At our dental practice we keep informed of the current developments related to SARS-CoV-2 and our first priority is the well being on our patients. We followed strict OSHA disinfection guidelines, airborne safety precautions, prevention, strict disinfection controls and utilize meticulous personal protective procedures to assured our patients safety.
Viral infections can be highly destructive, causing cells to break open and tissues to fall apart. Viruses are parasites, microorganisms that use the infected host cell to copy themselves. The common cold illness familiar to us are caused by coronaviruses and rhinoviruses, these reach the upper respiratory tract, attach to the host’s cells. These cells stopped to function normally, chemicals are release that produce inflammation and lead to infections that in most cases, like in of the common cold, last few days and resolve without treatment.
Coronaviridae- Coronavirus are RNA enveloped viruses with large genetic information, 10 to 30% of them are responsible for the common cold. Their structure resembles a crown, a viral caspid that resembles a crown and thorn or solar corona. Coronaviruses easily hop between species. MERS-CoV (Middle eastern respiratory syndrome) hopped form camels to humans, SARS-CoV (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) from bats to humans to civets, SARS-CoV-2 or the novel coronavirus that causes COVID- 19 disease is 80% identical to SARS-CoV1, the 2003 SARS virus. Known information about SARS-CoV1 has been extended to this novel coronavirus.
SARS-Cov-2 virus causes COVID-19 disease, it spreads via respiratory droplets, that is airborne transmission from person to person. The virus can survive in aerosols from hours and in surfaces for days, people can spread the virus before symptoms are noted. The virus is relative fragile, it has environmental sensitivity to UV and temperature (heat), detergents and solvents. The survival rate depends on the surface, in aerosol it can spread for at least 3 hrs, on stainless steel and plastic survival is about 72 hours, in cardboard or porous materials it can survive for up to 24 hrs. The incubation period after known contact with the virus has a median of 5 days, less than 2.5% people infected show symptoms within 2 days, 97.5% infected people developed symptoms within 11.5 days, 99% of infected people develop symptoms within 14 days. Most common symptoms are fever, fatigue and dry cough.