A year and a half after the coronavirus pandemic ravaged our collective lives, our society continues to grapple with fear and insecurity. As a result, we have seen misinformation spread like wildfire, and many people resort to bizarre and wrong ways of dealing with the virus. With this column, which will be published every Sunday, we aim to address any health or vaccine related questions that our readers may have. coronavirus global pandemic.
In this week’s column, Dr Pradeep Kumar Bhattacharya, Professor and HOD Critical Care Medicine, Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences, Ranchi talks about the MU variant, and discusses why people get infected despite ‘fully vaccinated’ are happening.
Has there been a decrease in cases requiring serious medical care in the past few months? What kind of COVID cases are being seen nowadays in terms of severity?
Yes, at present there are very few serious cases. Most of the fresh cases are of mild to moderate severity.
Many cases are being reported in people who have been fully vaccinated. Why is that the case? What factors increase the risk of getting infected even after vaccination?
The term ‘complete immunization’ has not yet been defined. Currently, what we consider to be ‘complete immunization’ in the context of a COVID vaccine is basically two doses of the vaccine. You have a 25 percent chance of getting an infection even after two doses if you are not vigilant and do not follow preventive measures like wearing a mask and social distancing.
What is Mu Mutant? Is it even more lethal than Delta?
WHO has defined two types of SARS COV 2 – the first is “Variants of Concern” which means they have been found to cause serious infection in humans and we need to be very cautious about these types, They are – alpha, beta, gamma, and delta. Then there are “variants of interest,” which means they are under observation by scientists and their virulence is yet to be decided. These variants include eta, lotta, kappa, lambda and mu. So, mu is a type of interest.
Cases have already increased in many states. How close are we to the third wave and how deadly will this wave be?
The severity of the third wave will depend entirely on three things- vaccination, social distancing, wearing of masks and other preventive measures as described by the government.
Many of the treatments/drugs that we saw being used on COVID patients in the early stages of the pandemic are now redundant. What are the latest technologies/approaches being used to treat people in critical care due to COVID?
Some of the newer treatments available for COVID-19 patients include monoclonal antibodies, interferon, 2-deoxy-D-glucose etc., but nothing is complete proof and all these treatments have their limitations as well.
Have people suffering from Kovid-19 for a long time experienced such severe symptoms that they had to be admitted to the ICU?
Ten percent of people suffer from severe COVID-19 infection and some of them require long-term ICU care. Most of these patients are those who have got damaged lungs due to Kovid.
read all breaking news, breaking news And coronavirus news Here
.