“The way is not in the sky; the way is in the heart”

                 -Buddha                              

July 31st, 2020 was the day when we the students of Mushtifund Aryaan higher secondary school got the privilege to interact with director of Vardhaman Mahavir Medical College, Delhi professor Dr. Jugal Kishore.

Dr jugal did his MBBS from all India institute of medical sciences (AIIMS). He also did his MD (Com Med AIIMS), PGCert, H&FWM, PGDEE, MSc (Sustainable development), ACME, PhD (Psychiatry), FAMS, FIMSA, FIPHA, FIAPSM, FIPMAAMS, FISCD, FIASS, FIAHH. He is part of development of various departments particularly Community Medicine. He is currently the director professor and head of department of community medicine at prestigious Vardhaman Mahavir Medical College. His more than 260 research papers are published in journals in magazines and in dailies. He is authored 32 books and many chapters and pamphlets on public health, national programs, social reform and rationality. He is member of many expert groups of health planning and implementation of the government. He has also conducted more than 50 national and international training programmes, workshops, conferences, and delivered 100 guest lectures. He is the recipient of”Rashtrya Ekta Puruskar”, “Dr. S Radhakrishnan Memorial Teacher Award 2007” and in 2009, President Appreciation Award, “ChikitsaRatan”.

Dr jugal started the webinar with a power point presentation related to the current pandemic situation. The pandemic has an old history which are common in the form of animal or epidemic. The plague of Justinian (541AD-542AD) killed between 30-50 million people. Then history saw another pandemic, the Black Death from where the quarantine word has emerged. The word quarantine means isolation for 40 days (quarantino).Following the Black Death, we have the Great Plague of London-sealing up the sick. The government implicated that cats and dogs were a carrier of the plague and hence there was a wholesale massacre of hundreds and thousands of animals. During his presentation he pointed out an eye opening point. It is the threat the human civilisation went through to pin point at somebody, to blame someone for its cause. The Americans are from the very beginning blaming china for the creation of the virus. Another life-taking disease prof mentioned was the small pox. Small pox continued to ravage Europe, Asia and Africa for centuries. The worldwide death toll was staggering and continued well into the twentieth century where mortality had been estimated at 300 to 500 million. Within 6 months 17,207,283 have been affected from coronavirus out of which 670,611 have died and 10,721,772 have been recovered. He discussed the meaning of epidemiology which is the study of distribution and control of disease. The average incubation period for Covid patient is 2-14 days but results found out that the actual incubation period is 0-27 days.

Socio -physiological impact

  • Economic impact: lack of jobs, poverty, migrant labours etc.
  • Education system has collapsed
  • Health issues: stress, anxiety, depression, eye problems etc.
  • Domestic violence due to unemployment, uncertainty and fear

What did we learn from Covid-19?

  • Infectious disease doesn’t respect any border, race, religion, economic status and caste.
  • Investment on Health is highly beneficial at the family, community, national and International level.
  • Basic principles on Sanitation and Hygiene always work.
  • Use of Technology
  • Change of Lifestyle
  • Strategies to overcome the situation

Sustainable development

  • Change in Political Leadership
  • Scientific aqua men of the people should raise
  • Democratic system should be strengthen and Human values should be cherished

Dr jugal Kishore explained us the epidemiological triad (agent, host, and environment). In epidemiology the interaction between these 3things are taught and it is focused on how to break the triad: one can either stop the infection, decrease the infection, or control or eradicate the infection. If we understand the agent, how it is susceptible to antibody or antiviral, how it is thriving outside the body then these are the characteristics of a virus. If a person is suffering from pneumonia and is affected by Covid then it would be dangerous for the person. In the case of Covid our immune system is activating the releasing cytokines which, further damages our cells. If it is in a small amount it is good for our body but in huge amount it can damage our body. Preventive steps can be applied (social distancing, hygiene, sanitation) are very important in the affected area. The combination of these steps can decrease the interaction between agents and the host. Changing lifestyle, isolation, quarantine are all a part where the host is segregated and the spread is prevented. Studies have shown that the mode of transmission of the virus is airborne and also through aerosols generating procedures.

