the United Kingdom proved that it could save lives of those afflicted by the COVID-19 virus. Along with the repurposed drug Remdesivir, this provides hope for millions of people across the globe. The first results of a large clinical trial of Remdesivir with more than 1000 individuals has shown that it could reduce the time of infection by four days, but not a drastic reduction in COVID-19-associated mortality. Based on these results the US Food and Drug Administration issued an “emergency use authorization” for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infections.Clinical trials for vaccines are underway in various geographies and are in various phases.
While we may be a long way away from a definitive cure or a vaccine, there is no doubt that we need to institute some measures that prevent a surge capacity in the disease that overwhelms the health care infrastructure. We all need to do out incremental bits by wearing masks in public and practicing uncompromising respiratory and hand hygiene. We can also educate ourselves by reading Mr. Rabadan’s wonderful book!
In his book, “Understanding Coronavirus”, Professor in the Departments of Systems Biology and Biomedical Informatics at Columbia University, Raul Rabadan tries to set matters straight. Mr. Rabadan us also the Director of the Program for Mathematical Genomics at Columbia University. A former fellow at the Theoretical Physics Division at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, in Geneva, Switzerland, Mr., Rabadan joined the School of Natural Sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey in 2003. He has been faculty at Columbia University since 2008. He has been named one of Popular Science’s Brilliant 10 (2010), a Stewart Trust Fellow (2013), and he received the Harold and Golden Lamport (2014), Diz Pintado (2018) and Phillip Sharp (2018) awards. Impeccable credentials indeed. In a language that is easy and bereft of alphabet soup and “medicine speak”, Mr. Rabadan handholds his readers through the basics of the workings of the corona virus and a possible cure.
As Mr. Rabadan informs his readers, that “at the end of December 2019, an outbreak of pneumonia cases of unknown origin was reported in Wuhan, Hubei province, China. The patients presented with high fever and had difficulty breathing. Most of these cases were related to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, where, in addition to seafood, a variety of live animals were also sold. Other infections occurred in people staying at a nearby hotel on December 23–27. All tests carried out by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention for known viruses and bacteria were negative, indicating the presence of a previously unreported agent. A month later, by the beginning of February 2020, the virus was found in several countries across the globe, and on March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared it a global pandemic. The disease caused by the new coronavirus was called coronavirus disease 19, or COVID-19.”
If any of you wondered how the viruses are named, you need not look beyond Mr. Rabadan’s book. The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) represents a group of experts that determine how to name and classify viruses based on a series of criteria, including the similarity with other viruses and the hosts they infect. The committee on taxonomy of viruses determined on February 11, 2020 that the new coronavirus responsible for the outbreak in Wuhan in December 2019 belongs to the existing species of SARS-like viruses.
Mr. Rabadan goes on to highlight the various factors associated with the virus such as the basic Reproduction rate, the transmissibility potential, the myriad health care initiatives undertaken by countries across the globe in response to this virus, the progression of the disease, the most vulnerable segment of the populace and the limited risk mitigation measures by way of treatment that we have at our disposal. Mr. Rabadan also dispels the myth that COVID-19 is akin to Influenza in its working. To paraphrase him, “these are very different viruses. Influenza viruses are similar in size to coronaviruses, but the genome of influenza is much smaller, with only 13,000 nucleotides split into eight different segments. The replication strategy, the way of entering the human cells, and the range of hosts are very different from SARS-CoV-2. Influenza and coronaviruses are two very different viruses, belonging to two very different families and having very different means of entering cells and replicating. They also encode their genomic material in different ways, and the proteins and genes of the two viruses have no resemblance to each other. They have different incubation periods – a couple of days for influenza and five or more for SARS-CoV-2 – and the pattern of infections is different. Seasonal influenza is mostly a disease of the upper respiratory tract. Although complications and pneumonias can occur, they are not as common as in COVID-19. Seasonal influenza morbidity and mortality are associated with the very young and the old, whereas COVID-19 cases in the young population are rare. There are specific drugs and vaccines for seasonal influenza, whereas no drugs or vaccines are available for the 2019–2020 COVID-19 outbreak.”
