WHAT DO we know about the new coronavirus?
A spiky, round or elliptical juggernaut, measuring from 60 to 140 billionths of a meter across, has turned the world upside down in just a few weeks. What is it?
The 1) ______belongs to the family Coronaviridae, which are RNA viruses with
relatively large genomes. The SARS-Cov-2 virus has 29,891 nucleotides. That’s
twice as large as an 2)______virus genome. What’s more, the coronavirus family
undergoes relatively rapid 3)______“recombination” in nature, including
4)_______that enable the virus to adapt to new 5)_____and environmental
niches. In this case, the genetic blueprint probably came initially from nature,
perhaps from bats.
A cousin of this virus is SARS-Cov-1, which caused an 6)______of severe acute
7)________ syndrome in 2002 and 2003 that began in China and ended with 774
deaths in 17 countries. The genetic material in the current virus is an 82 percent
match for the earlier SARS virus. Another type of coronavirus found in bats is an
89 percent match for the current virus. Not every mutation changes behavior, but
even a minuscule change in the genetic makeup may have given the current virus
the characteristics that allowed it to 8)________, thrive and unleash the current
9)________.
The virus is an opportunistic 10)________with a singular mission: dock on the
surface of a 11) ______ using its exterior spikes, then penetrate and hijack the cell
to replicate, creating millions more copies of the virus with its genetic code. In the
coronavirus family, some strains cause only minor 12)_______ such as common
13)______ and, in others, disease more serious than covid-19. Two related
viruses, the one causing SARS and the one causing Middle East respiratory
syndrome, or MERS, are more 14)_______ , but the current virus is more
15)________ , lodging in the upper respiratory tract, the 16)_____ and 17)______
, where it is easily expelled by a 18)______ . Another characteristic accelerating
transmission is that an infected person can be contagious several days before any
symptoms show up. A cough or sneeze expels virus particles in aerosol
19)_______ , which can remain in the air for hours. Also, there’s evidence of
20)_______ on plastic and stainless steel for up to 72 hours. The current virus
leads to acute respiratory distress in some people, filling lungs with fluid, constricting their ability to breathe, especially those who are already suffering
another malady.
The virus is not invincible. It is sensitive to ultraviolet rays and heat, and hand-
washing works. Biomedical researchers are racing to discover therapies to stop it
from infecting people, perhaps with an antiviral drug that would disable those
exterior spikes, or a vaccine that would instruct the human immune system to
attack it. Hopefully, we can bend the curve slightly in favor of people and stop the
pandemic. But even if science triumphs this time, genetic recombination and
mutation will go on.
The Washington Post, 3/22/2020.
The following words fill in the spaces in the text, they are in alphabetic order to
help to find it. Read the text and choose the best one for each space.
cell
colds
cough
droplets
epidemic
genetic
hosts
illness
influenza
lethal
mutations
nose
pandemic
parasite
respiratory
survival
survive
transmissible
throat
virus
Soluções para a tarefa
Respondido por
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Respostas: 1) Virus, 2) Influenza, 3) Genetic, 4) Mutations, 5) Hosts, 6) Epidemic, 7) Respiratory, 8) Survive, 9) Pandemic, 10) Parasite, 11) Cell, 12) Illness, 13) Colds, 14) Lethal, 15) Transmissible, 16) Nose, 17) Throat, 18) Cough, 19) Droplets, 20) Survival.
I hope it helps!
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