What’s in a name (or two)? The virus formerly known as 2019-nCoV and the disease formerly known as 2019-nCoV infection.
Are you confused by the new nomenclature for the virus and the disease?
Changes in names of microorganisms can be frustrating for non-health people as well as healthcare practitioners. Not least for ageing pathologists and medical laboratory scientists (me) who also struggle to keep up to date. The names of organisms and the diseases caused are important. It’s important we get the names correct and we use the names correctly so we have clarity when communicating about microorganisms and infectious diseases.
The virus formerly known as 2019-nCoV has been named by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV). The ICTV designated the virus as Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-COV-2) and it sits in the species Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus alongside SARS-COV. The species sits within the Genus: Betacoronavirus.
The World Health Organization has designated the disease caused by SARS-COV-2 as Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Getting the distinction correct between the cause or ætiological agent and the disease or syndrome or manifestation or condition is important. It’s frustrating to read experts refer to diseases by using microorganism names and vice versa. I find it odd when looking at a list titled something like “Important agents of concern” and see anthrax listed rather than Bacillus anthracis or in a list titled something like “Important diseases of concern” to see Listeria rather than listeriosis.
As you can tell I am a pedantic old fart.
Pleasantly surprised by the media reporting
That said, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the media reporting and the use of the disease name COVID-19. As expected medical and health professional groups have adopted the naming conventions in their stride and it’s good to see science shining through rather than what we often see when science is communicated poorly. That is, the race to the bottom and lowest common denominator communication based on a mistaken belief that people in general are either not capable of learning (an insult to the collective intelligence of humanity IMHO) or not interested. Annoyingly, I’ve heard a few people refer to the “COVID-19 virus” rather than using the designation SARS-COV-2.
The one thing which has confused some people is the name Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 which suggests that COVID-19 is similar to SARS from 2002 and 2003. The diseases are quite distinct, however, because the of the level of genomic similarity between Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-COV) and Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2), both viruses were put in the same species, i.e., Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus. The naming conventions used are more about the genetic relatedness rather than the disease manifestation similarities. Virus nomenclature and taxonomy is a little more complicated than for the naming conventions of life forms. Note I didn’t say “other life forms” because many virologists do not believe viruses are living entities.
Supporting Chinese Australians and Australian Chinese and Australian Born Chinese (ABC) and bananas 🍌 like me (yellow on the outside, white on the inside)
On Thursday evening, the Australian Government’s First Minister asked Australians to support those Chinese businesses which were suffering because of the poor understanding of the biology of infectious diseases. While there will always be racist people who at best are ignorant and at worst are intrinsically evil, there are some Australians who assume anyone of Chinese appearance is infected with SARS-COV-2 and has COVID-19. If someone of Chinese appearance coughs or sneezes on a bus or train apparently there have been racist chants of “Go Home!”
The Chinatown communities in cities are suffering a downturn in business, so on Thursday night while listening to my Prime Minister I made sure I tucked into some deep fried goodness from a Chinese takeaway.
This week in support of fellow Chinese looking people, I’m eating my evening meals with chopsticks 🥢
For some reason, WordPress isn’t letting me embed Tweets in this post but if you’d like to see what I’ve been Tweeting about this I suggest this Tweet, this Tweet, and this Tweet.
What have I watched this week?
Like last week there hasn’t been much TV viewing.
Star Trek: Picard
Season 1 Episode 4 “Absolute Candor“
Be still my beating heart. This is the episode which brings back to Trek one of my favourite characters and actors. Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine.
What have I listened to this week?
NEJM Journal Watch
The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) is a premier medical journal. Its on-line services are pretty well regarded globally. The journal has a subscriber service known as Journal Watch which features experts providing commentary on the medical literature with summaries of findings on major breaking medical publications. The service also has a free podcast which is worth subscribing to and listening to.
During the current COVID-19 situation, I’ve found services like this to be invaluable for keeping up to date (in addition to UpToDate).
What have I eaten and photographed this week?
This is a gallery of photographs. Click on one image and scroll through the rest of them.
Yummy Lummy this week
Last night I posted a recipe for reverse seared porterhouse steak. This was the first time I’ve used the reverse searing method for cooking a steak. It worked out well. I’d recommend it.
Random Yummy
The Random Yummy has been quiet this week but there are a few posts there.
Sunday 2020-02-09 Pan-fried salmon
Monday 2020-02-10 Baked salmon
Tuesday 2020-02-11 Curry pork sausage and duck breast
Friday 2020-02-14 Pork rasher and salad for VD
Saturday 2020-02-15 Reverse seared porterhouse steak from Yummy Lummy to defeat the evil Facebook ban
Final thoughts
- Are you a fan of taxonomy?
- Will you support Chinese Australians?
- Have you been watching Star Trek: Picard? What do you think so far?
I definitely have been supporting Chinese restaurants here in Canberra Gary; had dumplings one night last week in Dickson and then noodles at another restaurant the following evening.
Hi Sue, sorry for the delay in getting back to you. For some reason, WordPress seemed to “think” your comment was not appropriate.
I never had any doubt in my mind that you would be supporting Chinese restaurants 😃