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The novel coronavirus has been declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organisation.
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So how are scientists responding?
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And what can science do to help control the outbreak?
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A top priority is epidemiology.
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Epidemiologists are on the front line, trying to understand how and why the virus is spreading.
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They gather data on the timing and location of new cases, where new infections are coming from and how long symptoms take to appear.
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These data go into models that can predict how fast the infection might spread.
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This is critical for both creating containment plans, and assessing whether counter-measures are actually working.
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By looking at the patterns of spread, epidemiologists can infer the mode of transmission, such as in saliva or through the air.
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Epidemiologists also need to know whether people who are infected but not showing symptoms could still pass on the disease, something which would make this coronavirus harder to wipe out.
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Understanding the source of the virus is also important.
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The virus likely originated in an animal before jumping to a human host.
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Genetic analysis of samples taken from the market in Wuhan, where the outbreak started, could tell scientists which animal and help prevent future outbreaks.
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Understanding how the virus spreads is a vital first step for containing it, but scientists also need to know how the virus itself functions.
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And that is the job of virologists.
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Across the world, virologists are scrambling to get their hands on physical samples of the novel coronavirus.
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This work involves growing the virus in cultured cells and infecting animals in order to study it closely.
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There's lots to learn.
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Virologists can measure the survival time of the virus in droplets like those from a cough or a sneeze.
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Animal models may show how the infection actually gets passed between individuals.
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And working out the structure of viral proteins and the identity of the receptors they use to enter cells could inform potential treatments.
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The genome of the virus can also hold clues.
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Genetic sequences from dozens of patient samples are publicly available and have already been used to develop diagnostic tests.
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But actual samples – in human cell cultures and animal models - will be needed to test vaccines and drugs.
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This is where biomedical science comes in.
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Drug development is a slow process, so researchers are having to work fast to find therapies for this new threat.
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One of the most powerful tools biomedical scientists could develop is a vaccine, but this is a longer term solution.
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A more imminent possibility is to inject patients with antibodies against the virus.
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Finding antibodies that recognise it might not be so difficult, but mass producing enough antibodies, even for trials, could take months.
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Antiviral drugs are also an option.
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These are small molecules that interfere with viral replication, but developing them from scratch takes years.
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So researchers are hoping that drugs already developed to treat things like HIV, could prove effective and trials have already started.
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If counter-measures fail, coronavirus could become what's called 'endemic', recurring regularly like the flu.
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That would make it extremely hard to eradicate.
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Fighting this outbreak will require a range of scientific tools, from genetic sequencing to mathematical modelling.
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And for all of that, researchers need data.
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Many publishers and labs have made commitments to make all research free to access, encouraging collaboration and prioritising global health.
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Time will tell how successful it will be.
