Most of the common people (other than doctors, researchers and scientists) never heard the term coronavirus, pandemic, community spread, quarantine etc. Late in December 2019, WUHAN, the city in China became more popular due to coronavirus (COVID-19) experiencing unfortunate unexpected deaths and community spread, that had happened within shorter duration. It spread fast and moved to other countries due to infected people who had travelled without the knowledge of COVID-19. On 12th January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced this as pandemic and instructed all the countries to implement measures to contain, prevent and protect from this novel coronavirus.
Same as other countries, India was no exception and the first case was reported on January 30th, 2020 in Kerala state. Though strict airport screening and preventive measures were in place quite early, India still faced serious challenges to stop the community spread. Considering the gap in population density and medical readiness, Govt of India announced a complete lockdown from late-March 2020 till May first week. However, this measure had its own impact on the economy and phase wise relaxations from mid-May 2020 have been announced to revive and strengthen our economy.
What should we understand from this virus???
Dependence on Xanax also has external manifestations. The skin may turn red and you may suffer from rashes. The face swells, becomes puffy, and other parts of the body may swell, including the throat and the tongue. Speech in this https://drcatalona.com/buy-xanax/ case becomes difficult, the voice changes.
As most of the people were struck inside their homes amidst lockdown, there were lots of queries regarding this pandemic in people’s mind. Unnecessary anxieties lead to spread of lot of rumours without analysing the scientific facts about the virus, though we have been encountering this type of virus for a long time. Below listed are some facts about earlier epidemics/pandemics due to virus spread that should be understood by the common people:
- -In the 15th century we have faced Plague, Typhoid, Smallpox and Hantavirus.
- -In the 16th and 17th century, Plague, Malaria, Yellow Fever, Smallpox, Measles, Chickenpox, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis D.
- -In 18th century, Pneumonia, Plaque, Typhoid Fever, Cholera, Poliomyelitis etc.
- -In 19th and 20th century, Spanish flu (H1N1) Typhoid, Pneumonia etc,
- -In 21st century, Yellow Fever, Ebola Virus, Hantavirus, Chikungunya, Dengue Fever, Coronavirus etc.,
In 20th century, we have lost around 14 million – 17 million people due to Bombay fever formerly called as Spanish flu and influenza, we have lost so many lives in that pandemic. During that time, there were no antibiotic to control the symptoms associated with Spanish flu, at least we have some antibiotic and antivirals now with good hygienic practices. Yes, of course!! Viral outbreak, epidemic and pandemic is not new across the globe including our country, though it could be completely new and shocking for certain generations. This also implies that guidelines from Govt like “Lockdown, Work from Home, Sec 144 throughout the country, Wearing Masks and Carrying sanitizers in our day-to-day life” have been existing earlier but is new to current generation.
Why are there no drugs and vaccines for this deadly virus?
People should understand the mechanism of drug discovery. It is not easy to design, produce and manufacture a drug and vaccine in a short period. Normally, drug discovery takes lots of time, honestly speaking it will take around 12-14 years to discover a drug. Now probably, you will be having this question as to “do we need to wait these many years and is there is no guarantee for our life?”. The answer is probably “No”.
During my doctoral degree, I have worked on non-structural viral proteins of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) using bioinformatic approach. From my understanding across, I am aware of how difficult the drug design study and its application, to design and repurpose the drug or vaccine. In comparison to earlier decades, today we have lots of biotechnological and bioinformatic methods to study the virus and design the drug in a shorter period. Scientific approaches like drug-repurposing etc is progressing rapidly beyond our knowledge and helps to tackle this issue. Unfortunately, some of the drugs are not even passing into clinical trials. So obviously it requires relatively longer time to get rid of this issue.
In our previous blog by my colleague Sharath Chandra S, we have already discussed about extension of 6-month license of Dassault Systemes’ BIOVIA Discovery Studio for COVID-19 research. With the help of BIOVIA, we have extended our support to the researchers and scientists from various science disciplinaries to analyse the structure of virus and design a drug that helps in screening of virtual databases and to come out with a drug that helps the pharmacists to design and repurpose a drug. I am excited to be working at Altem Technologies, where I can leverage the collective learning from these research communities.
Till successful trials of vaccines and approvals, we must live with the virus and there is no alternative. But we can protect ourselves with sanitizers, masks, social distancing, improving immunity and following of proper hygiene. Let us stay positive and think how to contribute to collaborative research effort, support people, educate our neighbours, friends and colleagues rather than focusing on negative impacts.
