with sars, we were able to get it under better control. it wasn't as transmissible as -- as influenza, so it was very much limited in outbreaks. we did good contact tracing, we were able to keep it under control, and hundreds of people died, not tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands. >> let's let our viewers take part in this conversation. we're going to open up regional lines for this talk about covid-19 and previous outbreaks. that means that if you are in the eastern or central time zones, your telephone number's going to be 202-748-8000. if you are in the mountain and pacific time zones, your telephone number is going to be 202-748-8001. we're going to open up a special line for other medical professionals. if you have a question you'd like to ask and you're a medical professional, your line is going to be 202-748-8002. keep in mind you can always text us at 202-748-8003. and we're always reading on social media on twitter at c-spanbwj and facebook at facebook.com/c-span. dr. lewis, tell us about the essence program. what was the

sars, marburg, ebola.o what is it about these creatures and the way they spread pathogens that can be so dangerous? >> the fact bats are carrying viruses is not in and of itself extraordinary. every animal has its normal suite of viruses and bacteria that it normally carries. people do as well. we carry viruses, bacteria, the majority are benign or beneficial, some of which cause disease. it is the fact that bats do tend to carry a higher proportion of viruses that have the ability to infect people. the question is really, why do we see some of these incredibly bad viruses coming out of bats? >> it was 7:00 p.m. on december 30th, 2019. when a package arrived at the wuhan institute of virology. in it, medical samples from an infectious disease hospital. several patients were suffering from atypical pneumonia. doctors suspected a possible novel coronavirus. dr. xi jung-li's cell phone rang shortly thereafter. >> she got a call from her boss who said drop whatever you're doing and come back to the lab right n

viruses that caused the outbreak of sars in 2003. severe acute respiratory syndrome. >> more and more people were getting infected. we started to see on chinese social media in particular, the disease was growing. >> in new york, ecohealth alliance, a nonprofit organization devoted to tracking emerging diseases, began to take notice. >> we started to get our first inkling that something unusual was happening by looking to social media in china. they mentioned there was an unusual cluster of respiratory disease going. on i remember talking on peter about the potential this might be another sars-like event. >> peter is the president of ecohealth alliance. he has worked closely with the wuhan institute of virology and dr. xi. their collaboration was crucial in skorg the origin of the 2003 sars outbreak. the world health organization assembled a team. with one of the world's top emerging disease experts to find the source of the deadly outbreak. these virus hunters were pursuing a theory that bats could be the origin of sars. the team he

nutrition framework we really don't know we're still working on that because code 960 new virus and sars which came before it was not widely studied we don't exactly know which parts of the new systems or are you mean system or nutrition will be effective so we try to take a general approach anything that will in general support system and this is just a good time for people to look at the recommendations find vitamins and minerals they may be falling short on and bolster up those areas where they feel like they're not doing as well. to michael's there from the linus pauling and situate at oregon state university thank you so much for your time. time now to answer your questions about coping 19 over to our science correspondent williams. can cope with 1000 antibody tests differentiate between infections with sars cove 2 and other coronaviruses antibodies are highly specific proteins made by the body as part of its immune response to a pathogen and and they help it recognize and wipe out a bug if you are infected with it again within a certain amount of time so detecting the presence of a

can you be infected with sars cogged 2 through sweat. there is no evidence that sars cove 2 can be spread through perspiration however places where you might come into contact with someone else's sweat like like gyms can be risky for other reasons i mean if someone is doing something strenuous enough to cause them to sweat then it's likely that they're breathing hard as well and that of course could pose a danger. interesting lee though in this vein there's also research going on into whether canines can be trained to sniff out differences in the sweat of someone who's infected dogs are already being used in some settings to detect diseases like like early stage parkinson's and breast cancer and maybe they can be enlisted in the fight against covert 19. as well. our face shields are good protective options since they can be disinfected throughout the day. just like with masks there's been a lot of debate on the pros and cons of of protecting yourself with a plastic face shield like those often worn by by health care workers some experts

