Fictions and COVID 19

Fictions and COVID 19

Dr KK Aggarwal

President CMAAO, HCFI and Past National President IMA

Normally introduction of a new vaccine takes at least 18 months and only in rare exceptional circumstances it can be introduced in the market in 12 months.

Most pharmaceutical companies are scared that Corona virus will last in the circulation only for 6 months and will never come back like SARS and why spend billions of dollars in research.

There are postulations that COVID 19 is a part of bioterrorism or the virus was being manufactured in one of the Chinese laboratories.

These speculations basically come from Hollywood and Bollywood movies which shows that the villain is ready to manufacturer a virus and the hero of the film will produce an Antivirus within no time to save the community.

But remember these are fictions and not a reality.

If it was a reality, then the lab will make anti vaccine first both to commercially exploit it and save their own people

The Chinese government in this epidemic lockdown their own 5 crore people.  All

Susceptible to get the disease. The expected deaths with the current rate of spread is 5000.

It doesn't make sense for any government or a terrorist body to make bioweapons without making an antidote for it.

Most of the WhatsApp’s are spreading these messages for them to become viral.

People compare them with what has been written in the fiction stories in the past and any similarities are a mere coincidence.

Remember viruses like SARS, smallpox ate still in the labs and Bollywood and Hollywood movies will still go on making fictions on these viruses.

New York Times: China’s critics seize on fringe theory of virus

There’s no evidence for it, and scientists dismiss it. But a rumor about the coronavirus has nevertheless gained traction: that the outbreak was somehow manufactured by the Chinese government as part of a biowarfare program.

It’s the kind of story that resonates with those who see Beijing as a threat to the West. The theory has gained an audience with the help of powerful critics of the Chinese government, including right-wing media outlets and a U.S. senator, Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who later walked his claims back.

Reality: Experts dismiss the idea that the virus was created by human hands, saying it resembles SARS and other viruses that come from bats.

BSL-4 Labs and not BSL 3 labs for the coronavirus

BSL-4 Labs and not BSL 3 labs for the coronavirus

Dr KK Aggarwal

President CMAAO, HCFI and Past National President IMA

Ordinarily BSL 3 labs are enough to handle respiratory viruses. SARS and MERS were handled with these labs. But for coronavirus the labs being used are BSL 4 labs. May be extra precautions or fear of it being much more deadly than SARS.

Biosafety level 4 (BSL-4) suit laboratories are specifically designed to study high-consequence pathogens for which neither infection prophylaxes nor treatment options exist.

The hallmarks of these laboratories are custom-designed airtight doors, dedicated supply and exhaust airflow systems, a negative-pressure environment, and mandatory use of positive-pressure (“space”) suits.

The risk for laboratory specialists working with highly pathogenic agents is minimized through rigorous training and adherence to stringent safety protocols and standard operating procedures.

Researchers perform the majority of their work in BSL-2 laboratories and switch to BSL-4 suit laboratories when work with a high-consequence pathogen is required.

Tasks such as entering and exiting the BSL-4 suit laboratories are considerably more complex and time-consuming compared to BSL-2 and BSL-3 laboratories.