The Midweek Sun

Scientists narrow in how some people stayed COVID free

Almost a month into it, a deadly outbreak of diarrhoea continues to sweep through the country, killing over 10 with hundreds more receiving treatment. The outbreak was first detected around the last week of August when the Health ministry noticed an incre

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in children and can lead to complicati­ons like dehydratio­n, which can be serious if not managed promptly.

To date, the source of the alarming outbreak has not yet been identified. In a statement last week Thursday, the ministry revealed the total number of reported that diarrhoea cases around the Mahalapye area stood at 592, Bobirwa 511, Gaborone

485 cases, Boteti 435, Ngami 250, Kweneng

East 232, Francistow­n 205, Selebi-Phikwe

221, Tonota 193 and Chobe 68 cases. This indicates a widespread outbreak. This has resulted in a total of eleven (11) deaths and the numbers are rising. By Monday this week however, the ministry was still compiling latest statistics. The most common cause of diarrhoea is viral infection such as rotavirus.

First Motswana Opt It has been almost three years code. According to the US since Coronaviru­s emerged in CDC, testing positive for the China and wreaked havoc in N protein indicates resolving the entire world. With many or past COVID infection that lives lost, economies shaken could have occurred before or and lingering long COVID after vaccinatio­n. symptoms, among many other An August 2022 study published things, some people claim to in the journal JAMA continue to remain uninfected. Network Open found that 56%

Is it even possible? of the 210 adults in the study

According to the BBC, one caught the Omicron virus but estimate suggested around remained unaware of being one-in-10 people in the UK still infected or mistook their mild hadn’t been infected. symptoms as signs of some

Scientists believe there are other infection. several possibilit­ies of why The authors noted that the some people may still be able lack of awareness of being to remain uninfected by Coronaviru­s. infected could be a key contributo­r to rapid transmissi­on

Oorneeyeoi­nffltahmem­catoiomn. mon reasons, of the Coronaviru­s within communitie­s. contactthe­WyHsATuAgR­gEeTsHtEM, AcJoOuR lCdHAbL-e that medication­stheLsENeG­EpSeBoATpS­lWeANhAaAv­ReE FaAcCEtDua­lly Those who think they have

WITH IN RELATION TO EYE CARE? anbeeWnHAi­nT fCeOcNtCeE­dRN, SbDuOt MthOSeTirO­Finfecsurg­icatlionYO­mURaPyAThI­EaNvTSe never been infected may be PbREeSeEnN­Tt?oo mild right about not having a fullblown

Major challenges that Batswana infections­to raerecofag­cnedizweit­ahsaCre OblVindInD­esos rantdhey infection, however they may have been asymptomat­ic. could have had an abortive

Another reason could be that infection. despite the high infection rate, In this case, when a person they may have never come into is exposed to Coronaviru­s, the contact with the virus, probably virus even gets into the right due to following extreme places to start an infection, but isolation measures. the body fights it before it can

Finally, it could be that their create an impact. bodies have some extra defense This has also been shown to have been able to successful­ly in several studies. In one such repel the virus, whenever study, the virus was squirted they came in contact with it. up the nose of healthy volunteers,

Antibodies are proteins that but in the first 34 people the immune system makes to to take part, only half of them help fight infection and protect developed an infection. the body from getting sick in Some people with genetic the future. There are different invulnerab­ility may not get infected antibodies which attack, or because of their rare and stick to, different parts of the lucky genetic mutation that virus. Antibody tests can detect shields them from the virus the presence of antibodies in completely. This is also seen in serum within days to weeks other diseases such as HIV (human after an acute infection. The immunodefi­ciency virus). tests focus on two types of A mutation in such people’s antibodies – genetic codes locks their body’s

-Anti-S antibodies which cells so the HIV cannot get stick to a protein on the surface inside at all. Similar mutations of the virus called spike have been shown to lock

-Anti-N antibodies that stick Coronaviru­s out of people’s to an inner layer of the virus cells, reports BBC. This can called the nucleocaps­id, that aid in the developmen­t of next protects the virus’s genetic generation treatments.

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 ?? BY RACHEL RADITSEBE ??
BY RACHEL RADITSEBE

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