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Everything You Should Know About Coronavirus, Which Just Hit The U.S.

By now, you’ve probably read a headline or two about coronavirus and how the first case appeared in the United States earlier this week.

The virus has been circulating around Wuhan, China, for about a month now, infecting several hundred people and killing at least 17, according to the latest figures shared by Chinese health officials on Wednesday. Now that it’s in the U.S. — specifically in Washington state — you’re probably wondering if we’re on the cusp of an outbreak, and if so, what your odds of getting sick are.

Infectious disease experts say we don’t need to panic. Though health officials are still learning about the virus, it currently looks unlikely that we’ll see an outbreak here in the U.S. That said, it’s good to be armed with information. Here’s what we know about coronavirus so far:

What is coronavirus?

Coronavirus refers to a group of viruses known to cause respiratory infections. Some cases can be mild, whereas others involve more serious symptoms. The vast majority of coronavirus strains are benign, according to William Schaffner, medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases and a professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. If you do contract coronavirus, it’s typically no worse than a cold.

Some coronavirus strains live in humans, and some live in animals. In the current outbreak in Wuhan, the virus was passed from an animal to a human, an event the World Health Organization calls “a spillover event.”

“Every once in a while, one of these animal viruses gets rogue and jumps species from the animal species to the human,” Schaffner told HuffPost.

The virus we’re currently seeing is novel to experts, it’s in an unusual host — humans — and appears to cause a very serious illness in certain people. At the very least, coronavirus can cause fever, cough and general malaise, similar to a cold. In more severe cases, it can lead to...

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