Question

In the early stages of CoVID 19 many public figures compared coronavirus to the influenza virus. The basis for this claim was because they both cause respiratory illness and because the flu shows seasonality they thought so would coronavirus. However the viruses that cause flu and CoVID 19 are very different from each other.

Discussion Post (3 points) : Identify and explain a feature that is different between these viruses.

Answer 1

The main virulence factor in flu is a protein named PB-1 F2 while in Covid-19 a specific Receptor binding domain is present in the spike glycoprotein which involves the ACE-2 enzyme to enter in a cell.

Apart from this the incubation period of flu is 1-4 days while it is 2-14 days in case of Covid-19.

Symptoms are almost same in case of both but the onset of symptoms are quite slow in Covid-19. At initial stage fever, tiredness, dry cough, redness in eyes and loss of the olfactory and gustatory sensation occurs.

Respiratory illness, Pneumonia, Headache is very common in case of Covid-19 while it occurs sometimes in case of flu.

In severe cases respiratory illness due to Covid-19 can lead to multiorgan failure which eventually leads to death while in flu this condition only occurs in co-morbidity cases.

In Covid-19 cases might be asymptomatic while in flu commonly symptoms occur.

Covid-19 is more communicable than flu so the number of secondary infections are high in Covid-19 comparative to flu.

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