CMAAO IMA HCFI CORONA MYTH BUSTERS 8
Dr KK Aggarwal
President CMAAO, HCFI and Past National President IMA
Corona viruses have same weighjt as other viruses
Covid-19 virus is physically larger and heavier than
other known respiratory viruses. So while Covid-19 infects hosts via mucus
droplets, its infectious range is lower relative to other viruses because its
mass limits how far it can travel before succumbing to gravity. Coronaviruses
can only travel about one to two meters, less than seven feet, before they start falling to the ground. Compare that to
much more infectious viruses like measles or chickenpox, both of which are much
lighter and able to remain airborne on tiny dust particles.
Only this virus has a unique link to bats
While scientists suspect that Covid-19 may have initially
jumped from bats to humans, bats seem to be uniquely able to harbor many other viruses
that cause serious human disease: Ebola, Marburg, Rabies, Hendra and Nipah.
As recently as 2017, a research study that
tested bats in Kenya identified several novel coronaviruses that had genomic
sequences closely related to human coronaviruses.
There are strains
of the new coronavirus are spreading around the world
World Health
Organization insists that “there is no evidence that the virus has been
changing”.
Viruses do mutate especially RNA viruses like SARS-CoV-2.
When a person is infected with the coronavirus, it replicates in their
respiratory tract. Every time it does, around half a dozen genetic mutations
occur, says Ian Jones at the University of Reading, UK.
When Xiaolu Tang at Peking University in Beijing and
colleagues studied the viral genome taken from 103 cases, they found common
mutations at two locations on the genome. The team identified two types of the
virus based on differences in the genome at these two regions: 72 were
considered to be the “L-type” and 29 were classed “S-type”.
A separate analysis by the team suggests that the
L-type was derived from the older S-type. The first strain is likely to have
emerged around the time the virus jumped from animals to humans. The second
emerged soon after that, says the team. Both are involved in the current global
outbreak. The fact that the L-type is more prevalent suggests that it is “more
aggressive” than the S-type, the team say.
One reason coronaviruses mutate so rapidly is that
they possess the longest genomes of all known RNA viruses. With more sections
in their genome, there are more potential errors when the virus copies itself.
At age 20 I need not worry
A
review of more than 4,000 U.S. patients who were diagnosed with novel
coronavirus infection (COVID-19) shows that an unexpected 20% of deaths
occurred among adults aged 20-64 years, and 20% of those hospitalized were aged
20-44 years.
The expectation has been that people over 65
are most vulnerable to COVID-19 infection, but this study indicates that, at
least in the United States, a significant number of patients under 45 can land
in the hospital and can even die of the disease.
To
assess rates of hospitalization, admission to an ICU, and death among patients
with COVID-19 by age group, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
analyzed 4,226 COVID-19 cases in the United States that were reported between
Feb. 12 and March 16. [CDC COVID-19 Response Team. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep.
2020 Mar 18.
Drink water every 15 minutes
One post, copied and pasted by multiple Facebook
accounts, quotes a "Japanese doctor" who recommends drinking water
every 15 minutes to flush out any virus that might have entered the mouth. A
version in Arabic has been shared more than 250,000 times.
Professor Trudie Lang at the
University of Oxford says there is "no biological mechanism" that
would support the idea that you can just wash a respiratory virus down into
your stomach and kill it.
Infections like coronaviruses
enter the body via the respiratory tract when you breathe in.
However, staying hydrated is generally good medical
advice but not to flush the virus.
Drinkable silver
Unlike iron or zinc, silver is not a metal that has any
function in the human body.
The use of colloidal silver was
promoted on US televangelist Jim Bakker's show. Colloidal silver is tiny
particles of the metal suspended in liquid. A guest on the show claimed the
solution kills some strains of coronavirus within 12 hours (while admitting it
hadn't yet been tested on Covid-19).
Proponents claim it can treat all
kinds of health conditions, act as an antiseptic, and state it helps the immune
system. Silver is used in bandages applied to wounds.
There's clear advice from the US health
authorities that there's no evidence this type of silver solution is effective
for any health condition. More importantly, it could cause serious side effects including
kidney damage, seizures and argyria - a condition that makes your skin turn
blue.
Vodka can used as habd saniriser
No,
vodka only contains 40% alcohol. You need minimum 60% alcohol.
Drink MMS
YouTuber Jordan Sather, has been claiming that a
"miracle mineral supplement", called MMS, can "wipe out"
coronavirus.
It contains chlorine dioxide - a
bleaching agent.
In January he tweeted that,
"not only is chlorine dioxide (aka MMS) an effective cancer cell killer,
it can wipe out coronavirus too".
Last year, the US
Food and Drug Administration warned about the dangers to health of drinking
MMS. Health authorities in other countries have also issued
alerts about it. The FDA says it "is not aware of any research showing
that these products are safe or effective for treating any illness". It
warns that drinking them can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and symptoms of
severe dehydration.
Once available in the private labs in
India the covid 19 test will be very costly
No. ICMR
may cap price of each coronavirus test at Rs 4,500-Rs 5,000 for private labs.
You can get escaped by disobeying government
directions in India
The Lucknow police lodged an
FIR against Bollywood singer Kanika Kapoor for alleged negligence in compliance
of necessary directives to safeguard against the spread of deadly Coronavirus
disease post her return from London earlier this month. She tested covid-19
positive on Friday and left a chain of VIPs behind who had either put
themselves on self-isolation or earmarked for monitoring by the administration.
