One reader of my Blog who is very learned on all issues related to viruses advises me on some aspects of viruses in general and COVID-19 in particular. The reader writes:
I’ve liked your recent posts. Your focus on public health vigilance is exactly right.
Good tests already exist for finding the coronavirus in individuals and communities. It’s just a matter of manufacturing these screening tests and applying them widely. This means not only to people who are symptomatic and to their contacts, but in a surveillance way across populations, so that public health experts have a clear idea of how many infections — symptomatic and asymptomatic, and among individuals who have recovered and are presumably immune — are out there. The only way to develop and manufacture these tests is to first know what kinds of specific antibody the body is producing against the virus. South Korea and other nations quickly did the science and started making screening tests and applying them widely.
It is not a cure that will be ready in 12-18 months — it’s the vaccine, which will prevent the infection in those who are inoculated. There are very, very few cures for viral infections, and it’s unlikely that there will ever be a true cure for COVID-19. Rather, there may be treatments that help the body respond to the infection, or that boost the body’s immune system — but not a cure. Antibiotics cure bacterial infections, but there are very few antivirals that cure viral infections.
I thank the reader for the input - we are so much more wiser for it.
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