guest: the virus is the sars covid-2.ly, the disease, clinical symptoms that virus causes is considered the covid-19. host: perfect. let's go to joe, who is calling from gainesville, virginia. he is a medical professional. good morning. caller: morning. this is jo. withted to share a thought your listeners there. nurse in work as a haiti for two years. before that, i worked in medical, surgical and on a cardiac unit also in virginia. when i was in haiti, i learned a sayabout, you might subtropical and tropical diseases. thats been occurring to me regarding the coronavirus, that it might be really a good idea if during the elementary school country, that our basicen got some good, hygiene class, and that i believe it would help a lot in future times to avert some of the problems because i noticed when my children were in one of the nearby schools that sometimes the teacher would say, go on to the bathroom, and then go on to lunch. no one would check to see if the children were washing their hands after going to the bathroo

and that is linked to the 2003 sars outbreak.scientists studying these diseases, that jump from animals to humans, have pointed to the close proximity to shoppers and vendors in these markets, in these prime locations for this spread of these pathogens. we know from stars, ebola,óeóeóo humans. it is clear that wildlife markets that sell these for human consumption need to be shut down. we sent a letter to the heads of international organizations to shut these markets down. , i would love to ask this question, how should the u.s. work through these organizations to increase see awareness of this risk, and really he get to take real measures to shut down and ban wildlife markets so that we do not see this challenge again. i'm grateful to be working with senators, but to me this has to be an international priority. can i get your thoughts on that? >> path, -- we have a fairly broad reach, although a lot of the countries who are great defenders like china, we don't have a lot of those programs in those countries. we do need to expand

one publication describes how sars spread in an emergency department. this publication led to my collaboration. we studied movements of patients and staff in every university to determine how frequently and for how long patients and staff came into contact with one another within being three feet or one meter apart. in order to understand better how infectious disease could spread in an emergency department. another publication documented stars transmission on a three hour flight from hong kong to kick my caging. the chief physician of the boeing company was interested in supporting studies of how novel infectious agent transmitted by trans -- might spread between the crew on an airplane. she approached my colleague at the college of the georgia institute of technology and used his expertise. he was also aware of our work. we were funded by the boeing company to determine how a novel infectious disease might spread on an airplane. we have since called it the fly healthy study. we quantify behaviors and movements by passengers and crew in ten flights acr

these live wildlife markets were also linked to the 2003 sars outbreak. scientists studying diseases, diseases that jump between animals and humans, have pointed to the close proximity of shoppers, vendors, in these markets, as being prime locations for the spread of these pathogens. and so we know from sars, which i mentioned, ebola, monkey pox, covid-19, mrs, and more, jump from animals to humans. it's clear that wildlife markets that sell wildlife animals for human consumption need to be shut down. senator graham and i sent a letter to the heads of international organizations urging them to engage in efforts to shut down these markets. and so very quickly, and then i'll stop, and love to ask this question to milligan and richardson, is how should the u.s. work through international organizations and international wildlife community to increase the awareness of this risk and really to begin to take real measures to shut down and ban wildlife markets so that we do not see this challenge again? i'm grateful to be working with senator cornyn, senator graha

and with sars the earlier strain of corona virus close examination showed us that it could affect the brain studies have shown that the virus can be that pervasive so it's possible this new strain is too good right now we could be underestimating it as a moment because of the sensory impairment could be a disturbance in the olfactory bulb with sars 2002 animal experiments demonstrated that the virus progressed via nerve endings into the nasal mucus membranes and olfactory nerves and as far as the brains of factory bolt the virus travels across the synopses from neuron to neuron. known as extreme fatigue a loss of taste and smell and headaches all symptoms of covert 19 that have a neurological explanation. on come on hot came down with copd 19. she too had unexpected symptoms she had no sense of taste and smell for several days she couldn't even stand the thought of food she normally enjoys. she's commented it passed relatively quickly i could smell coffee again quite soon . down but then i began to hallucinate smells as if it were a few $100.00 to $1.00. and in the few 1st days this w

publication describes how sars spread in an emergency department. this particular publication led to my collaboration. we studied patients and staff in every university. to determine how frequently and for how long patients and staff came into contact with one another. in order to understand better how infectious disease could spread. documentedlication sars transmission on a flight from hong kong to beijing. airplane cabin environments were a concern. the chief position of the boeing company was interested in supporting studies of how a noninfectious agent transmitted by droplets might spread. my colleague at the georgia institute of used hisy and expertise. we were funded by the boeing company to determine how a novel infectious disease might spread on an airplane. we quantified behaviors and movement by passenger increase in 10 flights across the country so we could determine which pairs of individuals were coming into close contact. goal was to document what infectious agent was there. our simulations of movements, one to two passengers or crew

