It is all about (The) COVID-19
Please Read If You Want To Increase Your Survival Skills
In this article I’m going to present my story dealing with pet coronavirus and what extrapolations can be done to the human coronavirus, to be one step ahead. I also talk about panic! a psychology trait a human has to deal with fear, but is this can help us our not? and for last I will summarize important behaviors people can adopt. I will give you + 2 measures besides general and official recommendations than can also help.
As a veterinarian working with dogs and cats for ten years, I have learned about coronavirus in dogs although I have never diagnosed one, however, I have dealt mainly with coronavirus in cats from shelters. In dogs, the majority of times the symptoms are mild diarrhea but in cats, it is more severe compared to dogs. Feline coronaviruses (FCoVs) have been classified into serotypes I and II. Type I FCoV is the dominant serotype (approximately 70–90%) worldwide). It can cause high fever, respiratory symptoms such as tachypnea ($medical[rapid breathing]), pleural and abdominal effusion ($medical[liquid inside body cavities]) and it is (most of the time) fatal. The fatality comes from its rapid onset and evolution, how the virus behaves inside the body plus there is no specific treatment directed to the virus. The virus is extremely contagious that is way shelters are more prone to this infectious disease.
The success of treating symptoms, unfortunately, is very low, few cats came become chronic but most of them don’t make it. It is important to note that the coronavirus attacks the cells but ultimately the type of reaction the immune system (IS)develops against the virus determines the outcome. When the reaction by the IS is so strong against the cells infected with the virus, it also starts to kill the healthy cells and here it is the point of no return. The few cats that survive may become chronic and with lesions. But from my experience 90% of the time they die or are euthanized.
What I am saying here? I have lots of respect for this type of family virus, for what I’ve seen in other species. And as you can see, there are few similarities in pathophysiology ($medical[how the virus behaves inside body]).
It is important to underline that human coronavirus is specific for us humans, so our pets don’t transmit it to us.
Human Coronavirus — COVID-19
The human coronavirus is a novel virus which means a lot is unknown. From what I’ve read from life science specialty databases an effort is being done to get to know this virus more, how it is spreading, the contamination routes, the incubation period, disease progression, treatment, prevention, prognosis, etc..
So when we don’t know how to deal with an unknown virus, what should we do? The answer is …
Prevention
I have worked with shelter animals and infectious diseases. The most effective treatment when dealing with a virus in a population setting is prevention. Because when the disease happens there may be fewer resources to treat people individually and doctors need to select cases to save. This happens in human and animal population medicine. There may be fewer ventilators available, hospital beds, etc. Resources tend to be limited.
So, I never get tired of this, and it always has been my mantra. PREVENTION IS KEY.
Which is more dangerous? afraid of panic or panic itself?
I’ve read a psychologist giving an interview about how people deal with threats. It is in our nature to avoid what we fear and to ignore or relativize. We don’t want to panic. I was talking to a friend about him going out with a friend who is at high risk of developing the COVID infection although the friend respected the quarantine and I asked him to avoid social contact by not handshaking or kissing and he responded that wouldn´t do that to the person and preferred to catch the virus. I was amazed by the response. I understood to a certain degree but in this case, his life may be at danger unnecessarily since this is a novel virus and we don’t know for sure everything. It is possible to still have social contact although reduced to a minimum and people need to protect themselves otherwise cases continue to rise.
In this particular case, this can be dangerous because if we ignore what is important in dealing with this threat we may lose our focus and end harming ourselves by not doing the right choices.
We need to face our fears and we need to be rational. Again, think about prevention.
Behaviors you can adopt
The type of response to an infection also depends on the viral quantity you contact with. To reduce exposure is very important to wash hands. By washing hands with soap, it reduces the number of germs you have in your hands and by using a hand sanitizer or disinfectant the germs that stayed and didn’t come off are killed. This is the two-step crucial cleaning process.
Wearing masks normally is reserved for infected people for them to not transmit the disease. However, there is a little twist. I’ve noticed that people already showing symptoms don’t take preventive measures in taking care of the population. So if you are in a place crowded and/or see people with respiratory signs wearing a mask can be of vital importance and wear it right by not touching the front of the mask and discarding it after use.
Now the extras:
Since the virus the first contact is nose and throat you can reduce the viral quantity you contact with these two additional steps:
Nasal flush, although not proved, can help flushing particles in your nose. By using saline it may help eliminate dust particles, germs, etc.
And gargle everyday …following the nasal passages, you have the oropharynx ($medical[throat]) where viruses and particles can be found there also. So it is a plus to have oral hygiene and to clean this you can gargle. To gargle can use only water or water with salt. The salt has an osmotic effect and in the presence of swelling, reduces it.
Cleaning indoor or outdoor often is also important like door nobs, phones, etc…places that hands touch often.
Good hygiene and Cleaning in the presence of the pandemic needs to be done often.
Other tips,
Balance diet, staying rational and updated to the guidelines from official / government entities of your country. I advise following the WHO (World Health Organization), an international entity concerned with public health. Always be critical, follow the right resources and be careful with misinformation and media sensationalism.
Help your community by educating others, cleaning public places, transport food and leave food on the door to people in quarantine.
Be resilient even if people make direct silly comments and don’t listen to you.
In the end,
