There is no comparison between the two. We have better healthcare today. We understand how to curb viral pandemics that no one understood at the end of WWI. Viruses vary in transmissibility, doubling times and lethality. Some viruses run their course only to return a few years later.
We are still figuring out Covid-19. As it turns out it can kill its victims in different ways over very different timeframes.
SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, was initially thought to primarily impact the lungs — SARS stands for “severe acute respiratory syndrome.” Now we know there is barely a part of the body this infection spares. And emerging data show that some of the virus’s most potent damage is inflicted on the heart.
Eduardo Rodriguez was poised to start as the No. 1 pitcher for the Boston Red Sox this season. But in July the 27-year-old tested positive for Covid-19. Feeling “100 years old,” he told reporters: “I’ve never been that sick in my life, and I don’t want to get that sick again.” His symptoms abated, but a few weeks later he felt so tired after throwing about 20 pitches during practice that his team told him to stop and rest.
Further investigation revealed that he had a condition many are still struggling to understand: Covid-19-associated myocarditis. Mr. Rodriguez won’t be playing baseball this season.
Myocarditis means inflammation of the heart muscle. Some patients are never bothered by it, but for others it can have serious implications. And Mr. Rodriguez isn’t the only athlete to suffer from it: Multiple college football players have possibly developed myocarditis from Covid-19, putting the entire college football landscape in jeopardy.The gift that keeps on giving.
An intriguing new study from Germany offers a glimpse into how SARS-CoV-2 affects the heart. Researchers studied 100 individuals, with a median age of just 49, who had recovered from Covid-19. Most were asymptomatic or had mild symptoms.The reality is that there is much about Covid-19 that we still don't know and probably won't for some time to come. People who contract the virus but remain asymptomatic are not out of the woods. For some this virus is a ticking time bomb.
An average of two months after they received the diagnosis, the researchers performed M.R.I. scans of their hearts and made some alarming discoveries: Nearly 80 percent had persistent abnormalities and 60 percent had evidence of myocarditis. The degree of myocarditis was not explained by the severity of the initial illness.
That is what worries me about sending kids back to school. Sure the kids appear to get a pass but what happens ten or twenty years in the future?
ReplyDeleteCovid-19 really reminds me of the Mono I had when I was younger. However, I didn't have a cough to go with it, thankfully. I was hospitalized for a couple weeks, and lost a great deal of weight. Took a year to really recover even though I was still so young then. Had to have surgery for my tonsils to be removed which put me in the hospital again during that same year.
ReplyDeleteReally don't want to get this Covid-19 if I'll have to go through all that again.
Hopefully, better tests will prove to be as useful as a working vaccine.
A combination of same-day test results, and a seasonal vaccine will allow a semblance of a return to "normal" (even though, we should probably return to something better than what we were doing before).
At which point, we could get hammered by something new. Or just as bad, something old: E.g. the plague becoming resistant to current antibacterial medicines.
I wonder if there is any evidence that these problems are related to or caused by the body's immune response to the virus, Mound. /Many seem to experience cytokine storms, which cause massive inflammation.
ReplyDeleteOur inability to anticipate events seems destined to become a worsening problem, Toby. We seem to have lost the relatively predictable world that earlier generations knew. Even I remember when the climate seemed stable, not much different than what was experienced in previous centuries.
ReplyDeleteScience is regularly overtaken by events by change in rate and degree that had not been foreseen. Our political caste is not remotely agile enough to keep up. Trudeau is still building his pipeline. Kenney ditto. Their thinking will not help us.
I guess the only saving grace, Troy, is that viruses aren't affected by antibaceterials.
ReplyDeleteAs for mononucleosis, I haven't heard of a case of that in decades. A classmate of mind in highschool, one of the brightest students, came down with it and his experience sounds much like your own.
I recently did a post on a new saliva test that's been found to be incredibly accurate, non-invasive, cheap (under $10) and fast.
I think we're just going to have to wait and hope for the development of one or more effective vaccines.
Lorne, I'm the last person you should ask that question. I haven't a clue. I have three doctors at the moment - a GP, a cardiologist and a hematologist. I'm totally in their hands. They tell me what they want me to do and I do it.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't be surprised if our understanding of Covid-19 changes from time to time.
With covid death rates being higher within the elderly one has to wonder if they,including Mound, are getting their just deserves for screwing up this wonderful planet?
ReplyDeletePerhaps it's the gaia effect?
Levity aside I have to express concern that we are not acknowledging over the Covid side effects such as the economy,politics, social issues and that darned global warming that knows no virus or politics!
World wide governments have thrown out of the door all economic, social and political assurances to throw monies to good and ,too often, bad causes to keep the status quo afloat!
The rich are becoming richer and the poor poorer without a bleat from the sheep!
We are living in a dangerous age where the side effects of Covid19 will dwarf the virus itself.
TB
COVID reminds me of polio, the diseased continued to have immense impacts on people's health for the rest of their lives and for some it went away only to come back with other effects much later in life.
ReplyDeletewe need to be very careful with COVID. we don't really know where its going and its long term effects. those who want to "open the economy" need to understand there will be no economy for those who die or will never be able to work again. there could be lasting effects will cause the health care systems to be under a real extra load. we can pay now or pay later, but we will pay. Its best if we don't send children back to school as we know it. we need a new system, which nay be shifts, fewer children in the class, teachers moving, not students, each learning pod moving through halls at different times. some may consider this costly but so is death. Had a look at the price of a funeral these days and the lost days of work when people are grieving.
Life as we knew it is over. get over yourselves and adapt or die.
Trailblazer, you knave! I'll have you know that I have become Caesar's wife when it comes to climate breakdown. I live a very austere, some might say aesthetic, life. I'm not a hermit yet not far off either. The last time I flew anywhere was to attend my father's funeral eight years ago.
ReplyDeleteWe are indeed living in a dangerous age and those of us remaining are almost completely inexperienced in what that requires of us. We seem ill-equipped, even disinclined, to survive.
.. E.A.F. gets rightly into the heart of it
ReplyDeleteand this Corona Virus.. we really know dick on a stik
its elusive, powerful, punishing..
e.a.f. We thought "just in time" supply chains were wonderful because they maximized profits. We ignored the devastating effects that would ensue when those supply chains were disrupted or how easily they could break down.
ReplyDeleteWe had been sacrificing essential resilience to maximize profits. It's a myopia that is replicated in so many ways in this era, the age of brittle and fragile.
Wisdom would suggest we check the rad and the oil level when the engine overheats and makes those funny noises. Only our leaders seem to prefer ear plugs instead.
You're right. We are inexperienced and unprepared. Those who went through the Great Depression and six years of world war are gone. We do have their wisdom, however. I consider Winston Churchill a very flawed man but his wisdom about emergencies is as fresh as ever. He said, "Sometimes it is not enough that we do our best. Sometimes we must do what is required." Sometimes being content with "our best" will not be enough to save your life. Sometimes you must measure your actions to the enormity of the threat.
Sal, where might we be today if our leaders had decided that, pending the distribution of sufficient quantities of a suitably effective vaccine, the public would have to accept mandatory pandemic regulations - masks in public everywhere at all times; strict social distancing; hand sanitizing; no bars no large gatherings - verboten.
ReplyDeleteWe could have wrestled this thing to the ground and saved many lives. Does re-opening a bar matter if it just has to be closed down again in a couple of weeks, a month perhaps?