as a moment because of the sensory impairment could be a disturbance in the old factory bulb with sars 2002 animal experiments demonstrated that the virus progressed via nerve endings into the nasal mucous membrane and olfactory nerves and as far as the brains of factory ball the virus travels across the synopses from neuron to neuron. nausea extreme fatigue a loss of taste and smell and headaches all symptoms of covert 19 that have a neurological explanation. c'mon hodgkin down with copd 19. she too had unexpected symptoms she had no sense of taste and smell for several days she couldn't even stand the thought of food chain normally enjoys. she's common it passed relatively quickly i could smell coffee again quite soon. but then i began to hallucinate smells as it were if you look to the tune of. and of the few 1st days this was awful because they were horrible smells. go on. for a while she thought she could smell seeping wounds then smoke and now and then frying bacon. this reaction is familiar to neurologists. it indicates that the brain is affected. from we know from patients who

ones that are best able to slip unrecognized past an immune system that's that's been armed to stop sars cove too but but so far the indications are that the virus doesn't mutate very fast much slower than flu viruses for example so the hope is that we'll be able to stay ahead of the curve. how is the rise of social media and the internet changing the speed of scientific percentage. the internet has changed science in fundamental ways modern research is all about collaboration and the internet has enabled that like like no other tool in human history you see its effects for example and and how many peer reviewed covert 19 studies have been spawned by the pandemic so far the exact number is hard to pin down because it rises by the day but there are currently nearly 5. thousands and the w.h.o. database and and thousands more that haven't been added yet many of those studies are written by teams of collaborating scientists that are spread across the globe social media platforms also play a big role in speeding up research because they offer a much less formal stage for the instant exchange

ho had worked totem the spread of sars in 2003. now he was worried about the spread of covid-19.u think people are grasping how, how serious this situation is? news. i think people hear the they watch t coverage. but it's hard to fully comprehe. certaiy, we did not realize that our government would be so ill-prared. we knew long agohat china was experiencing. i think it, the, there was a false assumption that that's somebody else's problem.pe it would not hto us. but that, that's the same kindud of attthat people had about many other epidemics in the past we, we knew, if this thing blew up, it would just continue to spread. >> smith: wuhan, a major commercial hub in central china. the first case was identified here on november 17. iren blaring) no o knew what it was. but just a few weeks later, it was clear something was wrong. amy qin reported from china for the "new york times." >> in december, there were starting to be these patients that were trickling into these ishospitals in wuhan with pneumonia that doctors were really puzzled by. it was unclear how to trt them. they were

and the sars c.o.v. to virus is a diameter of about 0.12 microns. the diameter of an aerosol is $40.00 to $80.00 times as long. and a strand of human hair much bigger still. a number of studies suggest aerosols are a vector for the corona virus and what implications does that have for strategies to prevent its spread. a cough can propel aerosol several meters. one simple mask won't effectively hold him back as professor kriegel has demonstrated in his lab. annoyance to put 80 to 90 percent of these aerosols escape such a mask and enter the surrounding air nevertheless it is important to wear a mask to hinder to some degree the uncontrolled dispersal of breath into space. when controlled and if i have to walk past somebody say in the supermarket it does make sense. it's. good ventilation can help. in this experiment fresh air is pumped into a room at the blue circles stale air is sucked out of the brown ones what we see is that aerosols don't spread throughout the space and that reduces the risk of infection. an open window can have the same effect s

to temperature and humidity have an effect on sars c.o.v. to use basic reproduction number. there's been a lot of conflicting information and data on this so for the general consensus appears to be that higher temperatures and higher humidity both slow the spread of the virus but not by much a major new study awaiting peer review compared pandemic data and weather data from thousands of locations all over the globe now those researchers came to the conclusion that that temperate zones will probably face more risk in. in winter whereas warmer areas especially humid ones might see slower transmission raids but the impact of summer this year they thought won't be enough to stop the pandemic and and looking at how covert $1000.00 is hitting brazil it certainly looks like temperature and humidity don't seem to play really major roles in changing infection rates. and you can post your question today eric on our you tube channel if you'd like to keep up with the latest developments on the coronavirus measure do you subscribe to our newsletter just log on to w dot com slash. newslet

