COVID19 And What Should We Know

It has been more than a year since the outbreak started and spread like wildfire across countries in less than a week.  A debilitating infection that pushed people to stay at home, decrease most countries' economic performance, a war faced by our health workers and government officials -- that may be imprinted in the minds of today's generation forever; COVID-19 and what should we know about it in a medical perspective? 

COVID-19 refer to the disease itself which means Coronavirus Disease 2019. It is caused by SARSCOV2 or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2, the name of the virus. Coronavirus, in general, is a large family of viruses which includes causing illnesses like MERS (Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome). It is a zoonotic virus -- pass between animals and humans. Theories has it that the virus was originated from bats in a live animal market in China and might have been transferred by oral consumption. As to its human-human transmission, it is through respiratory droplets and it is still not proven that the virus is airborne.

 

In April 2021, it was announced that the virus has new strains. These new strains are a product of viral genomic mutation which is a natural defense mechanism of living and non-living organisms. This means that when a biologic subject is exposed to harsh environment, in this case drugs/medications/immume system against the virus, the virus will try to evolve and develop mechanisms to resist that harsh environment -- hence the making of new strains. When we say new strains, it is like a sister of the original virus but more evolved. In this case, the mutation can do significant effects. However, for the new strain studies have shown that it is still not that fatal but it is highly transmissible and can affect youth compared to the original strain.  

 

Because the new strain has fast transmission, it is believe to affect 25 additional infection from 10 cases of infected individuals. This might explain why in some countries there is  currently a surge of COVID-19 cases. As I have said awhile back, the disease isn't that fatal at certain individuals because studies shown that 80% of symptomatic individuals have mild symptoms and is managed as an outpatient, 15% and 3-5% develop lower respiratory tract infection and requires admission to ICU respectively, and 0.5-1% will die (varies across different setting and population). So, why in some countries mortality rates are very high? It is because the risk factors in developing severe symptoms/critical case and mortality are as follows:

age more than 60 years (increasing with age)

people of any age with the following conditions:

Hypertension

Chronic kidney disease

COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease)

Immunocompromised state

Obesity (BMI 30 or more)

Serious heart conditions ( Heart failure, CAD or cardiomyopathies)

Sickle cell disease

Type 2 diabetes mellitus

Active tobacco smokers

 

Therefore, these listed co-morbities contribute to the possibility of death in an infected individuals.So how do you know you are infected? The most common symptoms of COVID-19  are fever (83-99%), cough (59-92%), and shortness of breath (31-40%). Some individuals experience loss of smell and taste, fatigue, headache, muscle ache, sore throat, nasal congestion, and diarrhea.

 

As an insight, we should be really cautious and mindful in practicing safety protocols because we might not get ill but we can be a carrier, an asymptomatic infected individual, that can transmit the virus to people with co-morbities that we all now know it is very harmful to them. Also, we have to remember that our health workers, medical experts, and government officials are burning their midnight candles and working enough just to save us or bring us out from this debilitating pandemic. The only way that we can help them is to listen to their advises -- to be a good and empathic citizen because these heroes are also people with families and friends.

 

 

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