Other possible modes of transmission

Stools:

  • SARS-COV-2 RNA has been detected in stools and persists for long duration in high concentration even if the patient is asymptomatic, this indicates active replication in the gastrointestinal tract, but till now there are no reports of faecal transmission. There have been no reports of faecal-oral transmission of the COVID-19 virus to date.
  • SARS-COV has already been demonstrated to survive in infected water and sewage for weeks
  • Since the demonstration of virus in conjunctival secretions has been noted, the possibility of transmission through ocular surfaces has also been contemplated Vertical transmission to the new-borns is seen in one case till date
  • Transmission to Pets and Tiger is also reported

The symptoms of Covid are mostly mild in nature and only 1%-2% appear to progress to severe disease including pneumonia, respiratory failure and in some cases death.

Unfortunately there is no specific treatment, there only a supportive therapy.

Why is Covid vaccine needed?

What is a vaccine? A substance used to stimulate the production of antibodies and provide immunity against one or several diseases. When a critical portion of a community is immunised against a contagious disease, most members of the community are protected against that disease because there is little opportunity for an outbreak.

Covid-19 vaccine updates (world):

  • 25 candidate vaccines in human trials
  • chimpanzee adenovirus-vectored vaccine (ChAdOx1 nCoV-19) expressing the SARS-COV-2 spike protein;
  • Five in Stage-III trials
  • Pfizer-Biotech vaccine to carry out Stage-Il and Stage-III trials simultaneously
  • 139 candidates in pre-clinical trial stage

Dr jugal said that the vaccine is out in the market when it is in stage three. So India is very close to the release of vaccine but seeing the effect of the vaccine, our body requires 14 days to 1 month to develop antibodies and also to observe the patient for some time whether he is developing any infection thereafter. It is also not discovered whether booster dose is required. Then only the vaccine can be certified as effective. In the case of Covid if there is mutation, this vaccine is not effective, which is a problem with a flu virus which keeps on changing every year. So we have to develop a new vaccine every year.

Covid-19 vaccine updates (India)

  • Two Indian candidates in Stage-l trials
  • Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech and Ahmedabad-based Cadila have moved into human trials earlier this month.
  • AIIMS Delhi has started human trials for Covaxin from 20th July, 2020.
  • Six other novel Coronavirus vaccines being developed by Indian companies that are still going through pre-clinical trials.

According to him, most probably, the vaccine will be released in the market by October-November this year.

After the presentation Dr. Jugal answered the questions asked by us. The following are some questions which were asked to Dr. Jugal Kishore

  • Can someone, recovered from Covid, be Covid positive again?

There are very less chances as the reinfection in those people is very less, rather not there.

  • How do we find out whether the virus is natural or artificial?

Initial studies have found out that the sequencing of this RNA in which the amino acids sequences have been thereis close to some other virus and it may be created in the laboratory. But that has been proven wrong because the behaviour of the virus is similar to any corona virus and the sequence is also similar to any other viruses which are there. If we compare it sars1 it also has the respiratory symptoms similar to sars2

  • Could you expect a second outbreak of this virus as it is a mutating virus?

The second outbreak will occur only if you have more susceptible people in the community or the population from outside have migrated to India. Though chances are very less.

At the end he emphasised to choose our career path which is sustainable and helps the community in the long run rather than looking for short term goals in life.

At the concluding session Eashita proposed the vote of thanks on behalf of Mushtifund Aryaan Higher Secondary School.

Dr. jugal Kishore wished all of us the Best of Luck in our future endeavours. Truly a humble role model, he taught us that we could achieve whatever we wanted, if only we believed in ourselves and strived hard for it.

All the Class 11 Students of Mushtifund Aryaan Higher Secondary School (MAHSS) are extremely thankful to our Director, Sir. Vyankatesh Prabhudessai for providing us with such a fabulous opportunity to interact with Dr. Jugal Kishore.

Thank you Sir.
Written by
Atharva Narkar, XIth Regular,MAHSS