COVID-19 Pandemic

  • by VaccineHealthCenter



A pandemic refers to the epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region, for instance, multiple continents or the entire world, and affecting a substantial number of people. It can also be defined as a widespread endemic disease with a stable number of infected people is not a pandemic. When a region experiences a disease that is epidemic, the disease affects a large number of people over a short period. In 2019, an infectious disease called coronavirus disease (Covid-19) hit Wuhan, in China. Before long, the disease became a pandemic, affecting nearly all the countries of the world's continents.

What is the Covid-19 pandemic?

The coronavirus pandemic refers to an infectious respiratory complication. The disease’s causative agent is a strain of the novel coronavirus, denoted by SARS-CoV-2 (a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2). When one gets the Covid-19 infection, the signs and symptoms take up to fourteen days to manifest.

What are the signs and symptoms of Covid-19 infection?

Upon contracting the Covid-19 infection, different people will exhibit various signs and symptoms. Although the signs and symptoms could vary, the common ones include headache, loss of smell and taste, nasal congestion and runny nose, cough, muscle pain, sore throat, fever, diarrhea, and breathing difficulties. Different people with the Covid-19 infection may show different symptoms which change over time. The systems are grouped into three clusters, and an infected person could have symptoms belonging to one or more clusters. The clusters are;

  • Digestive cluster; this cluster is characterized by diarrhea, vomiting, and abdominal pain
  • Respiratory cluster; a person whose signs belong to this cluster will experience fever, cough, shortness of breath, and sputum
  • Musculoskeletal cluster; this cluster is identified through the muscle and joint pain, headache, and fatigue

Among individuals who have never had previous problems of the ear, nose, or throat, a combined loss of smell and loss of taste could be an indicator of SAR-CoV-2 infection. About a third of the infected people will not show symptoms nor test positive for the SARS-CoV-2, but they still will transmit the virus. These are called asymptomatic cases. For the symptomatic cases (two-thirds of Covid-19 infection cases), the majority (about 81%) will exhibit mild to moderate symptoms which get up to mild pneumonia. 14% of the symptomatic cases will exhibit moderate to severe symptoms (including over 50% of lung infection and hypoxia), while the remaining 5% will have critical symptoms which could cause the failure of multiple organs or shock. The average delay between infection and development of symptoms for the symptomatic cases is four to five days, while some people will show symptoms within the first two days, others will take twelve days, but by the twelfth day, at least a sign will have manifested in all symptomatic cases.

How does the Covid-19 pandemic spread?

A critical aspect of a disease is the way the disease is transferred from one person to another. SARS-CoV-2 is a virus that is transmitted through the respiratory fluids and aerosols when an infected person coughs, sneezes, sings, or talk. The transfer is sped up by close proximity, the closer two people are (one infected and the other not infected), the higher the risk of transmission. The transmission within a short distance involves droplets and aerosols which fall to the ground, while longer distance transfers only involve aerosols.

Risk factors for the Covid-19 pandemic

Like most contagious diseases, the SARS-CoV-2 could be riskier to particular people than others. Here are the risk factors associated with the SARS-CoV-2 virus infection;

  • Age- the young and the old may be more susceptible to Covid-19 disease than others due to the immune system that goes down in the two groups
  • Other underlying medical infections- the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests that having some severe medical conditions at the time of contracting the virus could make one more susceptible to the disease and may experience severe to critical symptoms.
  • Being in large gatherings- people who regularly interact with crowds could catch the virus faster than people staying home and not interacting with crowds.

Controlling the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic
Although the SARS-CoV-2 virus is a contagious pathogen, something can be done to control the spread of the virus. For instance, regularly washing hands with soap and clean water can help keep the virus off. The alternative to this is alcohol-based sanitizers (which should only be used when one cannot access soap and water). Staying home whenever possible to avoid crowds also reduces the risk. Wearing masks helps contain the respiratory fluids and minimize transfer. Another strategy is keeping a social distance of about 2m between a person and another as that is the likely longest distance for the SARS-CoV-2 transfer.

Medical intervention for Covid-19 pandemic

As of now, there are no drugs that cure the virus. However, some studies suggest that some repurposing antiviral drugs could considerably minimize the SARS-CoV-2 replication by targeting the virus's pathogenesis and life cycle. Such drugs include lopinavir and others of this class. Some vaccines that have been introduced to offer relative protection to the virus, and they include those by Pfizer/BioNTech, Johnson & Johnson’s Jassen, and Moderna. 

Conclusion

The Covid-19 pandemic has hit the entire world and continues causing detrimental effects. This article discussed this pandemic, its causes, symptoms, transmission, control, and medical intervention.