Lucknow Commissioner of Police, Sujeet Pandey confirmed
that an FIR was lodged at Sarojini Nagar police station under Indian Penal Code
section 188, 269, 270 on the complaint of Chief Medical Officer, Lucknow.
188: 188. Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant.
Section 269:- Negligent act likely to spread infection
of disease dangerous to life
Section 270:- Malignant act likely to spread infection
of disease dangerous to life
"Coronavirus
is not in my area, so I can go out."
You don’t know it’s not in your area. All etsts are not being done so we don’t have
an accurate idea of how many people – or what areas – have truly been affected.
Individuals can shed the virus for up to 2 weeks before they get sick.
Coronavirus
is just like the flu – it’ll all be ok.
The two
viruses are different in ways that are significant and dangerous.
Flu has a vaccine; COVID-19 does not.
Flu has
established treatments; COVID-19 does not.
Hydroxychloroquine
and Azithromycin have no role in in
COVID 19
Hydroxychloroquine (200 mg three times per day for 10
days) plus Azithromycin 500 mg once daily for ten days
Both chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine have been
reported to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 in vitro, although hydroxychloroquine appears to
have more potent antiviral activity [1].
Chloroquine is included in treatment guidelines from
China's National Health Commission and was reportedly associated with reduced
progression of disease and decreased duration of symptoms [2,3]. However, primary data supporting these claims
have not been published [4].
In an open-label study of 36 patients with COVID-19,
use of hydroxychloroquine (200 mg three times per day for 10 days) was
associated with a higher rate of undetectable SARS-CoV-2 RNA on nasopharyngeal
specimens at day 6 compared with no specific treatment (70 versus 12.5 percent)
[5].
In this study, the use of azithromycin in combination
with hydroxychloroquine appeared to have additional benefit, but there are
methodologic concerns about the control groups for the study, and the biologic
basis for using azithromycin in this setting is unclear.
Despite the limited clinical data, given the relative
safety of short-term use of hydroxychloroquine (with or without azithromycin),
the lack of known effective interventions, and the in vitro antiviral activity,
some clinicians think it is reasonable to use one or both of these agents in
hospitalized patients with severe or risk for severe infection, particularly if
they are not eligible for other clinical trials.
1. Yao X,
Ye F, Zhang M, et al. In Vitro Antiviral Activity and Projection of Optimized
Dosing Design of Hydroxychloroquine for the Treatment of Severe Acute
Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Clin Infect Dis 2020.
2. Gao J,
Tian Z, Yang X. Breakthrough: Chloroquine phosphate has shown apparent efficacy
in treatment of COVID-19 associated pneumonia in clinical studies. Biosci
Trends 2020; 14:72.
3. Colson
P, Rolain JM, Lagier JC, et al. Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine as available
weapons to fight COVID-19. Int J Antimicrob Agents 2020; :105932.
4. Cortegiani
A, Ingoglia G, Ippolito M, et al. A systematic review on the efficacy and
safety of chloroquine for the treatment of COVID-19. J Crit Care 2020.
5. Gautret
et al. (2020) Hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin as a treatment of COVID‐19:
results of an open‐label non‐randomized clinical trial. International Journal
of Antimicrobial Agents – In Press 17 March 2020
DOI:10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2020.105949.
The Marseille Study
The European Union Clinical Trials Register shows that the Marseille study was
accepted on 5th March by the National Medicines Safety Agency (ANSM). It could
include up to 25 COVID-19 positive patients, comprising five aged 12–17 years,
10 aged 18–64 years, and 10 more aged 65 years or over.
Unblinded study showed a strong reduction in viral load with hydroxychloroquine.
After 6 days, the percentage of patients testing positive for COVID-19
who received hydroxychloroquine fell to 25% versus 90% for those who did not
receive the treatment (a group of untreated COVID-19 patients from Nice and
Avignon).
In addition, comparing untreated patients, those receiving
hydroxychloroquine and those given hydroxychloroquine plus the antibiotic azithromycin, the results showed there was
"a spectacular reduction in the number of positive cases" with the
combination therapy.
At 6 days, among patients given combination therapy, the percentage of
cases still carrying SRAS-CoV-2 was no more than 5%.
Azithromycin was added because it is known to be effective against
complications from bacterial lung disease but also because it has been shown to
be effective in the laboratory against a large number of viruses, the
infectious disease specialist explained.
More detailed results of the study have
been submitted for publication in the International Journal of
Antimicrobial Agents.
Christian
Perronne, head of infectious diseases, University Hospital Raymond Poincaré,
Garches, Paris
"I
really believe in hydroxychloroquine. It is a drug I find rather fascinating,
that has been used for decades. There have been positive results in an in vitro
study and a preliminary Chinese study in 100 patients which showed that
hydroxychloroquine reduced the viral load, the symptoms lasted for less time,
and they are not as severe. This could reduce the number of carriers, which I
find interesting from an epidemiological perspective.
"I
think from an ethical point of view, we should suggest it to all patients with
severe disease who are hospitalised, under surveillance and on short treatment,
paying attention to drug interactions, especially with drugs that prolong the
QT interval.
Afterwards,
in terms of adverse effects, at increased doses, it is possible that patients
will have pain or fever, but it seems that the treatment is effective at lower
doses, according to the Chinese data. In any case, the adverse effects of this
compound are not dangerous."
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