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Oxford University is working on a vaccine for the novel coronavirus COVID-19 which has had some early success.
The vaccine was used by scientists at the National Institutes of Health’s Rocky Mountain Laboratory and given to macaque monkeys. The single dose of the vaccine had cured all six of the monkeys that were tested.
“The rhesus macaque is pretty much the closest thing we have to humans,” Dr. Munster said, via the New York Times.
The coronavirus mainly comes from animals and a majority of those who were infected early either worked at or frequently visited the Huanan seafood wholesale market in Wuhan, according to The Guardian. The virus is similar to Severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) and Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome (Mers).
The Wuhan coronavirus is transmitted from person to person through “droplet transmission.” That means an infected person can pass the virus by sneezing or coughing on another person as well as by direct contact.
While a majority of the cases have been detected in the United States and China — with more than 56,000 deaths in the United States — it has now reached many countries around the world. It has also been confirmed in Italy, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and many other eastern countries.
