COVID-19 from Community Medicine Perspective

COVID-19 from Community Medicine Perspective www.diginerve.com

COVID-19 bags its position to be one of the biggest pandemics known to humankind.

Outbreak of COVID-19 as a pandemic in 2020 has impacted the lives of people globally in a huge manner. Living with the pandemic has become new normal now and people are trying to manage/revamp their lives in as normal a way as possible. www.diginerve.com

Epidemiology SARS-CoV-2 originated from China in December 2019 and spread rapidly to affect rest of the world over a period of 3-4 months. It produced a large cluster of pneumonia cases.

WHO declared it a global pandemic on 11th March 2020. Maximum number of cases were recorded in USA followed by India and Brazil.

The COVID-19 pandemic is the third recorded outbreak of a coronavirus, with the 2002 sudden acute respiratory syndrome (SARS, SARS-CoV-1 or SARS-CoV) and the 2012 Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS or MERS-CoV) epidemics preceding it.

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Epidemiology The COVID-19 case fatality rate is challenging to evaluate, due to widespread variability in public health response and capacity, availability of treatment, national demography, viral variants, and prevalence of comorbidities.

The mortality rate of COVID-19 is currently estimated to be between 2% and 4 %; however, some countries have a case fatality rate of less than 1%, while others (particularly poorer countries, and those whose healthcare systems have been overrun) have a case fatality rate as high as 25 %.

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Causative Agent Variants of SARS-CoV-2

COVID-19 is caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-COV-2. According to WHO, the incubation period of the virus is estimated to be between 2 and 14 days and on average 5.2 days. As per WHO, a very long incubation period could represent a double exposure.

The newer variants of the virus are classified into Variants of Interest (VoI) and Variants of Concern (VoC) Variants of Interest (VOI) have changed phenotypic properties compared to the known existing virus due to mutations that need further study

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Protection of Susceptible Host Virus vaccines: The virus itself is used in a weakened or inactivated form.

Types: Weakened or inactivated.

Viral-vector vaccines: A weakened virus, such as adenovirus or measles, is genetically engineered to produce coronavirus proteins in the body. Types: Replicating viral vector and non-replicating viral vector.

Nucleic-acid vaccines: Nucleic acid is inserted into human cells, which then produce copies of the virus protein which produces an immune response.

Types: DNA vaccine and RNA vaccine. www.diginerve.com

Protein-based vaccines: Virus protein fragments or protein shells are injected directly into the body. Types: Protein subunit vaccines and viruslike particle vaccines Vaccines currently in use in India: Two vaccines are currently licensed for use in India, i.e., Covishield and Covaxin. Both the vaccines have 100% efficacy against severe COVID-19, hospitalization, and death. Studies to confirm efficacy against COVID-19 infection and reduction of transmission are ongoing. Other vaccines licensed in India are Sputnik V from Russia to be manufactured by Serum Institute and Moderna from the USA, to be imported by Cipla.

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