What are your questions about the coronavirus?
ideastream is answering as many questions as possible, with help from local experts in a range of fields. You can send us your questions with our online form, through our and or call us at 216-916-6476. We'll keep the answers coming on our website and on the air.
Kiana asked: Is it true the virus mutates, or is it deadly on its own?
Dr. Amy Edwards, an infectious disease physician at University Hospitals, said she鈥檚 seen reports out of China 鈥 where a majority of mortality has been 鈥 that patients come down with respiratory distress syndrome, or RDS.
鈥淏asically what happens is you get an infection in your lungs, and then you have a very severe inflammatory reaction to that infection and you get what we call diffuse lung injury or diffuse lung response,鈥 she said. 鈥淢y understanding is that鈥檚 what鈥檚 killing a lot of people.鈥
There have also been some cases of pneumonia, she said, but there鈥檚 a lot we don鈥檛 know about the virus, since it鈥檚 new to humans.
That鈥檚 something a lot of people have questions about, like 17-year-old high school student Lorenzo, who wondered if the virus was new, since Lysol cans say it can kill coronavirus.
Lysol , saying this outbreak is a new strain of the disease.
This specific virus is new to humans, Edwards said.
鈥淐oronavirus, as a family of viruses, is something we have known about for a very long time,鈥 she said.
Human coronavirus is one of the causes of the common cold. But this strain of the virus isn鈥檛 human coronavirus.
鈥淢ost likely it appears that it might be a bat coronavirus that has crossed over, probably via another animal, into humans,鈥 she said.
That鈥檚 part of the problem, Edwards said, because humans don鈥檛 have any natural immunity to this strain of the virus.