Medical experts have warned the coronavirus can spread through the eyes and people – especially doctors – aren't doing enough to protect themselves.According to a report in The Lancet, a peer-reviewed medical journal, Chinese pneumonia expert Guangfa Wang was infected by the 2019-nCoV virus while visiting Wuhan last month.He wore a face mask during his visit, but did not wear any protective eyewear and later complained of "redness of the eyes"."As ophthalmologists, we believe that transmission of 2019-nCoV through the eyes was ignored," the report said.
SCIENTISTS BLAME ENDANGERED ANIMAL
The report comes as Chinese scientists say the endangered pangolin may have been the animal that facilitated the spread of the virus across China.Researchers have long suspected that the virus, which has now killed more than 630 people and infected some 31,000, was passed from an animal to a human at a market in Wuhan late last year.Researchers at the South China Agricultural University have identified the scaly mammal as a "potential intermediate host," the university said in a statement, without providing further details.
The pangolin is considered the most trafficked animal on the planet. Photo / Supplied
The new virus is believed to have originated in bats, but researchers have suggested there could have been an "intermediate host" in the transmission to humans.After testing more than 1,000 samples from wild animals, scientists from the university found the genome sequences of viruses found on pangolins to be 99 per cent identical to those on coronavirus patients, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
WILDLIFE TRADE IN CHINAThe pangolin is considered the most trafficked animal on the planet and more than one million have been snatched from Asian and African forests in the past decade, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).They are destined for markets in China and Vietnam, where their scales are used in traditional medicine – despite having no medical benefits – and their meat is bought on the black market.
Earlier this week, the WHO said it had started sending masks, gloves, respirators, protective isolation gowns and test kits to countries requiring assistance.
"We have a common enemy which is dangerous and which can bring serious upheaval, social, political and economic. This is the time to fight it and in unison," Dr Tedros said.
