COVID 19: A battle between heat and humidity Vs Sunshine

COVID 19: A battle between heat and humidity Vs Sunshine

Though some experts suggest that heat and humidity can help in slowing down COVID-19, others argue that long hours of sunshine can risk a higher incidence of the disease. Let’s investigate further. 

With the deadly COVID-19 affecting the economy all over the world, lockdowns are slowly being lifted to compensate for the damage. People are slowly crawling back to public places like the beaches and soaking in the much-needed vitamin D from sunshine. But there is a price to pay. 

A sign of a sunny day attracts many people to go out, in turn increasing the risk of infection due to a lack of social distancing. Experts speculate long exposure to sunlight also poses a high risk of contracting the virus. While on the other hand, reports state that heat and humidity can potentially slow down the spread of COVID-19. 

A recent report published in the journal Geographical Analysis gives insights on how seasonal changes influence the spread of the novel virus. 

Temperature a crucial factor:

For several weeks now, research has been conducted revolving around the effect of temperature and humidity on COVID-19. Several experimental studies explain that it is possible for the COVID-19 virus to be sensitive to heat and humidity, and with further study, experts are convinced that the rate at which the virus spreads can vary in places with different temperatures and humidity. 

Studies reveal that humidity and temperature may make the COVID-19 virus less viable by disrupting their surface proteins and outer membranes. On the other hand, the change in infection rate might differ due to the ways people change their behavior from being enclosed in spaces to spending more time outdoors. But currently, there is no solid proof to confirm that summertime can bring improvement in this current pandemic. 

Not all Pandemics or diseases follow the same seasonal patterns seen more commonly in seasonal flu outbreaks. Spanish flu, for example back in 1918, peaked during the summer months, while most of the common flu outbreaks erupt during winter. 

COVID-19:

At high levels of humidity and heat, the authors of this study noticed a steady decline of 3% in the confirmed COVID-19 cases, possibly due to the virus dying under warmer temperatures. The opposite was observed at long exposure to the sun. More the sunshine more the rate at which the virus spread, raising concerns if it’s due to the human behavior post lockdown measures. 

The authors of the study stated that We will likely see a decrease in the incidence of COVID-19 as the weather warms up, which is an argument for relaxing social distancing to take advantage of the lower incidence associated with higher temperatures” he says. “But a more conservative approach would be to use the months of summer to continue to follow strict orders to remain in place and to crush this pandemic.”

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COVID-19 patients with hypertension have more severe disease: a multicenter retrospective observational study

COVID-19 patients with hypertension have more severe disease: a multicenter retrospective observational study

Late last year, a number of unexplained pneumonia cases surfaced in Wuhan, China. Later scientists revealed that it is caused by a familiar group of pathogens, coronavirus. The WHO later named this virus, COVID-19. The virus is highly contagious, infecting millions in the last couple of months.

From previous studies, it is considered that angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE2) is the receptor for the COVID-19 virus to enter the host cell. ACE2 is a widely expressed receptor in several organ systems of the human body, including cardiovascular and respiratory systems. The enzyme helps in catalyzing angiotensin II to angiotensin 1-7, which is the peptide counteracting proinflammation caused by Angiotensin II. 

Studies have proven that hypertension is a common condition that co-occurs in patients with COVID-19. A previously conducted study, involving 1099 COVID-19 patients reported that 23.4% of the population also suffered from hypertension. Due to the coexisting status of hypertension and COVID-19 and the involvement of ACE2 in hypertension, the authors of this study speculate that hypertension may directly be involved with the pathogenesis of COVID-19. 

To confirm if hypertension affects the progress and prognosis of COVID-19, the published study was conducted. The study involved 310 patients from the Central Hospital of Wuhan and Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital. All the participants according to the WHO were tested positive for COVID-19. The study was later divided according to high blood pressure (hypertensive and non-hypertensive group). To avoid unwanted complications, the hypertension group was further segregated to exclude patients with other complications other than hypertension. 

All the participants were monitored closely and the entire course of the disease was recorded. The median age of the participants in the study was 62 years and the prevalence rate of hypertension was 36.5%. The authors speculate that the high prevalence rate of hypertension in the study group could be due to the high median age. The study also revealed that COVID-19 patients with high blood pressure showed higher mortality. 

Evidence suggests that an imbalance of cytokines could be a possible correlation between COVID-19 and hypertension. An increase in cytokines like IL-6, IL-7, and tumor necrosis factor is associated with the development of hypertension. It should also be noted that the increased levels of cytokines, may potentially activate excessive inflammatory reactions, resulting in cell and lung damage. 

Overall the comparative study conducted using COVID-19 patients with and without hypertension showed that patients who were hypertensive were more likely to be severely affected with COVID-19 compared to the non-hypertensive group. It must be brought to light that there might be a small number of people with hypertension not recorded because the diagnosis of hypertension in this study was extracted from medical history data. 

Finally, the authors conclude that much larger groups need to be studied since the current result could be due to the higher aged participants. In the future, additional complications also need to be analyzed like ARDS, renal injury focusing on its risks associated with hypertension and COVID-19. 

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