Coronavirus: The words you need to understand the news

1)   An aerosol can refer to when liquid or solid particles are dispersed in a gas, usually the air. Fog, mist, and smoke are aerosols. Those tiny particles themselves can be called aerosols.


In epidemiology, aerosols specifically refer to tiny particles (under 5 micrometers) containing a virus or other infectious agent. These particles get exhaled in a fine mist when an infected person talks or breathes, and then can get easily inhaled by other people.


Larger particles (over 5 micrometers) are referred to as respiratory droplets or simply droplets, and are expelled when coughing or sneezing. Droplets fall to the ground within 3–6 feet (1–2 meters), while aerosols can remain in the air longer and spread farther.


If an infectious agent becomes suspended in the air in tiny particles, it is said to be aerosolized. The spread of a disease through the air can be called aerosol transmission or airborne transmission.
The virus causing COVID-19 is known to spread through droplets. Scientists are still researching the extent to which it can spread through aerosols.

2)   Chloroquine is a drug used to treat malaria. It is being explored and tested as a possible treatment for the novel coronavirus.The chemical formula of chloroquine, a synthetic substance, is C18H26ClN3. Chloroquine is sometimes abbreviated as CQ. A derivative of chloroquine is hydroxychloroquine.


While malaria is caused by a parasite (transmitted by mosquitoes), chloroquine has proven effective in treating SARS, a disease caused by a coronavirus closely related to the one that causes COVID-19. That’s why chloroquine is being tried out as a treatment for COVID-19.

3)     An epidemic is a temporary prevalence of a disease spreading from person to person in a locality where that disease is not permanently prevalent.

4)    Epidemiology is the branch of medicine dealing with the incidence and prevalence of disease in large populations and with detection of the source and cause of epidemics of infectious disease.

5)    Flatten the curve means slowing the spread of an epidemic disease so that the capacity of the healthcare system doesn’t become overwhelmed. The curve represents the number of cases over time, and flattening that curve means preventing a huge surge of new cases in a very short period of time.

6)    Disease mitigation are measures taken to slow the spread of infection. Quarantine, isolation, and social distancing are forms of mitigation.

Washing your hands with soap for at least 20 seconds is one important thing to do to help prevent the spread, or mitigate, COVID-19.

7)   Patient zero refers to the person who is identified as the first person infected with a communicable disease during an outbreak.Related terms are index case and index patient. An index case is the first known case of an infectious or genetic disease in a group of cases; the affected person is the index patient.
R0 is the average number of people that a person with an infectious disease is expected to spread the infection to (in population immune to the disease). In other words, if one person is infected, how many other people will they infect?
R0is also called the basic reproduction rate. If R0 is greater than 1, it can spread in a population and cause an outbreak.Estimates vary, but one study measures the R0 of COVID-19 at 2.2. That means that, on average, each person infected with COVID-19 spreads it to two other people. For comparison, the R0 of measles is estimated between a value of 12–18; seasonal strains of the flu have been estimated at 1.3.

8)   Pronounced and also written as R-naught, R-nought, or R-zero. The R stands for reproduction or reproductive.

9)   A super-spreader, or superspreader, is a person infected with a pathogen (such as a virus, bacterium, or other microorganism that produces a disease) and spreads it to an unusually large number of individuals who aren’t infected.

10)   Zoonotic means “relating to any disease of animals communicable to humans.” The noun form is zoonosis.The source of COVID-19 is believed to be an animal, which makes it a zoonotic disease.



Comments

  1. Philippe Thivillier24 April 2020 at 04:04

    OK José even though a couple of terms chosen by you do not pertain to the most essential ones to know about the pandemic...

    ReplyDelete

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