| What the US needs to know
about the Wuhan coronavirus There are now five confirmed cases of the Wuhan coronavirus here in the United States. While the arrival of a new virus is never welcomed news, remember: The threat in the United States is low.
We are still getting more information about the five patients, but the one thing they all have in common is that they recently traveled to Wuhan, China. This means, as far as we know, there's been no person-to-person transmission in this country. So if you have flu-like symptoms but have not traveled to Wuhan, China, recently or been in close contact with someone who has, you're likely in the clear. However, if you do have concerns, do not hesitate to contact your local health care provider.
Right now the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is continuing to test other potential cases, working to make testing for the virus easier, and has now implemented screenings at 20 different US airports. "We need to be preparing as if this is a pandemic, but I continue to hope that it is not," said Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.
One thing we shouldn't forget is that the US is still in the middle of flu season and that has affected far more Americans than the Wuhan coronavirus. The CDC estimates there have been at least 15 million flu illnesses and more than 8,000 deaths so far this flu season.
It's still not too late to get your flu shot and practice those simple things we learned in grade school, like washing our hands and covering our mouths when we cough. They are really key to avoiding these infections. | |  | |
The situation in China
While cases of Wuhan coronavirus have now been found in more than 10 countries, China remains the only country where patients have died, prompting authorities to introduce unprecedented emergency measures to stop the spread of the virus.
The fact that 15 cities in China have been put under some kind of lockdown has been the most astonishing action. This means they're effectively trying to contain 57 million people -- that's larger than the entire population of South Korea.
We still don't know how effective these steps will be and some experts say quarantine efforts could have wider consequences.
One of the most challenging parts of containing the virus is that the outbreak began just before China's biggest holiday, Lunar New Year. This is the time of year when hundreds of millions of people mass migrate back to their hometowns. China has had to take bold steps to cancel large-scale celebrations, and authorities have urged people to avoid holding large family gatherings. | | How bad is it? The answer is: We still don't really know. We do know that it's a type of coronavirus, which is in the same family as SARS and MERS, and that it can spread from human to human. What we don't know is how transmissible or deadly it is.
If you look at previous coronaviruses, SARS was highly transmissible, but MERS was deadlier.
So far, the CDC believes that the Wuhan coronavirus has an incubation period of two to 14 days.
"Based on what we know now about this virus, our concern for transmission before symptoms develop is low, so that is reassuring," Dr. Jennifer Layden, an epidemiologist with the Illinois Department of Health, said late last week.
However, over the weekend, China's health minister Ma Xiaowei made a startling statement, saying that people can spread the Wuhan coronavirus before they became symptomatic.
Ma didn't explain why he thinks the virus can be spread before someone has symptoms. But if the Chinese health minister is right -- and there are those who doubt him -- that means the five confirmed cases in the United States might have been infectious while traveling from Wuhan to Arizona, California, Illinois and Washington state, even if they had no symptoms at the time.
"We at CDC don't have clear evidence that patients are infectious before symptom onset, but we are actively investigating that possibility," said CDC's Messonnier. | | | | |
But wait, there's more!
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From the desk of Dr. Gupta
| | It was April 12, 2013, and I was filming a segment for "60 Minutes" with one of the owners of the Los Angeles Lakers. That evening we were at the Staples Center watching the Lakers in a real battle against the Golden State Warriors. With three minutes left on the clock, Kobe Bryant made what looked like a pretty routine move around a defender, then suddenly crumpled to the ground.
The crowd came roaring to their feet.
Kobe had been fouled, but he had also heard a pop and felt like someone had kicked him hard in the back of his calf. While we weren't sure, I heard the trainers immediately suspect a torn Achilles tendon -- one of the most devastating injuries in sports. As Kobe sat on the court holding the back of his ankle, we subsequently learned that he was actually trying to feel if the tendon was there or not. When he realized it wasn't there, he actually tried to grab the torn end of it and pull it up on his own. I can't even imagine the pain.
And despite the terrible injury, Kobe stayed in the game long enough to sink two free throws before hobbling off the court. It made all the difference.
The Lakers ended up beating the Warriors 118-116.
I have always loved basketball, and getting to see an iconic athlete like Kobe Bryant play was the athletic equivalent of seeing The Beatles in concert. You just knew you were witnessing a level of talent that rarely graces this Earth. But with Kobe it wasn't just talent, it was also his grit. That night, after suffering what seemed to be a career-ending injury, Kobe told his girls in the locker room, "Daddy's going to be fine, work hard and go from there."
Like most of you, I sat around this weekend with my family, my own three girls, and delicately talked about what happened. While I had long followed Kobe for basketball, my girls had been enamored with his family – all girls, just like our family. This weekend even happened to be my middle daughter's 13th birthday, the same age as Kobe's daughter Gigi.
It was just so sad, they told me. As someone who always tries to make sense of things for a global audience, there are some things, I told them, that are simply inexplicable. And sometimes, that is OK.
Instead, I spent the time with my girls taking them back to that night of April 12, 2013. I did my best to demonstrate the superhuman feats of an extraordinary man. They laughed as I pivoted around the room with an imaginary basketball pretending I had mastered the perfect fadeaway shot. And then I told them that Kobe did in fact make good on his promise to his own daughters. He did recover and play again just eight months later, despite the long odds that had been stacked against him.
Then together we watched the highlights of his final NBA game, when he put on a show, scoring 60 points and ended his career by blowing a kiss to the fans.
"Mamba out," he said. | | CNN Health's The Results Are In with Dr. Sanjay Gupta shows up in your inbox every Tuesday. Like what you see? Don't like what you see? Let us know. We're all about self improvement. Did a friend forward you this newsletter? Sign yourself up! | | | | |
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