Original Article
COVID-19
Virendra Mane; Priya Prabhu; Poorva Bhalerao
Abstract
Background: The first wave of COVID-19 in India began to decline suddenly in September 2020 and appeared to be nearly over by the end of January 2021. At the time, no models or papers predicted or explained this decline. The authors hypothesized in their previous study that the cases decreased due to ...
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Background: The first wave of COVID-19 in India began to decline suddenly in September 2020 and appeared to be nearly over by the end of January 2021. At the time, no models or papers predicted or explained this decline. The authors hypothesized in their previous study that the cases decreased due to increased Relative Humidity during Monsoon and forecasted that another wave would begin with the dry season in February 2021 and would be contained by monsoon humidity. The current study was carried out to put the seasonality hypothesis to the test in 2021-22. The study also included findings about the effectiveness of policy control measures on case decline.Methods: Humidity cycles in India were studied to determine the most humid periods, which corresponded to changes in daily cases across the country, on a zone-by-zone basis, and in smaller regions. The enforcement date and subsequent case decline (if any) were observed for the effectiveness of policy control measures.Results: In low humidity periods, there was a clear relationship between relative humidity and case decline and case increase. Policy controls have been found to be effective in reducing and halting case increase, resulting in a subsequent decline.Conclusion: In India, COVID-19 increases during the dry season around February and decreases during the monsoon season. Policy controls (lockdowns) are an effective way to halt the virus's exponential spread. The findings may be useful in planning local control and prevention activities.
Review
Clinical Epidemiology
Abdel-Hady El-Gilany
Abstract
Background: Disease, illness, and sickness are all overlapping terms that are not entirely synonymous. Illness, disease, and sickness all characterize different aspects of morbidity and must be treated as distinct entities. Changes in one aspect may have no bearing on changes in another. Despite their ...
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Background: Disease, illness, and sickness are all overlapping terms that are not entirely synonymous. Illness, disease, and sickness all characterize different aspects of morbidity and must be treated as distinct entities. Changes in one aspect may have no bearing on changes in another. Despite their widespread use, these terms are used incorrectly and ambiguously, leading to confusion in the representation of medical knowledge. Medical personnel and epidemiologists misuse these terms, and there is little literature on the subject.Methods: PubMed and Google Scholar were used to conduct a literature search. The search terms "definition," "disease," "illness," "sickness," "morbidity," "syndrome," "disorder," "predisease," and "co-morbidity" were used in various combinations. A manual search was conducted in public health, community medicine, and epidemiology textbooks. The review included the most recent and relevant literature.Results: This mini review summarizes the definition, limitations, overlap, and differences between disease, illness, and sickness, as well as other related terms.Conclusion: A measurable operational definition of disease, illness, sickness, and other related terms that is appropriate for epidemiologists and clinicians and applicable in both hospital and community settings is required.and community settings.