Mr. Rabadan also explains concepts such as “super spreaders” in a manner that is easy to comprehend and grasp. “Super-spreaders have been identified as deviations in the number of infections from the expected number. By estimating the R0 of an infectious disease, one can calculate the maximum number of infected people from an infected individual. Deviations from that number indicate the presence of super-spreading. For instance, if the R0 is estimated to be 1, the probability that a single individual infects more than 10 would be very low, less than one in a million. If we find a few individuals infecting more than 10 cases in a disease with an R0 of 1, it would suggest that there are super-spreading events.”
Dexamethasone an anti-inflammatory steroid, has, in a trial conducted in the United Kingdom proved that it could save lives of those afflicted by the COVID-19 virus. Along with the repurposed drug Remdesivir, this provides hope for millions of people across the globe. The first results of a large clinical trial of Remdesivir with more than 1000 individuals has shown that it could reduce the time of infection by four days, but not a drastic reduction in COVID-19-associated mortality. Based on these results the US Food and Drug Administration issued an “emergency use authorization” for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infections.Clinical trials for vaccines are underway in various geographies and are in various phases.
While we may be a long way away from a definitive cure or a vaccine, there is no doubt that we need to institute some measures that prevent a surge capacity in the disease that overwhelms the health care infrastructure. We all need to do out incremental bits by wearing masks in public and practicing uncompromising respiratory and hand hygiene. We can also educate ourselves by reading Mr. Rabadan’s wonderful book!
June 9, 2021
This book offers a concise summary about the coronavirus and the COVID-19 pandemic. The book is part of a new series of short introductions published by Cambridge University Press called "𝘜𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘓𝘪𝘧𝘦".
The book is comprised of an introduction followed by 7 chapters that cover: 1️⃣ basic concepts in epidemiology (e.g. the reproduction number (R), herd immunity, case fatality and mortality rates, flattening the epidemic curve), 2️⃣ coronaviruses (what they are, their structure, and how they infect cells), 3️⃣ how the coronavirus is mutating and changing, 4️⃣ COVID-19 (how the outbreak started, clinical characteristics of the disease, etc), 5️⃣ how COVID-19 compares with SARS, 6️⃣ how COVID-19 compares with seasonal and pandemic Influenza, and 7️⃣ therapeutic and vaccine options.
In my opinion, the book has some shortcomings. For example, it has a very limited discussion of the body's immune response to the virus; the chapter comparing COVID-19 with Influenza felt a little bit fragmented and deficient; and the chapter covering therapeutic options was too shallow.
On the other hand, the book has several strengths, including 1️⃣ its numerous coloured illustrations and graphs, 2️⃣ its structure of question-and-answer format making it easy to access specific information, 3️⃣ a good introduction to phylogenetic trees that are used to track viral evolution, and 4️⃣ a list of references at the end of the book with notes about relevant information from each reference.
All in all, a good brief introduction that you can read to get some foundational knowledge about the coronavirus, though I would rather recommend the book "𝘝𝘪𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘴, 𝘗𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘤, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺" as an alternative primer on the topic.
The book is comprised of an introduction followed by 7 chapters that cover: 1️⃣ basic concepts in epidemiology (e.g. the reproduction number (R), herd immunity, case fatality and mortality rates, flattening the epidemic curve), 2️⃣ coronaviruses (what they are, their structure, and how they infect cells), 3️⃣ how the coronavirus is mutating and changing, 4️⃣ COVID-19 (how the outbreak started, clinical characteristics of the disease, etc), 5️⃣ how COVID-19 compares with SARS, 6️⃣ how COVID-19 compares with seasonal and pandemic Influenza, and 7️⃣ therapeutic and vaccine options.
