Decoding Corona Virus

This topic needs no introduction. You will have more stuff eating your brain and scaring you to shreds, by now.

Let’s just glance through what is Corona Virus, the types, the symptoms and the preventive measures.

What is Corona Virus (CoV)?

-         It is a large family of viruses that cause an illness ranging from common cold to severe respiratory syndromes, the extreme of which might be fatal too.

-         These viruses are zoonotic, and they are transmitted between animals and humans.

-         CoV started as an epidemic (a sudden disease outbreak affecting people in a region) and has now spread into a pandemic (spreading to different countries / continents).

-         The above point means that the symptoms and the consequences of CoV are the same globally. It’s good in a way because the preventive or remedial measures will also be same and if we are a little proactive in learning from other countries/areas where effective measures have been put in place, we can escape the situation here.

What are the types of Corona Virus (CoV)?

-         The 2 previously identified CoVs are MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) and SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome).

-         MERS was transmitted from camels to humans and SARS from cats to humans.

-         These were the most fatal CoVs that were identified.

There are many other unidentified Coronaviruses that have not affected humans, yet!!!

The New Corona Virus

-         The new Coronavirus (CoV) is called the Novel Coronavirus, formerly known as ‘2019 Novel Coronavirus’ or ‘2019-nCoV’ and known as the COVID-19 (CO-Corona, VI-Virus, D-Disease).

-         This was not previously identified in humans. This is not the same as some of the older versions that cause common cold or mild illness.

The severity of COVID-19 can lead to severe respiratory illness and can affect the lungs, resulting in weakening of the immune system.

-         The name of the virus that causes this outbreak is the SARS-CoV-2. Though associated to SARS, it is not the same virus.

How does it spread?

COVID-19 generally spreads from person-person through the respiratory droplets. And that means, your immunity level determines whether these respiratory droplets from another infected person can infect you or not.

-         This is more related to internal health, as it is a communicable disease, and you never know when it gets into you, until you feel some alarming symptoms.

-         A person can also get COVID-19 by touching a surface or an object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose, eyes, etc. But this is not the main way the virus spreads.

How does it not?

-         There is no proof to support the theory that these viruses spread through food or food products or packaged stuff or frozen foods or any foods that are preserved.

-         COVID-19 is not impacted by weather conditions, unlike other viruses that causes influenza or common cold due to change in temperatures or season.

Symptoms

-         Sneezing / Cold / Running Nose

-         High fever resulting in tiredness & fatigue

-         Dry Cough

-         Dehydration / Sore throat

-         Asthma

One thing for sure is that COVID-19 can tire you down and cause immense wear and tear.

Let’s be prepared for what may come and start the precautions now.

How to protect yourself?

-         Personal External Hygiene: There are plenty of materials being circulated from the State & Central Government bodies, health boards, articles on personal hygiene, etc. You could refer to that.

It is sad to see people talk about hygiene / clean habits so much during a disease outbreak such as this, which I don't say is bad, but ideally these are things which should be part of our daily routine or habits.

-         Internal Health: Health is not merely an absence of disease. It is a complete state of physical, mental and social well-being (from Grade-3 Science books). Let us look into it with some attention to detail.

Washing hands with hand wash / using a sanitizer (with at least 60% alcohol content) can keep your hands clean and hygienic.

Wearing a mask can protect you from respiratory droplets, depends on the quality of mask though. 

There are few other things as well.

But these do not solve your primary issue, a weak immune system and lungs. The focus is in strengthening your immune system and lungs.

Our immune system has anti-bodies that produces antigens to fight infections and diseases.

Any severe infectious virus like the COVID-19 first attacks the defence system of the body, damaging the anti-bodies and cause them to stop producing antigens or produce less antigens than required. This is a case of COVID-19 breaking down your natural body self-defence / immune system, so that it can play around inside your body happily.

Next come the lungs. As discussed earlier, SARS/MERS/COVID-19 cause severe respiratory syndromes. Breathlessness, pulmonary destruction, respiratory failures are associated with this. Damaged or malfunctioning lungs may not absorb/retain enough oxygen in the body due to the viral attack, and that results in poor oxygen supply to the heart and brain. Free radical formation happens leading to localised stress in lungs and heart.

Liver and kidney are not much prone to these attacks, as Liver is a self-repairing organ and to an extent, it can shield the kidney from the attack.

What do we do to strengthen the immune system and the lungs?

-         Proper nutritional intake is essential to strengthen them so that we can protect ourselves from any communicable disease / viral attacks.

-         If you can refer to my previous post on ‘EARN’ for strong foundation health, you will understand more about the importance of filling the daily nutritional gap to live a healthy life.

Immune System and the Lungs requires more antioxidants.

-         Vitamins C, E & A (in order, according to their potency levels) are the richest antioxidants, that reduce localised stress by helping lungs supply healthy and fresh oxygen throughout the body.

-         Carotenoids (9 servings of fruits and vegetables in 5 different colours – everyday)

-         Citrus Bioflavonoids (found abundantly in amla & citrus fruits)

-         Green Leafy Vegetables (containing iron & folic acid)

-         Vitamin-B (the best example is banana, with historically great results for lung health)

-         Adequate intake of protein without fat

Consuming these on a regular basis along with proper rest, good meal / health habits and the most important, hygiene, will keep you away from diseases. There is no need to press the panic button too soon.

DO NOT – Do not blindly trust the media on the severity of any health situation, and social media messages on health and wellness. They are more dangerous than the virus itself.

Cheers,

Barath PR

Nutrition & Wellness Consultant

7829999793