Can Antibiotics Treat Coronavirus? This And Other Myths Busted By Our Expert

The Coronavirus epidemic is the scariest health emergency we have seen in recent times.It is causing governments and people around the world take some unprecedented steps probably never seen before. COVID 19 or the novel Coronavirus 2019 belongs to a family of viruses of coronavirus family and is closely related to the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and even more to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus which belongs to the same family. The present epidemic started in Wuhan, a city of Hubei province of China.

Since it was first detected in late December, it has spread to more than 60 countries, and has caused more than 3000 deaths mostly in China compelling the Chinese government to lock down many cities to try to contain the disease and prevent from spreading. This virus is likely to be a zoonotic disease (like the MERS and SARS) which means that it has jumped from an animal, likely a bat (not proven but still under investigation) and somehow acquired the ability to infect and transmit between humans causing primarily a lung infection, but in some cases, taking a serious turn causing severe disease and death.

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Coronavirus: What are the symptoms you need to watch out for

The symptoms of this disease are, fever, dry cough , fatigue and when it progresses, it causes rapid breathing and breathing difficulty, which is a warning sign that the patient has likely developed a pneumonia and needs hospitalisation and expert medical care. The disease spreads by droplets through contact. This means that viruses are trapped in tiny droplets which are released from our respiratory system in air when we speak, cough or sneeze, the latter two obviously carrying a much larger dose of infection and more likely to reach another human over short distances of a meter or two , inhaled by the other person and develop into an infection. Not only this, the infected droplets get deposited on our hands, face, and even surfaces like our work desk and related equipment and likely to transmit in this manner.

Myths and facts about coronavirus everybody should know:

1. Most patients with coronavirus die

Not true. Most survive actually. The rate of death from this disease is actually only around 2% to 3% but higher in elderly. Most patients don't require hospitalisation. Deaths occur only in patients who have severe disease and even in those, many can be saved.

2. Why are there so many death then

Because the number of people infected are high as the virus is highly infectious

3. Coronavirus is man-made

It is a zoonotic disease as explained above and not a result of any experiments. Meaning it has come to us from some animal likely bats. 

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4. Traditional medicine can cure this disease

Alternative medicines haven't proven to cure coronavirus. So yoga, garlic, haldi, and various plant extracts may benefit health and improve immunity but cannot kill the virus. A good diet and healthy lifestyle may help you battle any infection though

5. It can transmit long distances through air

There is no evidence for this. However, it is transmitted through droplets, hands and infected surfaces. Therefore for personal hygiene, wearing mask, frequently washing hands, avoiding going to crowded places and maintaining more than 3 metre distance from a person with symptoms of the disease and following the local health guidelines and bulletins are the most important.

Coronavirus is an airborne disease and can spread through tiny droplets in the air
Photo Credit: iStock

6. It can be transmitted from poultry or pets

There is no evidence of transmission through poultry food items or from pets.

7. Antibiotics will kill the virus

Antibiotics cannot kill this virus. Antibiotic can treat infections due to bacteria only.

8. Drugs to treat and vaccine rumours

There are number of drugs that may be effective but nothing is proven.

9. If I wear a mask it's a guarantee that I will not get infected

Untrue. Masks can help prevent the spread and decrease the viral load that you inhale. Most of us do not wear the mask in a proper way and keep adjusting and touching it further decreasing its efficacy.

10. Packets and letters from China can spread disease

Unlikely, as the virus does not survive for long outside the body.

Where should I get my information from?

Please stay away from half truths, rumours and pseudo experts. Get accurate information from credible websites like Government health site, official websites of WHO and other credited scientific bodies.

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Coronavirus: What are the prevention steps and treatment options?

There is no medicine to kill the virus so far, however patients having severe symptoms are treated in the hospital with supportive treatment and organ support in the ICU. In case their lungs or other organs fail, it may result in high chances of death, although credible large data sets are awaited.This virus appears to have higher infectious ability than SARS but lower death rate than SARS, which had a mortality of 10%. No vaccine is available at present, although the race to develop one is on, but it may be months before one is approved for use of general public.

Therefore, prevention from spreading is the most effective strategy to contain the disease at community as well as individual level. Since the virus can display symptoms after upto 14 days of contact with an infected person, all persons who have a documented close contact with a infected person are quarantined or simply contained in a separate area, sometimes in groups to prevent that group transmitting that disease to the community case they are infectious or develop disease later on.

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At a personal level, we can all do a lot in preventing the spread of this epidemic.

1. We must frequently wash our hands with soap and water or with an antiseptic hand wash.

2. We should avoid touching our face repeatedly specially for adjusting our masks, clean our work desk, maintain a good level of personal hygiene, and avoid going to crowded places.

3. People who develop cough and fever should stay indoors, travel to effected countries should be avoided.

Washing hands regularly is an important prevention step for coronavirus
Photo Credit: iStock

Awareness is the key to tackle epidemics like this and I am hopeful that the world population as well as health authorities may be more effective than the past as we have learnt a lot from previous epidemics, but there is no room for slackness as this infection has the ability to become a worldwide epidemic (a pandemic), but as we speak there is evidence that the spread of disease may already be slowing down in China because of warlike steps taken, however there is a worrisome spread and rising deaths in some other countries like italy and Iran.

(Dr Vipul Mishra, Head of Department, Pulmonology & Critical Care, Nayati Medicity, Mathura)

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