The difference between coronavirus and COVID-19, between sick and positive



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There are some difference between COVID-19 and coronavirus?

These words are used interchangeably, which helps fuel the confusion and, above all, misinformation and interconnected fear.

To fully understand the news that we are bombarded with every day, even if with extreme delay, it is finally necessary to clarify on the difference between coronavirus and COVID-19, between i sick people ei swab positive.

The problem is precisely this: for many months that the terms “coronavirus” and “COVID-19” have been used – mainly in the category of American journalists – as synonyms, but they refer to two very different conditions. The same occurs with the number of positives, which will necessarily always be higher than the number who have actually contracted the disease, since the latter does not affect all those who come into contact with the virus.

The difference between coronavirus and COVID-19

It will seem trivial (but it is not): the difference between coronavirus and COVID-19 can only come to light if we definitely understand what is one and what is the other.

What is the coronavirus?

It’s the virus “SARS-CoV-2“(“Severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus-2“, in Italian Severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus-2).

The term coronavirus refers to virus family Responsible for the spread of viruses, forgive the repetition, causing diseases (some of which can even be fatal).

The word “coronavirus” originates from the Latin word “crown“Which actually means” crown “since, observed under a microscope, the virus appears in this characteristic form.

These viruses are zoonotic, which means they are transmitted by animals and people. SARS-CoV was transmitted to humans from civet cats, while MERS-CoV from dromedaries.

What is COVID-19?

It is the name given to the disease responsible for the SARS-CoV-2 virus (the coronavirus, in fact), first identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, and is short for “Coronavirus disease 2019».

Soon:

  • he COVID-19 is a disease infectious caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2);
  • he coronavirus is a colloquial term used to identify SARS-CoV-2, a strain of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, the respiratory disease responsible for the pandemic we are experiencing today.

And this is where confusion reigns supreme: be positive for hyssop means having contracted the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) but does not necessarily mean that you have contracted COVID-19 (a term that would make much more sense decline to feminine, since it is a disease). So again, being positive for hyssop does not mean being sick.

And the positive asymptomatic and the sick?

Another strong debate arises in front of asymptomatic positive, that is, those who test positive on a swab have contracted the coronavirus but not the COVID-19 disease and have no symptoms. We tend to think that these subjects are not infected: they may be, but they often have a lower viral load than those with “the” COVID-19, that is, those who have developed symptoms of the disease related to SARS-CoV-2 . However, nothing is certain, the scientific literature on the subject is still too young to definitively confirm these assumptions.

To know the symptoms of COVID-19, we recommend reading the guide from the Ministry of Health.

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