In this article I’m going to talk about the similarities between coronavirus and common cold. I hope you will appreciate it.

What is Coronavirus?

Coronavirus is a group of RNA virus that leads to a variety of respiratory, gastrointestinal and neurological in humans and other animals. Think of coronavirus as the whole family of the virus or the “title” and any diseases that may come into the knowledge of the Humans are its family members. The main reason for the spread of coronavirus is the slaughter of animals and the unhygienic selling of the flesh around the world.

Some of the identified strains of the coronavirus in the past and the present are :-

S.A.R.S. or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus or S.A.R.S. CoV.

Exotic animals from a Guangdong marketplace are likely to have been the immediate origin of the SARS-CoV that infected humans in the winters of both 2002-2003 and 2003-2004. Horseshoe Bat’s zoonotic virus evolved to infect Humans.

M.E.R.S. or Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus, or MERS‐CoV.

It was first discovered in Saudi Arabia in 2012. It is also a “zoonotic virus” meaning the virus developed itself to penetrate the immune system of humans from animals. M.E.R.S. is the result of development of the virus from Camels to Humans.

S.A.R.S. CoV-2 or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus or COVID-19 or Coronavirus 2.

It is said to have been originated from a fish market in the Wuhan province of China. Zoonotic virus development from Bats to Humans is the core reason for the spread of this strain.

NL63 (alpha)

First discovered in Holland, 2004. In a seven month old infant. This virus is said to been affecting mostly the children.

OC43 (beta)

Human coronavirus OC43 is a member of the species Betacoronavirus 1, which infects humans and cattle. Source – Wikipedia

Apart from these there are two more strains 229E (alpha) and HKU1 (beta). The 229E is also said to infect both Humans and Bats. The HKU1 (beta) was first discovered in January 2004 from a man in Hong Kong.

Symptoms of the COVID-19

The most common symptoms of the COVID-19 are cough, sneeze, headache, body pain, loss of smell and taste, sore throat
diarrhoea, difficulty in breathing,
chest pain or pressure
loss of speech or movement.

Almost 2.68 million people have died from COVID-19 till today.

Vaccines for S.A.R.S. CoV-2

Pfizer and BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson&Johnson, Sputnik V, AstraZeneca, Sinovac, NOVAVAX, Covaxin, CoviSheild, and INOVIO-CEPI. Many vaccines are being tested under the phaseII and phaseIII clinical trials. More than 450 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccines has been administered in 136 countries out of 195

Now let’s talk about the common cold.

What is common cold?

The word “cold” came into existence in the later part of the 15th century. It is a viral infection in the upper respiratory tract. More than 2.8 billion people have died from the common cold since it was first discovered in England, or England was the first country to take necessary precautions against it.

Rhinovirus is the most cooking virus found in the common cold that infects humans. Common cold is the most “common” disease for the human kind. On a average an adult gets infected by the common cold almost twice or thrice in a year.

Symptoms of the common cold

Fever, runny nose, coughing, headaches and sore troth. People usually recover between 3-7 days after getting infected depending upon their immunity system.

Vaccines for the common cold

To this date there is no specific vaccine for the common cold disease. If the common cold catches, a doctor may prescribe you vaccine or pills based on your symptoms and not the disease.

The reason for me writing about coronavirus and common cold are for the humans who are feeling low, sad, scared or panicking. I want to tell this to you like the common cold don’t fear the “corona cold” just like the common cold take necessary precautions, take the vaccine and by this year end you will have the life which you had about an year ago! Perhaps in the future you will have beautiful, funny, tiring moments of coronavirus like you have of common cold with your friends, family or loved ones.