Unless you’ve been living under a rock, the Coronavirus is a modern-day disease that has affected us all, shaking up the entire world with its confusing, mutating nature, and ever-emerging, new variants. With the world having already witnessed 3 COVID waves, it is best to be educated and prepared.

Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, has famously said that Nature is the best physician. With technological advancement, increasing dependency on machines and drugs, and a highly complex lifestyle, we are moving away from Nature and exposing ourselves to many unknown and infectious diseases. The Coronavirus is one such disease that is spreading like wildfire, and the post-COVID life is often called ”the new normal.”  

As the Coronavirus is still raging on our precious planet, it is about time we expose some hidden Covid secrets, and bust some myths in the process too.

Omicron: the latest mind-boggling puzzle

The latest variant of the Coronavirus, the Omicron variant is causing some confusion among the scientific community. The booster dose and the double vaccine dose seems to be working against the Omicron variant, which is positive news, as most of the vaccines were designed to work against the first variant of Covid.

The marvellous human immune system has a unique ability to remember past infections. Some diseases and infections are given lifelong protection by the immune system, whereas booster shots are required for the others.  

Omicron immunity evasion

A study conducted in London’s Imperial College shows that the risk of reinfection with Omicron is about 5.4 times greater than getting infected with the Delta variant. Omicron antibodies are not as effective in protecting the body from reinfection.

Omicron poses a major threat to public health, as a study shows that people having the S gene target failure are at greater risk of reinfection and also breakthrough infections.

How do viruses evolve?  

When a virus makes copies of itself (replication), there is a possibility that it might change a little bit. Such changes are termed ‘mutations’. When a virus shows one or more new mutations, it is called a ”variant” of the virus it originated from. The longer a virus remains in circulation, the more it is likely to mutate and change. Such a process can create a variant that is more adaptable and better suited to the environment than the original virus. The mutation and natural selection of a better-adapted variant are known as ‘virus evolution’.

Certain mutations alter the virus’ attributes such as severity or transmission. The variant may become more transmissible or less deadly than its predecessor or the opposite could also happen.

Not all viruses change at the same pace. SARS-CoV-2 which is responsible for COVID-19 evolves at a much slower rate than other viruses such as the flu virus of HIV. This is due to the inbuilt proof-reading mechanism of the virus that corrects ‘errors’ when the virus duplicates itself. Studies are ongoing to find out more about this. It is important for us to know that the more this virus spreads from one person to another, the higher are the chances for it to mutate. Therefore, we must make every possible effort to reduce our risk of exposure to the virus.

Does SARS-CoV-2 change when it infects animals? And what are the implications of such a change?

• SARS-CoV-2 is usually transmitted from one human to another. However, there have been cases of human-animal transmissions. evidence. Tests have revealed that animals such as dogs, mink, domestic cats, tigers, lions, and raccoons can contract SARS-CoV-2 after contact with humans infected with COVID-19.
• In fact, in several countries, COVID-19 outbreaks have been reported in in mink farms. The characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 can change when the virus is in the bodies of minks. Research has revealed that the variants present in mink variants can transmit back in humans if they come close to the mink. Preliminary research results hint that variants that infect minks and the variants that infect humans may have similar same properties.
• More research needs to be carried out for a better understanding of whether the mink variants are likely to cause sustained transmission among humans and make countermeasures, such as vaccines less effective.

Covid is NOT like a common cold or the flu

We have often heard that the Omicron variant is ”just like the flu”, and ”extremely mild.” That is an extremely careless and silly way to handle the problem. While both COVID-19 and the Flu have similar symptoms like body aches, fever, cough, and headaches, the two diseases are definitely not the same. Research done in the John Hopkins research centre states that the overall profile of COVID-19 is much more serious. The mortality rate of patients suffering from COVID-19 is estimated to be about 10 times greater than the number of patients succumbing to the flu.

While there is plenty of research still ongoing relating to the Coronavirus, this pandemic appears to be far from over but there is a ray of hope that this too will end someday. We must stay away from forwards and other false information, and rather rely on dependable sources of information. In this day and age, proper education and knowledge is the key to overcoming this totally unforeseeable disease.

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