CMAAO CORONA FACTS and MYTH BUSTER 38

CMAAO CORONA FACTS and MYTH BUSTER 38

Dr K K Aggarwal

President Confederation of Medical Associations of Asia and Oceania

338: Do not get admitted unless you need oxygen: if you have the infection you will infect others or you will come back with an infection

1.     The Wockhardt Hospital in Mumbai is now a containment zone after 26 nurses and three doctors tested positive for Covid-19 over a week.

2.     New admissions were stopped and the Outpatient Department (OPD) was closed at the Jaslok Hospital on Wednesday after at least one of its staff tested positive for coronavirus.

3.     Four Covid-19 cases among healthcare workers — one doctor and three nurses — was confirmed by Delhi State Cancer Institute last week. The hospital's OPD has been shut down and nearly 45 cancer patients are being shifted to a private hospital.

4.     At Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, another major hospital, 108 staff members were advised quarantine on Saturday after two patients who visited the hospital were confirmed as Covid-19 positive cases.

5.     At least a dozen staff at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) have been advised self-quarantine after a doctor tested positive.

6.     Two doctors at Safdarjung Hospital were also confirmed positive for Covid-19 and at least 50 healthcare workers have been advised to self-quarantine.

7.     At least 92 staff members, including several doctors, of the DY Patil Hospital Pune have been quarantined after an accident victim, who was being treated at the facility, tested positive for coronavirus

8.     More than 50 healthcare workers have tested positive for Covid-19 elsewhere across the country.

9.     Over 150 doctors and nurses have died combating coronavirus across the world.

10. In Spain, where healthcare workers had released videos of using garbage bags as protective clothing, more than 15,000 are sick or under self-isolation. Thousands more are out of action across Europe and the US due to the virus. Out of the 8,098 cases during the SARS outbreak in 2002, health workers accounted for 1,707 (21%) cases.

339: Call on global ban on wildlife markets

Fact: The United Nations' biodiversity chief, Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, has called for a global ban on wildlife markets such as the one in Wuhan, China, believed to be the origin of the new coronavirus that has caused a pandemic. Mrema said wet markets where animals such as civets, wolf pups and pangolins are kept in cages for sale could incubate future diseases. China has issued temporary bans on such markets, but experts call for a global ban as they fear Beijing will relax the restrictions once the crisis has passed as the trade in wild animals is lucrative. SARS and H1N1 viruses, too, crossed over to the human population from such markets.

340: What is the Indian pattern of cases

Fact: Senior citizens accounted for a disproportionate share of fatalities in India, ministry data shows, in line with the observations in other virus-hit nations.

Those above 60 years of age accounted for just 19% of coronavirus cases but 63% of the fatalities. 40 to 60 years old accounted for 30% of the fatalities, while only 7% of the deceased were younger than 40.

As many as 86% of the fatalities had conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, heart and kidney disease. Of the total infected so far, 76% were males and 24% females; men also accounted for more deaths at 73%.

341: Can COVID 19 mutate

Fact: Based on current data, it seems as though SARS-CoV-2 mutates much more slowly than the seasonal flu. Specifically, SARS-CoV-2 seems to have a mutation rate of less than 25 mutations per year, whereas the seasonal flu has a mutation rate of almost 50 mutations per year.

 

Given that the SARS-CoV-2 genome is almost twice as large as the seasonal flu genome, it seems as though the seasonal flu mutates roughly four times as fast as SARS-CoV-2. The fact that the seasonal flu mutates so quickly is precisely why it is able to evade our vaccines, so the significantly slower mutation rate of SARS-CoV-2 gives us hope for the potential development of effective long-lasting vaccines against the virus.

342:  If endotracheal intubation is required who should do it

Fact: Performed by healthcare worker most experienced in airway management in order to minimize the number of attempts and risk of transmission (SCCM Best practice statement)

343: Video-guided laryngoscopy or over direct laryngoscopy

Fact: Video-guided laryngoscopy

344:  HCQS and diabetes

Yes. Hydroxy Chloroquine is approved for treatment of complicated diabetes.

345:  What is the main feature of X rays in COVIDS

Fact: All Sub pleural ground glass appearances or opacities more in lower zones