[sunilch]

Originally Posted by KL01toKA03

Disgusted to know that people working in government hospitals are siphoning vaccines which are meant for free distribution and selling it outside. In our apartment, one such person is conducting a vaccination drive tomorrow for 1500 per dose. I guess this explains the high number of doses reported as wasted.

Originally Posted by himarg

Moreover, if a hospital staff has already proven his intentions are just to make money without caring for rules, what is stopping him from injecting glucose or water in the name of vaccine?

+1 to what himarg is saying.

However, Ideally you should simply report this to wherever you can. And simply tell him on his face that you don't trust him for this same reason.

[KL01toKA03]

Originally Posted by sunilch

+1 to what himarg is saying.

However, Ideally you should simply report this to wherever you can. And simply tell him on his face that you don't trust him for this same reason.

I usually report law violations wherever possible. But, in this case it is tricky considering I have neighbors who want to get the vaccine even if it is stolen. I am personally not going to report it, but will at the same time not steal from a senior citizen who would get it instead.

[m8002?]

The initial phases of the vaccination drive was one positive aspect in the way we have handled Covid so far. Guess it was too good to last.

Then they screwed up the orders with the manufacturers, spiked the rates in a random fashion and threw it open to all when there was shortage of vaccines. This has resulted in all the usual things like scarcity, black marketing, hoarding, random prices and what not!!

[warrioraks]

Originally Posted by KL01toKA03

I usually report law violations wherever possible. But, in this case it is tricky considering I have neighbors who want to get the vaccine even if it is stolen. I am personally not going to report it, but will at the same time not steal from a senior citizen who would get it instead.

This vaccine scheme is no different compared to the black marketing and hoarding of oxygen happening all around. People are having to pay 5-10X for cylinders and regulator kits because the government/authorised sellers have run out of stock.
In my view - The buyers (your neighbours) and sellers (hospital staff) are taking a calculated risk here. If you are not complaining against oxygen smuggling, then no point raising an alarm for vaccines as well.
The government will eventually crack the whip whenever political compulsions make them do it. Till that time, love thy neighbour.

[Nissan1180]

Someone I know traveled over 140 km within the city to two different PHC locations with confirmed CoWin appointments. No vaccines were available and people who waited for their slots were driven away. It is like begging for a vaccine even when you're ready to pay.

[SahilS]

Hello Respected Doctors,
Thanks a lot for your continous support in this difficult time. Request you to resolve few queries on my friend's behalf. Query in his own words:

My wife showed all symptoms of Covid on 17th April and she was isolated(fever/body-pain/sore-throat and loss of smell 5 days later). I showed no symptopms but still started qurantine. We couldn't get rt-pcr test done as there was no facility of picking samples from home. She showed symptoms for 1st few days and recovered after 5-6 days.

On 3rd of May(17 days after first symptom), both of us got ourselves tested for Covid antibodies. The results are as:

My wife's results:
Total Antibodies: 1.69 OD (positive, cut-off for +ve: 1)
igG Antobodies: 0.43 (negative, cut-off for +ve: 1)

My results:
Total Antibodies: 0.21 OD (negative, cut-off for +ve: 1)
igG Antobodies: 0.03 (negative, cut-off for +ve: 1)

From results, my interpreatation is that my wife indeed had covid infection. Long term antibodies igG are still in process of forming and hence a negative was there for igG. No such clarity about myself though.

1st query:
Will my wife be able to donate Plasma to the needful if required, say after a month or 15 more days? means will her igG antibodies continue to increase and reach a minimum value which is required for donating plasma.

2nd query
Am I still Ok to get vaccine in say next 15 days. Normally people who recover from Covid are advised to get vaccines after 60 days as they already have enough Covid antibodies at present. But no high antibodies are there in me.

3rd query
I remained asymptomatic but still some antobodies were detected, although very very low. Is there a possibility that I also contacted very mild case of Covid and because I remained asymptomatic, there is very small but detectable amount of antibodies.
Can these tests show very less amount of antibodies falsely i.e even if some person never contacted Covid, but still tests could show some detectable antibodies(both igG and total)?

4th query
Can we say that more the severeness of Covid infection, more will be antobodies? So in our case, as the infection was mild for my wife, so lesser antibodies. Or for me, I was asymptomatic, so very less but still detectable antibodies.

Thanks a lot!

For other readers, the following chart shows on average, how these short term(igM) and long term(igG) antibodies are formed after infection.
image source: link

[Gsynch]

All the good doctors who, despite their very busy schedule, have been helping people like us with the precious guidance, I have a query of my own. I have been scrolling through this thread for more than a year, have been following some very good doctors on Twitter who have acquired some reputation by taking queries and clarifying misconceptions on this disease.

But when the time has come to take advantage of pearls of wisdom strewn across these pages, I feel confused and incapable of summarizing the advice since it's personal now.

My wife, who is 40, with no comorbidities but takes thyroid medication every day, has been tested positive for Covid-19 today, with CT value of 14 of RT PCR test. She has been having a body ache and fever of around 100 for the last 4 days now and been taking Crocin 500 to feel comfortable, SPO2 level has been 98-99 and she feels slight chest congestion, no dry cough or sore throat as such. FND (Friendly Neighbourhood Doctor) has told us to treat her symptomatically (i.e. paracetamol for fever and if need be cough syrup) only and no need for any vitamin supplements, Ivermectin, Fabflu, etc and have advised getting CBC, CRP, and D-Dimer tests done. She has now been isolated in a separate room with an attached washroom but we (wife, two kids: 14 & 8) have been together till yesterday evening.

