Does a flu shot prevent a coronavirus infection? The answer is no. These are two different viruses. There is no vaccine available yet against the new coronavirus.
Is the coronavirus comparable to Measles or Influenza? These are three entirely different viruses, each of which poses a danger and costs many lives every year. There is a seasonal Influenza vaccine. Measles are prevented through a vaccine as well. The Measles virus might be the most contagious virus that we know of. Measles are causing a weakening of the immune system and thus are opening the door for other infectious diseases. Therefore, a Measles vaccine is indispensable. Luckily, the coronavirus is not as infectious as the Measles virus, but its morbidity is higher.
Is it possible to contract two or more virus species? Such a co-infection still will be a rare event, but would have dramatic consequences, since the organism (its immune system) has to battle on several levels. Hence, our advice: Vaccination against Measles and Influenza are important, effective and in many cases safe lives.
How may I protect myself from a coronavirus infection? With a droplet infection there is no absolute certainty. The risk may be reduced by several simple measures, these include personal hygiene and behavior. It might be a simple advice, but regular hand washing (with soap!) does help, for details please see our first post. Too often we observe people who do not wash their hands after using the restroom, and then visiting the cafeteria of their company or institute! Too many people are lacking a basic understanding of hygiene. Such behavior does help spread diseases, not just the coronavirus.
Another advice: Do not touch your face and thus your mouth, nose and eyes (mucosa).
A certain basic hygiene to prevent the spread of infections is necessary in public institutions and transportation. This includes regular cleaning of surfaces that are touched by many people.
How do I disinfect a surface? The surface needs to be doused with an alcoholic disinfectant (do not spray!). The disinfectant may be distributed with a disposable tissue, but not rubbed dry. The disinfectant needs several minutes of incubation (the alcohol will evaporate).
Why not spray the disinfectant? Spraying will cause the distribution of the infectious agents present on the surface.
Where does this coronavirus come from? The virus originated in animals. Genetic analyses confirmed this. Diseases that are transmitted from animals to humans are called zoonoses. Many human diseases originated as zoonoses, examples include Measles, AIDS or the Flu, probably every known viral disease. Some of them jumped thousands of years ago, others were encountered more recently. And other zoonoses may be expected in the future. We have to expect further pandemics.
Stay tuned,
Sabine and Joerg