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SUMMARY:COVID-19: the cause\, the disease and the response - Professor Geo
 ffrey L Smith FRS. Head\, Department of Pathology\, University of Cambridg
 e
DTSTART:20200312T180000Z
DTEND:20200312T193000Z
UID:TALK140839@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Krishna Amin
DESCRIPTION:CANCELLED: In December 2019 a collection of human cases of sev
 ere acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) were noted in Wuhan\, China. Shortly
  thereafter the causative agent was isolated and identified as a coronavir
 us (CoV) that was similar to the SARS-CoV that caused an epidemic in 2003.
  From Wuhan the virus spread throughout China and to other nations. As of 
 6.3.2020 there have been 98\,777 confirmed human infections in 91 countrie
 s with 3\,389 deaths. Currently\, these is no vaccine or effective antivir
 al drug and control measures have relied upon quarantine of infected patie
 nts\, screening of those who might be infected and other public health con
 trol policies\, such as the restricted movement of people into or from inf
 ected areas.\n\nThis talk will describe what viruses are and how they repl
 icate\, how they may be transmitted and how our immune system reacts to el
 iminate them from our bodies. Thereafter\, the nature of this new virus ca
 lled SARS-CoV-2\, where it came from\, the disease it causes and the publi
 c health and scientific response\, such as the search for a vaccine\, will
  be summarised. The talk will conclude by asking why effective vaccines ar
 e underutilised\, leading to re-emergence of preventable viral diseases\, 
 such as measles and mumps.\n
LOCATION:Pfizer Lecture Theatre\, Department of Chemistry\, Lensfield Road
 \, Cambridge
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