My queries are as follows:

- Is it fine to go along with only paracetamol or do we need some early-stage intervention with anti-viral or some other drugs.

- CT value of 14 of RT PCR, does it denote anything about infection or disease: Mild, moderate etc.

- Though I am asymptomatic, should i get myself (and kids) tested too?

- I am playing the role of caregiver and difficult to avoid contact with kids especially younger one with the mother being isolated in another room. What is the protocol here?

Apologies for the long post and thank you for your patience to read through this.

[Indian2003]

Two Indian ladies are in the press in Norway, They claim that dead people are laid on the streets in India. They are crying for the press.

Is this true?

https://www.nrk.no/osloogviken/sarvj...W8OIl9ezAvWem8

[rdst_1]

Originally Posted by Indian2003

Two Indian ladies are in the press in Norway, They claim that dead people are laid on the streets in India. They are crying for the press.

Is this true?

https://www.nrk.no/osloogviken/sarvj...W8OIl9ezAvWem8

I think it is a little OT for this thread, but I can tell you of a personal experience. One of my distant relatives passed away at home due to CoVID in Delhi. On enquiring, they were told that for the body to be cremated they will have to wait at least 4 days. So their relatives arranged for cremation on the banks of Yamuna somewhere close to Delhi and did it themselves.
So yes, bodies waiting on the road next to cremation grounds is not too far-fetched considering how many people are dying right now in Delhi.

[adi.mariner]

This might be a noob question. How are recovered cases calculated in the daily reported Covid-19 figures? This is specifically for India. I couldn't find any clear answers online.

[rdst_1]

Originally Posted by Gsynch

Apologies for the long post and thank you for your patience to read through this.

This article should help you as well.

IndiaSpend: We Are Pressured To Prescribe Drugs That Dont Work.
https://www.indiaspend.com/covid-19/...nt-work-746403

Basically, first week is spent trying to control fever with anti-pyretics like Crocin/Paracetamol and let the body take care of the virus.
If fever persists, then one has to worry about inflammation from cytokine storm and in that case steroids are needed to control the inflammation.
This is the summary I got from the article. I'll let the real doctors chime in.

[Zen2001]

Originally Posted by Gsynch

- Is it fine to go along with only paracetamol or do we need some early-stage intervention with anti-viral or some other drugs.

- CT value of 14 of RT PCR, does it denote anything about infection or disease: Mild, moderate etc.

- Though I am asymptomatic, should i get myself (and kids) tested too?

- I am playing the role of caregiver and difficult to avoid contact with kids especially younger one with the mother being isolated in another room. What is the protocol here?

Go with paracetamol only. Anti-viral drugs (Favipiravir) won't have much role after the initial 2-3 days, as the virus has already probably migrated to the lower respiratory tract, judging by the absence of throat symptoms and presence of chest symptoms. Steroid (Budesonide) inhahers with our without bronchodilators may help the chest congestion. But please check with your physician. Steam inhalation might also do the same trick without any danger of side effects (except burns!).

Ct of 14 on rt PCR just indicates higher viral load (expected in early disease in the nasopharyngeal region) but this doesn't correlate with the clinical outcome in terms of severity. So just monitor the symptoms - those are the best indicators.

If asymptomatic, no need for you or kids to get tested (assuming no coexisting serious comorbidites).

DO NOT AVOID contact with the kids, but take all precautions (N95 mask, gloves, distance) when attending to your wife, followed by safe disposal of contaminated items and thorough have hygiene. Do not allow the kids in close contact with her though. Your attention is most important to them - do not isolate then completely.

Remember, full recovery is almost always the norm - the chances of a road accident are much higher! All the best.

[Gsynch]

DO NOT AVOID contact with the kids, but take all precautions (N95 mask, gloves, distance) when attending to your wife, followed by safe disposal of contaminated items and thorough have hygiene. Do not allow the kids in close contact with her though. Your attention is most important to them - do not isolate then completely.

Million bucks advice sir, thank you for reminding us of this aspect. I now know what is to be done.

Remember, full recovery is almost always the norm - the chances of a road accident are much higher! All the best.

Golden words Doctor, hoping for the best with positivity. Thank you very much.

[poloman]

A sad irony. Renowned infectious disease specialist Dr Rajendra Kapila dying of COVID even after two doses of Pfizer Vaccine is deeply worrying. This shows how vicious this virus is.. This is a huge warning to all those who think two doses of vaccine will push us back to normal life.
Vaccines can only help us deter a calamity. But covid appropriate behavior will be still key. Travel to India did him in.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india...168008338.html

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by Zen2001

... Steam inhalation might also do the same trick without any danger of side effects (except burns!).

Here's a question about inhalation. I'm sure that many of us are used to adding decongestant stuff for inhalation, like those small green capsules (karvol, I think) from the pharmacy. They have often worked wonders for me. But my instinct is that, in the case of a viral infection of the chest, they could cause severe irritation. Am I right? Should be warned against them?