In my opinion, the book has some shortcomings. For example, it has a very limited discussion of the body's immune response to the virus; the chapter comparing COVID-19 with Influenza felt a little bit fragmented and deficient; and the chapter covering therapeutic options was too shallow.
On the other hand, the book has several strengths, including 1️⃣ its numerous coloured illustrations and graphs, 2️⃣ its structure of question-and-answer format making it easy to access specific information, 3️⃣ a good introduction to phylogenetic trees that are used to track viral evolution, and 4️⃣ a list of references at the end of the book with notes about relevant information from each reference.
All in all, a good brief introduction that you can read to get some foundational knowledge about the coronavirus, though I would rather recommend the book "𝘝𝘪𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘴, 𝘗𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘤, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺" as an alternative primer on the topic.
October 21, 2021
There's a lot that we don't know yet about Covid-19. However, it is also true that there is an amazing amount knowledge we already have of this virus (SARS-Cov-2) and the disease (Covid-19) it causes thanks to modern technology. The author Raul Rabadan is leading researcher in the field who wrote this book as a summary of what is known as of June. It is written for laymen, but it is a little bit technical at times, so it may not be an easy read for people with a weak science background. He is including a list of research articles as a reference to his text as well as for additional reading.
In the book he is describing what a corona virus is, this particular corona virus (SARS-Cov-2), the genetics/RNA, when it came into existence and likely how, how it is evolving and changing, how it spreads, how it compares with SARS (pretty similar), how it compares with influenza (totally different), he discusses therapeutic options, common misunderstandings and ongoing research. Corona viruses are spherical and have spike proteins used for entering the cell (via ACE2 enzymes). The spike proteins make the viruses look like crowns in electron microscopes, thereof the name. They also have membrane proteins, envelope proteins and a nucleicapsid protein. Corona viruses uses RNA to store their genetic information. That’s what defines a corona virus and there are 100’s of them, 7 infect humans, some are harmless, some are lethal, they have around ~30,000 base pairs.
By looking at the genome for SARS-Cov-2 and how it has changed we can know that it first came into existence in the middle of November 2019 via mutation most likely involving recombination. He explains the difference between infection fatality rate, case fatality rate, mortality rate, and why the estimate for the case fatality rate has changed.
The author dedicates chapter six to a comparison with the SARS-Cov(-1) virus and the disease it caused SARS (2002/2003). They are very similar, in fact, they are both not just corona viruses they are the same virus species and their diseases have very similar symptoms. However, SARS was deadlier but luckily not as contagious. He dedicates chapter seven to a comparison with pandemic and seasonal influenza. Some people tend to conflate seasonal and pandemic influenza. When a new influenza that no one has immunity against is introduced and spread around the world, that is a pandemic influenza. Examples are the Spanish flu in 1918, the 1957, 1968, and 2009 flu. Seasonal influenza is mutated/weakened versions of previous influenza and much less deadly than Covid-19. In terms of danger Covid-19 compares to a pandemic influenza. However, it is a completely different virus and the disease has different symptoms.
It is a relatively short book, but it has a lot of information. I learned something about Covid-19, viruses in general, the evolution of viruses, pandemics, influenza, genetics, and much more. I love learning interesting new things about how the world works and therefore I love this book. The book was well written, concise, well organized, and provided a lot of resources. Considering that there’s so much misinformation and disinformation circulating I think it is great to read something substantial from an expert and a researcher. Certainly, there is a lot we don’t know yet, but we should have a better understanding of what we do already know. Unfortunately, the print in the paperback is small and probably too small for some readers. Normally I would deduct a point for such an oversight, but I was able to read it and the book is so interesting that I give it five stars.