is the primary method used to determine the presence of sars cove 2 so whether someone has an active covert 19 infection. elisa which stands for enzyme linked abuse or been passe is what's called a serial logical test it's a blood test for detecting antibodies made by your immune system in response to the virus and they take a while for the body to produce so so p.c. or tests tell you if your pruett li infected while elisa tells you if you might have had the disease already at some point in the past and produced antibodies against it. and eric williams will be back to answer more of your questions tomorrow now there are some kinds of flight we might see more often in a pandemic the demand for groans to deliver medical supplies is said to fly higher this wynkoop copter can carry about 5 kilograms and fly well over 100 kilometers an hour it is being trial to at the moment to see if they can bring cargo like over 1000 test kits and personal protective equipment to remote scottish islands. that's all fog of an audience special thanks for watching and before we go a helpful reminder for t

one and sars 2 will be followed by a sars 3 and you really think of the logik of new liberalism is that companies involved in deforestation and so forth. a 1000000000 dead is fine with them so focused on their own process to own the profits well i mean it's really easy you just blame the virus or you blame the chinese or you blame smallholders for cutting into the forest. there is at this point it's they've got these rapid response teams crisis management packages and go out and all these outbreaks and make sure you continue to externalize the cost of intensive production so that everyone carries the cost and everyone carries the blame if you were to fold and the cost back onto the company balance sheets business would be and as we know it. more from us all the big farms make big flu after this break plus we asked the director general of nigeria's center for disease control not to check way back was is when a country ravaged by previous epidemics that alone i.m.f. structural adjustment programs appears to have dealt with coronavirus so much better than britain or the usa political comin

you know, what we learned during the sars outbreak, which is where i started my career here in torontof we wait for official reports from government health agencies, we may not always get that information in the most timely manner, so we've been using online data from the world's media, health forums and blogs and a wide variety of other sources in 65 languages to monitor for early signals of outbreaks around the world and to process all that vast amount of data, to present the metaphorical needles in the haystack to our subject matter experts. so, we did that on the morning of december 31st, and then our platform also connects, as you've highlighted, to the anonymous data on hundreds of millions of mobile devices and their locations as they move around the world as well as billions of passenger—level flight itineraries. and so, this is really so we can start to get a step ahead and anticipate how an outbreak could rapidly spread across the planet. so, that detection is the first step, but how does ai help with all the steps after that? we're also increasingly using ai in experimenting

the virus causes sars coronavirus 2, because of its relationship to the 2002 sars coronavirus. these things happened because of the identification of what was going on in china and elsewhere, and travel to the united states from china and points elsewhere were screened. later, thele of days first travel-related case of this occurred in the united and then those became very difficult. on january 29, because of theemergency situation, white house coronavirus task force started off with less people and was supplemented with additional names, and now it is a task force of modest size. veryis a picture of a typical meeting of the coronavirus task force, in this case and the situation room in the west wing. and there i am, explaining to president trump in detail things we are doing. he does not attend all the task force meetings. the task force is run by vice president pence. the cdc confirmed first possible incidents of community spread of covid-19 in the united states. the big difference between the initial case was, that was a travel-related case, someone who came in from the outs

the challenges china has faced with not only the coronavirus, but its associated viruses, including sars economy forum we heard comments from the chief executive officer of prudential. it started with china. covid was an issue last year, and there has been a lot of learning. culturally as well as economically there are differences. if you think about hong kong, last year was 1080 five cases in hong kong and 4 deaths. tragic, but a shockingly low number considering the travel from mainland china and the early exposure they had to people who may have been exposed to the illness. what you did see on the ground was culturally before there was government policy is a caution around health. people wear masks in asia as a courtesy to others when they are sick. north american friends say i'm wearing a mask, they think it's a shield.it is actually for someone else you where that. -- you wear that. there is muscle memory from sars and the bird flu where cultures understand to take health issue seriously early. in the balance of economies, asia started with growth. europe started probably with flatt