It has been a pleasure recently to give advice to members of the community of the British Council and American Club.
I tried to cover topics that could not be read about in Google or newspapers to make for a more interesting presentation! I’m delighted to share with you here this informative talk covering details regarding coronavirus infection, such as:
- Incubation Time
- Infectivity rates
- Carrier status statistics and infectivity
- Age Related Fatality rate
- Treatment success
- Prevention success
We learn from history and it was my observation, (having experience in tuberculosis which in the 80s accounted for 10% of deaths in Hong Kong!), that public health counts for everything.
For instance, tuberculosis has much in common with coronavirus in that they are both very infective respiratory droplet infectious diseases that destroy the lungs quickly through inflammation and cytokine (immune) storms.
I remember clearly working in the ward, no A/C in 30 degrees C, most patients had ‘multi drug resistant tuberculosis’, and just like with the Coronavirus now, there was no drug treatment if the nurses or I got infected.
We can learn from history however. In the 18th century, one third of the population of Europe died due to this infectious bacterial pandemic.
At that time stats showed that three times the amount of black people as five people died in New York, perhaps similar to the scenarios we are seeing today. Poverty and overcrowding are everything in infectious disease, tuberculosis as well as coronavirus.
Fortunately, the reason we no longer have big problems with tuberculosis is that, 90% of the infection and death rate was reduced, not through drugs or vaccination but through simple public health measures. Ideas of hygiene, sanitation and reducing poverty.
The modern equivalent is of course hand washing, mask wearing and distancing.
This is certainly positive news as we are far away from finding a vaccine and no drug treatments as yet. Powering to know that even though this is the case, there is something that we can all do that is successful!