In the book he is describing what a corona virus is, this particular corona virus (SARS-Cov-2), the genetics/RNA, when it came into existence and likely how, how it is evolving and changing, how it spreads, how it compares with SARS (pretty similar), how it compares with influenza (totally different), he discusses therapeutic options, common misunderstandings and ongoing research. Corona viruses are spherical and have spike proteins used for entering the cell (via ACE2 enzymes). The spike proteins make the viruses look like crowns in electron microscopes, thereof the name. They also have membrane proteins, envelope proteins and a nucleicapsid protein. Corona viruses uses RNA to store their genetic information. That’s what defines a corona virus and there are 100’s of them, 7 infect humans, some are harmless, some are lethal, they have around ~30,000 base pairs.
By looking at the genome for SARS-Cov-2 and how it has changed we can know that it first came into existence in the middle of November 2019 via mutation most likely involving recombination. He explains the difference between infection fatality rate, case fatality rate, mortality rate, and why the estimate for the case fatality rate has changed.
The author dedicates chapter six to a comparison with the SARS-Cov(-1) virus and the disease it caused SARS (2002/2003). They are very similar, in fact, they are both not just corona viruses they are the same virus species and their diseases have very similar symptoms. However, SARS was deadlier but luckily not as contagious. He dedicates chapter seven to a comparison with pandemic and seasonal influenza. Some people tend to conflate seasonal and pandemic influenza. When a new influenza that no one has immunity against is introduced and spread around the world, that is a pandemic influenza. Examples are the Spanish flu in 1918, the 1957, 1968, and 2009 flu. Seasonal influenza is mutated/weakened versions of previous influenza and much less deadly than Covid-19. In terms of danger Covid-19 compares to a pandemic influenza. However, it is a completely different virus and the disease has different symptoms.
It is a relatively short book, but it has a lot of information. I learned something about Covid-19, viruses in general, the evolution of viruses, pandemics, influenza, genetics, and much more. I love learning interesting new things about how the world works and therefore I love this book. The book was well written, concise, well organized, and provided a lot of resources. Considering that there’s so much misinformation and disinformation circulating I think it is great to read something substantial from an expert and a researcher. Certainly, there is a lot we don’t know yet, but we should have a better understanding of what we do already know. Unfortunately, the print in the paperback is small and probably too small for some readers. Normally I would deduct a point for such an oversight, but I was able to read it and the book is so interesting that I give it five stars.
August 15, 2021
As promised in the blurb this book was a quick, but well-explained look at COVID-19 and the pandemic.
Although considering we're now in the grip of the Delta variant the bits about children not likely to suffer from serious COVID isn't as true.
On the plus side we do have vaccines now, thank you science!
Although considering we're now in the grip of the Delta variant the bits about children not likely to suffer from serious COVID isn't as true.
On the plus side we do have vaccines now, thank you science!
August 27, 2021
well written and clear
Some of the material presented by Rabadan was complicated and dense, but the numerous graphics were quite helpful. I particularly appreciated how well the writer debunked common misconceptions about Coronavirus. Now I understand how and why this virus is not the seasonal influenza.
Some of the material presented by Rabadan was complicated and dense, but the numerous graphics were quite helpful. I particularly appreciated how well the writer debunked common misconceptions about Coronavirus. Now I understand how and why this virus is not the seasonal influenza.
April 20, 2021
Great little book on the basics of SARS-COV-2 and Covid-19. Easy to understand even for laymen. Some of the statistics are a bit out of date but that's to be expected with a progressing pandemic. It's a quick read (I read it in a day) and I highly recommend it.
November 6, 2020
A compelling read, a stellar example of a scientist writing for non-specialist audiences!
December 3, 2020
Love this book. Simple, it took some of my anxiety away by understanding the virus and how we can combat it.
November 8, 2022
A solid intro to the key points of the pandemic. Already feeling its age barely a year on, but a good text to start with if you need to orient yourself in the pandemic. Would recommend.
July 1, 2020
Though some topics are a bit specific, Understanding Coronavirus is a much-needed primer that offers basic information in a neat little package. See my full review at https://inquisitivebiologist.com/2020...
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews