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Showing posts from 2021

Existing vaccines against new variants of COVID-19: Can they hold the fort?

What is this new variant? A variant is nothing, but a slightly altered or mutated version of a virus. There are thousands of COVID variants present around the world which is to be expected because mutation in viruses is common phenomenon. Most of these mutations are not much of that concern, because they do not provide additional features to the virus. Omicron is strikingly different from many other types due to the long list of genetic mutations it has undergone, which has increased the infectivity of virus. What causes a virus to change to a new variant? When a virus is widely circulating in a population and causing many infections, the likelihood of the virus mutating increases. The more opportunities a virus obtains to spread, the more it replicates – and the more opportunities it gets to undergo changes. Most viral mutations have little to no impact on the virus’s ability to cause infections and disease. But depending on where the changes are in the virus’s genetic material, they

Health supplements- Are they really supplementing you?

  During our childhood, we were told home food is healthy food, then sometime around the 90s came a breakfast revolution. Corn flakes made their way to our tables. This was a ‘new healthy’. Then came green tea. It was followed by quinoa, oat smoothies, kale and seeds. So many of them entered our table like chia, sunflower, pumpkin, flax, sesame and hemp. They planted themselves on our dinner tables and cluttered it and slowly replaced traditional home cooked meals. All of that is acceptable. We were told it is healthy and in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic showed that healthy alone was marketable enough. Immunity became the new sales pitch. So those milkshakes, ice creams, everything started guaranteeing immunity. You don’t need to be a doctor to identify healthy, you only need to be logical. My logic and experience tell me that we are being tricked in the name of health and wellness. Why don't you open your social media profile and search for health and wellness? You'll find 4.2

Hypertension: A Silent Killer

  C an you think of a time more stressful than the pandemic? For most of the people, this pandemic is the most stressful time of our lives, the stress resulting from the grief of losing a loved one, stress caused by the fear of losing a near one, stress from trying to stay safe. And, of course, the stress from adjusting to the constantly adjusting to the ‘New Normal’ i.e. masks, tests, vaccines, lockdowns, work from home, online learning. High stress levels can be fatal. And the way this story is going, it is not helping you reducing the stress. But stay tuned. It's important to know what's happening. Stress can lead to high blood pressure. Also, what's known as hypertension and prolonged hypertension can lead to severe medical conditions. So, while we have finally started addressing mental health problems resulting from anxiety and stress, it's also time to acknowledge and spread awareness about hypertension itself.  World Hypertension Day But why are we discussing a

COVID-19 new variants can hamper vaccine progress - CDC

  With the rise of many variants of COVID-19, Centers for Disease control and prevention (CDC) has expressed its concern regarding progress of COVID-19 vaccination. As of now in March 2021, many countries are starting public vaccination, but the scientific society needs to keep a track of the emerging variants of COVID-19 , since the available vaccines may not protect against the new variants. CDC is a national public health institute in United states working under Department of Health and Human services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Its main goal is to protect public health and safety through the control and prevention of disease, injury and disability in the US and internationally. CDC has kept a track of progress of COVID-19 since the very beginning and warned the world about its various signs and symptoms. CDC has influenced and helped many countries to formulate their guidelines to tackle COVID-19 and in the past many other infective diseases. The western countrie

COVID-19 vaccination opens for public, but are you eligible?

  Almost one year had passed since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and finally India has started COVID-19 vaccination for public. A certain group of population (people at high risk) can register to receive the COVID-19 vaccine from March 1 st , 2021. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has himself taken the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine at AIIMS, New Delhi. In the history of vaccine development, this is the fastest one, that mankind has achieved, thanks to our hard-working scientists. As First phase of vaccination, India had already started vaccinating the frontline workers from January 16 th , 2021. India had been the major supplier of COVID-19 vaccine doses for past few months to over 60 countries, especially the countries which cannot afford the costly western vaccines. Specially the African countries and countries around Indian ocean have received COVID-19 vaccine doses from India. The chief of the World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros Adhanom has immensely praised India and Prime Mi