How is Coronavirus Spread? Here's What You Should (and Shouldn't) Worry About

With more than 247,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the US (and more than one million cases worldwide), it's clear that the novel coronavirus (aka COVID-19), along with the anxiety surrounding it, isn't going anywhere soon.

Because the virus is so new (it's technically called SARS-CoV-2, FYI), lots of the fear surrounding COVID-19 stems from how little we know about it. Luckily, experts do know some pretty important things about the virus' transmission, or how the coronavirus does—and doesn't—spread.

In general, how does the coronavirus spread?

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, COVID-19 is spread mainly from person-to-person, usually via close contact (within six feet). That could be via physical contact, like handshaking (if someone's hands are contaminated with the virus) or touching contaminated surfaces.

"A sneezing or coughing person will cover their mouth, get it all over their hand, and then touch something that you then touch," Robert Murphy, MD, an infectious disease expert at Northwestern University, tells Health. The virus can then gain entry into your body when you touch your own face, he adds.

Simply being near an infected person who coughs, sneezes, or talks can expose you to their infected respiratory droplets, the CDC says. It those virus-containing particles land in your eyes, nose, or mouth, or if it they get on your hands and your rub any of those places on your face, you could possibly acquire the infection. And some people may be capable of spreading it to others even though they don't have any symptoms, the CDC points out.

One other note: While the virus has been detected in stool, it's still not clear whether it can be acquired through fecal-oral transmission, according to a review posted online March 12 by Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

Can you tell if someone is sick with coronavirus?
Unfortunately, the only way to truly know if someone has COVID-19 is to test them—that's because the symptoms of the illness may look extremely similar to that of the common cold or flu: cough, fever, body aches.

It's also important to know that not everyone who is infected with coronavirus shows symptoms—as is the case with asymptomatic carriers. They can harbor the virus and spread it to other people before developing symptoms. It's also possible for their symptoms to be so mild that they're not aware they have the virus.

How long does coronavirus stay on surfaces?

The recent coronavirus outbreak sparked a 2020 review published in the Journal of Hospital Infection, which looked at other coronaviruses (including SARS, MERS, and other endemic human coronaviruses), and determined that they can live on surfaces like metal, glass, or plastic for anywhere from two hours to nine days. Subsequent research in the New England Journal of Medicine found that the virus can live on copper for up to four hours, on cardboard for up to 24 hours, and on plastic and stainless steel for two to three days.

However, investigators examining outbreaks of COVID-19 on three cruise ship voyages in February and March reported the first evidence that the virus may hang around much longer than than initially thought. Traces of the virus were found in the cabins of infected Diamond Princess passengers (including symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals) 17 days after their cabins were vacated, according to the March 23 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report from the CDC. However, the authors of the report say the data cannot be used to determine whether the virus from transmitted from person to person through contaminated surfaces.

Even if we don't know exactly how long the virus lingers on surfaces, we do know that disinfecting surfaces is considered "best practice" for helping to prevent transmission of the virus. So again, wiping down common surfaces (and avoiding touching common surfaces if possible) will help decrease the spread. The CDC recommends cleaning tables, countertops, light switches, doorknobs, and cabinet handles regularly. However, it’s unlikely that COVID-19 is spread by mail or packages; if it were, there’d be even more cases, says Dr. Murphy.

Does coronavirus spread through food?

It's a fair question—especially since lots of other viruses, like norovirus or other gastrointestinal viruses can spread via contaminated food. But, while a risk can't be ruled out if an infected person prepares the food, or you buy it from a highly trafficked buffet, the coronavirus doesn't appear to be spread by food, per The New York Times.

Thomas File Jr., MD, chair of the infectious disease division at Northeast Ohio Medical University, and president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, addressed the topic in a recent media briefing. "I don’t think we're so concerned about produce, although anything that’s being touched by hands, where people could be having the virus on their hands, could potentially be at risk." He recommended that people wash their produce.

What exactly is "community spread," and how is that related to coronavirus?

The term "community spread" recently entered the nation's coronavirus vocabulary as outbreaks of disease popped up across the US, particularly in densely populated metropolitan areas. According to the CDC, community spread means people in a specific area have been infected, even if they don't how or where they acquired the illness. In other words, they didn't have to know someone with COVID-19 or have a recent history of travel to a place where an outbreak has occurred to become infected.

Community spread is rampant in New York City, the current epicenter of the disease in the US, but other areas, from Detroit to New Orleans, are also experiencing a surge in cases.

It only solidifies the need for people to follow the CDC's preventive measures: stay at home; avoid close contact with other people, especially people who are sick; try not to touch your eyes, nose, and mouth; frequently disinfect objects that are touched regularly; and wash your hands often with soap and water.

The information in this story is accurate as of press time. However, as the situation surrounding COVID-19 continues to evolve, it's possible that some data have changed since publication. While Health is trying to keep our stories as up-to-date as possible, we also encourage readers to stay informed on news and recommendations for their own communities by using the CDC, WHO, and their local public health department as resources.

 

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.     

https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com. one can see my crochet creations  
https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com. feel free to view for easy, simple and healthy recipes    
https://kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com. for info on knee replacement

Study discovers enzyme that may prevent streptococci infection

Researchers have found an enzyme that could prevent a deadly streptococci infection that causes around 500,000 deaths worldwide each year.

