Tuesday February 25th 2020 | 19:45 – 21:30 | Instituto Cervantes Utrecht | Domplein 3, 3512 Utrecht |
In December last year, first reports of a pneumonia outbreak in the city of Wuhan, China reached the news. Soon after, it rapidly spread to other provinces and an agent known as the novel coronavirus 2019-nCoV was identified as the cause, likely having been transferred from bats to humans. The first death as a result of an infection outside China was reported on February 1st. At the moment (February 3rd), the virus has sickened more than 17,000 people and 362 of them have passed away. Scientists around the world are scrambling to develop a successful vaccine for the deadly pathogen, which the World Health Organization has declared a public health emergency of international concern.
But what exactly is a “coronavirus”, and what is known about this specific variant? How can we prevent a global pandemic and is there reason for panic?
We will discuss this and more with Wim van der Poel and Reina Sikkema. Wim van der Poel is senior scientist at the Central Veterinary Institute of Wageningen University and Research Centre. Reina Sikkema is researcher Emerging Infectious Diseases at ErasmusMC.
This talk is free of charge. Afterwards, there will be drinks at cafe Hemingway!