Air pollution, new hotspots and Sputnik V
It's your roundup of content from Health Desk scientists
This week we’re talking fossil fuels, fungus and growing pressure to research the origins of the pandemic. Don’t forget to share this issue with your friends and family, browse our site at health-desk.org, and ask us your COVID-19 questions at health@meedan.com.
Here’s what our scientists covered this week
What is the impact of air pollution on COVID-19 patients?
Health impacts of air pollution accumulate over time. Respiratory issues from long-term exposure to air pollution can result in higher risks of complications from diseases like asthma and COVID-19. Scientists believe that the long-term inhaling hazardous air pollutants included formaldehyde, asbestos, mercury, and others can impair lung function and cause respiratory stress, leading to a higher likelihood of severe illness from COVID-19.
“A peer-reviewed study published at the end of 2020 estimated that one type of air pollution called particular matter (PM) contributed to about 15% of COVID-19 mortality around the world. PM is a mix of solid and liquid particles, suspended in air. Often it comes from burning fossil fuels from vehicles, fires, and power plants. The study found that over half of COVID-19 deaths attributable to human-made air pollution were related to fossil fuel use.”
What do we know about the Sputnik V vaccine?
Sputnik V uses a weakened form of an adenovirus, which is the kind of virus that causes the common cold in chimpanzees. (It's weakened so that it can't actually make you sick.) The adenovirus serves as a vehicle for getting the vaccine's key ingredient—a genetic code that triggers a COVID-19 immune response—into human cells.
AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson use the same type of viral vector technology in their vaccines, but Sputnik V is slightly different.
“There has been substantial controversy surrounding the Sputnik V vaccine from Russia. Several of the concerns with the vaccine are rooted in its scientific findings and processes. Noted issues include the vaccine's fast development process, potential political influences, and public relations and protocol missteps. Due to the nation's early stage approval and public confidence in the vaccine, even before it had been properly tested, many are doubtful of findings despite positive studies in peer-reviewed journals.”
What is mucormycosis and is it related to COVID-19?
Mucormycosis is a rare but severe fungal infection that primarily affects the nose, eyes, and sometimes the brain. The infection is caused by a group of fungi called mucormycetes. They are found naturally in soil, leaves, and decaying fruits and vegetables, and they thrive in damp conditions. Most people come into contact with tiny fungal spores every day, which means most people do not completely avoid mucormycetes. For many, coming into contact with mucormycetes is not harmful. However, for people with weakened immune systems, these fungi can cause an infection that tends to start in the lungs or sinuses and spreads to the rest of the body.
“Mucormycosis is believed to be connected to COVID-19 through a number of pathways. First, COVID-19 weakens the immune system, making someone more vulnerable to mucormycosis infection. Second, most people with severe cases of COVID-19 also have other health conditions, such as heart problems or diabetes, which also lower the body’s immune system. Diabetes, in particular, has been shown to be strongly associated with mucormycosis.”
And now, a look ahead…
Can global organizations gain back lost trust?
The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response recently announced results of their investigation on the global response to COVID-19. Beginning in September of last year, the report listed 13 moments they felt impacted how the pandemic unrolled. The group criticized the World Health Organization (WHO) for taking too long to declare the virus a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, a decision that may have contributed to nations delaying their responses and prevention measures.
The panel also noted that the current global health system is "clearly unfit to prevent another novel and highly infectious pathogen, which could emerge at any time, from developing into a pandemic."
With numerous international critiques about the WHO, national health ministries, and drug regulatory agencies, we expect an increase in funding to these groups to improve their epidemic preparation abilities as well as some increased efforts to restore the world’s faith in their work. This includes a push for greater transparency and oversight, engaging in the intellectual property debate about vaccines, and sharing success stories as more people begin receiving vaccines.
New hotspots are popping up
Devastatingly, India is currently home to half the world’s COVID-19 infections, but the virus has now begun crossing the border into neighboring Nepal and Sri Lanka. Likewise, Brazil’s recent outbreak has begun unraveling into Guyana, Bolivia, and Colombia. These surges have already put pressure on challenged health systems, with diminishing oxygen supplies in countries like Chile and Peru. As more countries like South Africa, Argentina, Uruguay, Malaysia, Vietnam, and France go through case surges and a newly named variant of concern (B.1.617) by the WHO continues to spread across national lines, we expect several nations in the Americas, Southeast Asia, and Central Europe to be the next COVID-19 hotspots.
A push for a deeper origins investigation
A letter was recently published by several scientists from Harvard, Yale, Stanford, and numerous other research institutions requesting more investigation to determine the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic. The scientists felt the WHO's research team did not give balanced consideration to theories around the accidental release of the virus from a lab, which the WHO called "extremely unlikely," or the virus jumping from an animal to a human which the WHO called "likely to very likely.”
Proper evaluation must be “transparent, objective, data-driven, inclusive of broad expertise, subject to independent oversight, and responsibly managed to minimize the impact of conflicts of interest.” In addition to requesting that public health agencies and research labs open their records to the public, the letter also pushed for analyses and conclusions that could be reproduced by independent experts so they can be validated by outside parties. This push for greater rigor in research about the origins of the virus is nothing new. The geopolitical concerns about the relationship between China and the WHO have been under scrutiny since the pandemic began. We expect greater pressure to be put on the WHO to demand greater transparency in its investigations by more foreign governments, well known scientists, and scientific journals in the coming weeks.