Group A streptococcus can lead to illnesses such a s strep throat, scarlet fever, sepsis, and toxic shock syndrome as well as several long-term autoimmune diseases with high mortality rates.

Working with colleagues, the researchers found an enzyme that is required to produce a carbohydrate on the surface of the streptococcal bacterium which enables it to infect humans and animals.

Their research reveals new opportunities to inhibit this enzyme and ultimately, fight Group A Streptococcus infections.

The fact this enzyme works through a novel mechanism of action that can also be found in other streptococcal species increases the impact and relevance of this finding.

Strep throat is the most common Group A Streptococcus infection and can often be fought by the body's immune system. Unfortunately, the very same bacterium also causes a plethora of severe and potentially fatal illnesses, such as sepsis and toxic shock syndrome, said one of the researcher.

We knew that the carbohydrate coating was an essential component of Group A Strep, but we wanted to find out more about how this worked. What we've shown is that the enzyme initiates the synthesis of the bacterial coating, continued the Dr.

Surprisingly, we also found that this enzyme fulfills the same function in many other types of streptococci. This includes Group B Streptococci, that can cause severe infections in newborns, and Group C and G Streptococci that cause similar disease as Group A, including bacteraemia and endocarditis, in humans and animals, added the Dr.

The newly discovered enzyme is not present in humans or animals, therefore providing a novel,opportunity for drug discovery programmes, reported the study published recently.

Antimicrobial resistance is a global problem and existing antibiotics fail to work in around 20 % of cases of strep throat. The long term aim of the Dundee team is to aid the development of a new class of antimicrobial drugs that could completely inhibit or reduce the enzyme's activity.

The next step towards this goal will see them work with others to develop compounds that could target this enzyme.

The research was jointly led by PhD student and another researcher explained, in our study, we show how this protein initiates the production of this carbohydrate through a mechanism never described before.

this is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.   
https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com. one can see my crochet creations  
https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com. feel free to view for easy, simple and healthy recipes    
https://kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com. for info on knee replacement  

New drug increases survival in young women with advanced breast cancer

New drug shows increased survival rate in young women with breast cancer. The drug works by inhibiting the activity of cancer-cell promoting enzymes.

The treatment is less toxic than traditional chemotherapy because it more selectively targets cancerous cells, blocking their ability to multiply.

The study, touted as one of the greatest advances in the filed of breast cancer treatment in recent decades, showed that the addition of cell-cycle inhibitor ribociclib increased survival rates to 70 % after 3 1/2 years. The mortality rate was 29 % less when patients, all under 59 and pre-menopausal, were randomly assigned a placebo.

The study focused on a form of breast cancer which is fueled by the hormone estrogen and which accounts for 2/3rds of all cases among younger women. It is generally treated by the therapies that block the hormone's production.

You actually can ger synergy or better response, better cancer kill, by adding one of these cell-cycle inhibitors on top of the hormone-blocking therapy, the Dr. said.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among Indian women-approximately 25% of the female cancer cases in India are BC- with an age-adjusted rate of 25.8 cases per 100,00 women and a mortality rate of 12.7 per 100,000 women.

The new trial involved the analysis of 670 women with stage 4 advanced cancer for which they had not received prior hormone-blocking therapy. These are patients who tend to be diagnosed later, at a later stage in their disease, because we don't have great screening modalities for young women, he said.

In addition, patients who develop breast cancer early tend to have more complex cases.
That's what makes us so excited because it's a therapy that's affecting so many patients with advanced disease,  he added.

A pill is administered daily for 21 days followed by 7 days off to allow the body time to recover since 2/3rds of patients have a moderate to severe drop in white cell count.

A spokesperson who markets the drug under the brand name Kisqali and funded the research, said it cost 12,553$ for a 28 day dose. There is no cure for metastatic breast cancer and the majority of the women on the drug will require some form of therapy for the rest of their lives.

Moving forward, she said she was interested in investigating whether ribociclib could help nip cancer in the bud at an earlier stage.

We want to go and look at those women diagnosed with early-stage disease, small tumours, tumours that haven't gone to the lymph nodes or haven't gone to other parts of the body and see if we can stop it from returning later from metastasizing, she said.

The enrollment phase of a new global clinical trial is now underway.

THIS IS ONLY FOR INFORMATION, ALWAYS CONSULT YOU PHYSICIAN BEFORE HAVING ANY PARTICULAR FOOD/ MEDICATION/EXERCISE/OTHER REMEDIES.                                    PS- THOSE INTERESTED IN RECIPES ARE FREE TO  VIEW MY BLOG-                                                                                           https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com/    

                                                                                                                                                     FOR INFO ABOUT KNEE REPLACEMENT, YOU CAN VIEW MY BLOG-                                                  https:// kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com/  

                            FOR CROCHET DESIGNS                                                                                                                                                                                                  https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com

Read more at Speciality Medical Dialogues: New drug increases survival in young women with advanced breast cancer https://speciality.medicaldialogues.in/new-drug-increases-survival-in-young-women-with-advanced-breast-cancer/