Question

Comparison Essay

In this paper you will be asked to compare two items, showing both their similarities and differences. Your drafts might explore both equally, but your finished product will probably emphasize one over the other (usually the most interesting or surprising). The other might be mentioned briefly in your introduction or discussed in more depth in an opening body paragraph.

Topic

-Two easily confused diseases (corona virus vs. the flu comes to mind)

Answer 1

Similarities	Coronavirus	Flu (influenza)
organ infected	Lungs	Lungs
Children	spread the infection	spread the infection
Mode of spread	Droplet nuclei and fomites	Droplet nuclei and fomites
Shed	blood, sputum, feces, urine	blood, sputum, feces, urine
clinical spectrum	Asymptomatic, mild disease, severe, Acute respiratory distress syndrome and sepsis	Asymptomatic, mild disease, severe, Acute respiratory distress syndrome and sepsis
diagnostic test	Real-time PCR (polymerase chain reaction test)	Real-time PCR (polymerase chain reaction test)

Differences
	Corona virus	Flu (influenza)
Family	Coronaviridae	Orthomyxoviridae
Genetic material	positive-sense RNA virus	negative-sense RNA genome
Median incubation time ( time between infection to development of symptoms)	Longer	shorter
Serial time (time between successive cases)	Longer (6 days)	shorter (3 days)
viral shedding	24 hours prior to symptoms	3 - 5 days prior to symptoms
reproductive numbers (number of secondary cases developed by index case)	2 - 2.5 times higher	lesser than covid
the severity of disease in Children	milder	can be serious
Population at high risk	hypertensive, elderly, cardiac disease	immunocompromised, pregnancy, elderly, patient with organ transplant, cochlear implant

Effective treatment	No	yes - oseltamivir
Effective vaccine	Undertrial	Yes - 80% effective