Yay Vaccines, But Here's Why Covid Will Never Go Away: QuickTake - Bloomberg

Yay Vaccines, But Here's Why Covid Will Never Go Away: QuickTake - Bloomberg

Yay Vaccines, But Here's Why Covid Will Never Go Away: QuickTake - Bloomberg

Posted: 27 Jan 2021 09:00 PM PST

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Yay Vaccines, But Here's Why Covid Will Never Go Away: QuickTake  Bloomberg

Poliovirus transmission: 4 common points of spread that encourage the virus to multiply - DAWN.com

Posted: 27 Nov 2020 12:00 AM PST

Oral, faecal and person-to-person transmission are some of the top routes the virus uses to infect a human body.

In a quest to have preventive vaccination outrun the wild polio virus globally, a variety of informative campaigns were launched this year, primarily raising the number of awareness programs and vaccination drives in the last two countries that continue their fight against poliovirus: Afghanistan and Pakistan.

It is commonly known that no child in the world is safe from the risk of getting infected by poliovirus until even one, in the entire world, remains positive.

With medical science aiming to upend the endemic globally, Pakistan is doing all to support the cause and play its part.

Most common spread points of polio

Here is a list of some of the key ways the virus multiplies:

Via person to person contact

The wild virus resides primarily in an infected person's throat and intestines, and enters another body through the mouth or nose.

If a person comes in contact with an infected person's feces or sneeze and cough droplets, he/she is at a higher risk of catching the virus.

The faecal-oral and oral-oral route

Although poliovirus can transmit from one person to another through many ways, the most frequent means of spread is the faecal-oral route.

This means of transmission is most rampant in areas with poor sanitation.

In places where high standards of hygiene are maintained, the virus is transmitted via the oral-oral route only.

Via contaminated water, food and drinks

The disease generally spreads when the virus enters the body, primarily via the nose or mouth, which comes in contact of food or water carrying virus strains.

Less commonly, the virus travels through raw or undercooked food and drinking water or beverages contaminated with the faeces of an infected person.

Through open defecation areas

Poor sanitary practices, including defecation in the open, keeping hands unwashed while eating and after using the toilet, are common in rural areas and slums. These points of spread play a key role in spreading the highly contagious virus amongst children.

With little to no awareness in an increasingly polluted environment, the well-being of Pakistani children is at high risk at the hands of the contagious virus.

When a child is infected with wild poliovirus, the virus enters the body through the mouth and multiplies in the intestine. It is then shed into the environment through the faeces where it can spread rapidly through a settlement, especially in situations of inadequate hygiene and sanitation

What is Pakistan doing to fight polio this year?

While polio virus is still rampant in Pakistan, an underdeveloped country with issues like high infant mortality rate, lack of basic sanitary facilities and rising undernutrition, countries like Nigeria were able to fight the virus with some basic but persistent efforts.

These countries invested in continuous awareness sessions and mass immunisation drives against the contagious virus, eliminating it for good.

Whereas in Pakistan, around 40 million children under the age of five missed out on their routine vaccination this year because of lockdown measures around Covid-19. This, coupled with low immunisation, only lead to a surge in cases.

On the other hand, the Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme (PPEP) is doing all to dispel rumours about vaccination and raise awareness on the importance of participation in such drives.

A four-day polio vaccination campaign, all set to begin on Nov 30, will administer oral polio vaccines to 885,000 children with 2,504 mobile teams visiting each house in union councils in the district of Rawalpindi.

With increased nationwide immunisation drives and active awareness programs, the PPEP is confident that the rise in polio cases will soon be upended.

Mary Berry health: TV star's polio condition which left her with a misshapen left hand - Express

Posted: 27 Jan 2021 11:01 AM PST

In a recent interview, the 85-year-old spoke about her diagnosis and how she would urge everyone to take the vaccine to protect themselves against the relentless disease.

"I had polio, but now almost the whole world is vaccinated against it," she said.

"If you're in a hospital like I was, with people in callipers, people in pain, people who weren't going to get better – I think everyone should take the vaccine, not query it, and think of others."

She added: "I was immensely fortunate. I only had it on my left side, and I've got a funny left hand."

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Roseola vs. measles rash: What is the difference? - Medical News Today

Image
Roseola and measles are two different diseases that present with a high fever and a rash. They are both most commonly seen in childhood, although measles can affect people of any age, and roseola in adults is very rare. While both diseases share similarities, there are distinguishing factors, such as how the symptoms present and the disease progression. Read on to find out the difference between roseola and measles rashes. Roseola, also known as roseola infantum, sixth disease, or exanthema subitum, is a viral infection that typically affects children. The human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) or human herpesvirus 7 (HHV-7) causes roseola. The disease is spread through tiny respiratory droplets that people either breathe in or pick up from surfaces they touch. This disease usually presents in children between the ages of 6–12 months . Children who have this disease experience a high fever, followed by a pink or red rash. Roseola is a self-limiting viral illness, meaning it will typically go awa...
Read more

Athlete's foot: Symptoms, types, causes, treatment, prevention - Insider

Image
Athlete's foot is a fungal infection that causes itchy, flaky skin between toes and on foot soles. You may also experience foul-smelling feet and changes in skin color depending on what type you have. You should start to feel relief about two weeks after starting treatment. Visit Insider's Health Reference library for more stories. Athlete's foot, also known as tinea pedis, is a type of fungal infection called ringworm that affects the feet. It occurs most commonly between the toes or on the soles of the feet. Athlete's foot is quite common and is estimated to affect 3%-15% of people Contrary to the name, you don't have to be an athlete to contract it. The name came about because it is commonly caught and spread in places athletes frequent like gyms and locker rooms.  But the fungus thriv...
Read more

Managing Atrial Fibrillation in Patients With Heart Failure and Reduced Ejection Fraction: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association

Image
causes of precapillary pulmonary hypertension :: Article Creator Long-term Oxygen Therapy Improves Exercise Capacity In PH Long-term oxygen improves exercise capacity in people with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) or chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH), a study suggests. Twelve weeks of supplemental oxygen led to a significant and clinically relevant improvements in exercise capacity, as assessed with the six-minute walking distance test (6MWD), by 42 meters (about 138 feet) over the distances walked at start of the study, "Long-term oxygen therapy in precapillary pulmonary hypertension — SOPHA study," which was published in Scientific Reports. PH is marked by high blood pressure in the pulmonary arteries, the blood vessels that transport blood from the heart to the lungs. Precapillary PH includes PAH, where blood pressure increases due to the narrowing of pulmonary arteries, along with CTEPH, a rare form of p...
Read more