GIS released shocking data - already 17 percent of people infected with coronavirus in Poland are medical personnel. This shows inadequate PPE and too few tests, but scientists say something else could be behind it - the dose of virus that he althcare workers are exposed to.

According to the data of the Chief Sanitary Inspectorate as of April 2, 2022, as many as461 members of medical staff , i.e. doctors, nurses and paramedics, are infected with coronavirus, and4577 people are in quarantine . The largest focus of the epidemic in recent days has become the Bródno Hospital, where 87 cases of infection were detected, including 43 among the hospital staff.

More wards and even entire hospitals are being closed all over Poland, which paralyzes the already inefficient he alth care system. And this is just the beginning of the epidemic in our country. Experts forecast that the peak incidence will occur around the second half of April or at the turn of April and May.

Worrying news is also coming from other countries affected by the pandemic. According to PAP, by April 5, about6,500 Italian he alth care workers , or 9 percent of all staff, fell ill with COVID-19. So farhave died there .

Contents:

  1. Why are medics more likely to suffer from COVID-19?
  2. The virus is like … poison
  3. Dose matters
  4. How to protect yourself from too much
  5. Let's not go crazy!

Why are medics more likely to suffer from COVID-19?

There are certainly many reasons. The main ones are:

  • no suitablevirus protection(masks, suits, disinfectants),
  • toolow number of testsperformed among medical services
  • exhaustion of the body, which causesdecrease in immunity , and thus - susceptibility to coronavirus infection.

The virus is like … poison

Scientists went a step further and compared the virus to poison. In their opinion, what matters isthe amount of the virus that reaches the human body . In small doses, the body of a he althy person usually copes with the uninvited guest,unless he is immunocompromised. The problem arises when our body is exposed to very high doses of the virus, and as you know - the employees of hospitals where the sick are most at risk.

Scientists cite the example ofLi Wenliang , a Wuhan doctor who was the first to warn the world against and fought against a spreading epidemic, constantly surrounded by the sick. Li Wenliang died of COVID-19 in February this year. just 34 years old. And it was not the last such case.

Dose matters

It has long been known thatsmall amounts of the pathogen stimulate our immune systemto fight, thus protecting us from its higher doses to which we may be exposed in the future. Even before the invention of vaccines, doctors deliberately infected he althy people with, for example, pimple secretions from people suffering from smallpox, thanks to which they underwent the disease in a gentle and fully controlled manner.

As the researchers point out, this issue seemsobvious, but has so far been overlooked in any discussions about thecoronavirus. Meanwhile, viruses can be compared to poisons -mortality depends on the dose . Small doses shouldn't hurt anyone, they can only cause mild symptoms, while large doses can kill.

To test this relationship, researchers conducted experiments on mice and humans.

Mice in the laboratory were administered small and large doses of the most common and dangerous viruses, including the coronavirus.Mice that received low doses always recovered . In large doses, the same virus was deadly to them.

Humans also show sensitivity to the dose of the virus. The volunteers were infected with relatively harmless types of viruses that cause colds and diarrhea. Also in their case, those who tooka high dose had much more severe symptoms of the disease .

For ethical reasons, no one infected people with the coronavirus, but there is a known case of a man who infected his neighbors living in the same building complex during the SARS epidemic in Hong Kong in 2003. As they were constantly exposed to the virus, as many as 19 of them died as a result of the infection. In turn, the more distant neighbors suffered much less.

How to protect yourself from too much

We should be aware that not every encounter with the coronavirus carries the same risk. Staying in a building where a person with COVID-19 was present is not as dangerous as, for example, sitting next to the sick person on a train during an hour's commute to work.

So how do you protect yourself from high doses of the coronavirus? Here are the5 basic rules .

  1. Minimize social contacts, especially those close to you;
  2. Try not to touch your face with your hands, which can carry really large doses of the virus;
  3. Keep a safe distance from other people if we have to leave the house;
  4. Take care of hygiene;
  5. Wear a mask.

Following these rules should be treated as ourobligation- this also applies toyoung people .

Let's not go crazy!

At the same time, we should not exaggerate when it comes to precautionary measures. If our immune system is working efficiently, the risk of becoming infected with clothes or packaged food that someone with COVID-19 has touched is really small. Of course, if we follow all the precautions mentioned above. It is worth taking this into account in our daily life.

Introducing quarantine for all is the most effective way to fight a spreading pandemic, but it also hassevere economic and psychological consequences . When we are finally able to leave our homes, the habits we learn today will come in handy in the future to avoid exposure to high doses of the coronavirus. The most important thing is that we know what to avoid.

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Category:

COVID 19