Less than five months after the first case of the 2019 coronary virus disease, this major epidemic is destroying the society and economy of the world, but Africa will face particularly serious and lasting damage.
To be sure, at least so far, the suffering of Africa is not as deep as many people imagine.Although there have been 50 countries in the African continent that have been attacked by viruses, the spread of the virus does not seem to be as fast as other places.
Some scientists believe that this may be related to the climate to a certain extent.A study found that the coronary virus may become less stable at higher temperatures, and the best temperature spread is likely to be about 8.72 degrees Celsius.Most African countries have less than 15 degrees Celsius.This does not mean that the virus cannot spread in a hot climate, but it may be easier to curb in this climate.
However, other severe challenges that curb crown diseases still exist. First of all, the incubation period is longer than ordinary colds (also another coronary virus), and those with asymptomatic infections are also contagious.Although symptomatic people are more contagious, and this seems to be the main mechanism of virus spread, asymptomatic people constitute a major threat because they are unlikely to limit their interaction with others.This has made communication more difficult to track.
Then there is a problem of severity.Although most patients with crown disease have only mild to moderate symptoms, the severity of the virus will rise sharply for the elderly and those who have potential health problems, including cardiopulmonary diseases and diabetes.
As the youngest continent in the world, Africa, who is 18 years old (less than half of European age), may not have to worry so much in terms of disease severity.The median age is 47.3 years old, with a mortality rate of up to 12%, while the global average mortality rate is only 3.4%, which is by no means accidental.
However, in terms of potential health, Africa's situation is much more fragile.Although non -infectious diseases such as diabetes are traditionally related to developed countries, there are evidence that they are spreading in Africa.In addition, Africa is also troubled by two other diseases, namely the human immune defect virus (HIV, virus that leads to the disease of love) and tuberculosis. These two diseases may seriously threaten the health of patients with crown diseases.
About 70%of love virus infections live in southern Africa in Sahara, and 25%of the world's new lung tuberculosis (also the most important cause of love patients) also occur in Africa.Because love and tuberculosis are not common in areas where the most serious crown attacks are currently attacked, there are very few data on their effects on virus infections.However, more severe symptoms will occur after being infected with crown diseases, which should be a reasonable assumption after being infected with crown disease.
We may have a reason to hold hope: Some countries are evaluating the effectiveness of crown diseases for the effectiveness of Anti-Retroviral drugs for specific anti-reverse transcription viruses.If they succeed, Africa will be relieved.Eastern and southern Africa are the areas with the most serious affected by love. There are more than 60%of patients who are positive for virus testing.
However, encouraging results are far from nails on board.Moreover, even if the results are exciting, nearly 40%of the patients' population in eastern and southern Africa, that is, a total of 20.6 million people, will still be in a very fragile situation.
During the popularity of coronal viruses, the last main risk of Africa faced was that the health system was extremely weak.If the virus can crush the modern health system like developed countries like Italy, it is impossible to imagine what kind of scene will be the medical system that is already fragile and insufficient in resources.
As the rapid spread of crown diseases in the world, this is not just Africa.If the virus stands on the African continent, it may be poured back in other parts of the world and in countries where the epidemic has been controlled, causing a new round of outbreak.The only solution is to allow external behaviors to cooperate with the African government to solve key weaknesses, so as not to be too late.
(Author Denis Chopra is the African Institute of Health, Southara, South Africa Tuberculosis / Virus Research!(2019 to 2020).)
