NIH | Studies of patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)
demonstrate that the respiratory tract is a major site of
SARS-coronavirus (CoV) infection and disease morbidity. We studied
host-pathogen interactions using native lung tissue and a model of
well-differentiated cultures of primary human airway epithelia.
Angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), the receptor for both the
SARS-CoV and the related human respiratory coronavirus NL63, was
expressed in human airway epithelia as well as lung parenchyma. As
assessed by immunofluorescence staining and membrane biotinylation, ACE2
protein was more abundantly expressed on the apical than the
basolateral surface of polarized airway epithelia. Interestingly, ACE2
expression positively correlated with the differentiation state of
epithelia.
golemxiv | Like every issue of consequence, in our Age of Incomprehension,
opinion about the truth concerning the Corona virus outbreak is
divided. Either China is taking all prudent steps, the virus, while
transmissible, has a low mortality rate and the West, with its travel
bans, is over-reacting in a vaguely racist manner, or China has the
virus far from contained, we don’t know just how transmissible it is nor
its mortality rate because the figures from China can’t be trusted and
therefore travel bans are a wise precaution.
If travel bans to and from the infected parts of China turn out to
have been justified then one country in particular may be worth
watching, Ethiopia. Ethiopia’s Bole International airport is the main
African gateway to and from China. On average 1500 passengers per day arrive from China every day. Ethiopia scans them all for symptoms which essentially means taking their temperature.
Many of those passengers then fly on to other parts of Africa where
Chinese companies are doing business. These are 2018 figures courtesy of Brookings.
The three main areas of Chinese business in Africa are transport,
which generally means building airports and railways, energy which means
building power stations and grids and metals which means mines.
One of the airports the Chinese funded and built is Bole International Airport in Ethiopia.
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