Aster Medical Journal is an independent knowledge dissemination platform for medical fraternities in the Middle East and India, and our mission is to advance healthcare by sharing knowledge and expertise
As we enter the third year of the COVID-19, international medical community is deep into discussion on how to prevent future pandemics. The findings and recommendations of the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response has been reviewed by the Special Session of the World Health Assembly in November 2021. The panel detected flaws at each phase of the COVID-19 response, from readiness to detection and vigilance, both in the initial and the continued response. The preparedness was suboptimal and the international warning systems including the International Health Regulations (IHR) mechanisms were not robust which led to fast spread of SARS-CoV-2. The worldwide and countrywide reactions failed to avert social and economic crisis. Inequities were intensified, as demonstrated by maldistribution of life saving equipment, oxygen and vaccines. The panel concluded…
This is my maiden editorial. To be an editor of a scientific journal is itself a challenging task, and that too, amidst a busy clinical practice. I am fully conscious of the commitment delivered by my predecessors in this office, in curating each edition of the Aster Medical Journal – they have identified good science, and shared it with the scientific communities in a responsible way. The outstanding job they have done over the years have set a standard of excellence that is difficult to improve upon. Their dedication has transformed an essentially in-house journal into a journal of the highest quality, with engaging articles, wide acceptance, and an appreciative readership. I put on record my gratitude for their entrusting me with this legacy. As we cross two years and…
Dengue, chikungunya, malaria made notifiable diseases under Epidemic Diseases Act in India Vector-borne diseases like dengue, chikungunya and malaria have been made notifiable diseases under the Epidemic Diseases Act, according to an official notification. The notification makes it compulsory for all hospitals to provide information to the government about any such case that they receive. On the basis of the data provided by the hospitals, areas where the vector-borne diseases are spreading will be identified and declared as ‘infected’ or ‘threatened’. The notification also said that legal action will be taken against individuals or institutions found not following adequate measures or not informing about the cases to the authorities. The national capital has seen a surge in dengue cases. Delhi has reported over 1,000 cases of dengue this year, with…
For much of the past year, life in Western Australia has been coronavirus-free. Friends gathered in pubs; people kissed and hugged their relatives; children went to school without temperature checks or wearing masks. The state maintained this enviable position only by placing heavy restrictions on travel and imposing lockdowns — some regions entered a snap lockdown at the beginning of the year after a security guard at a hotel where visitors were quarantined tested positive for the virus. But the experience in Western Australia has provided a glimpse into a life free from the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. If other regions, aided by vaccines, aimed for a similar zero-COVID strategy, then could the world hope to rid itself of the virus? It’s a beautiful dream but most scientists think it’s improbable. In…
With prospects of herd immunity fading, endemic COVID-19 is upon us, and new “whole of society” approaches are needed. A world that has been fervently hoping for a clean break with the COVID-19 pandemic may be disappointed. In many places, the pandemic continues unabated; some countries are currently suffering their highest rates of hospitalization and death. And even in areas where it has subsided, the end point continues to recede into the future. As we wrote in our most recent update to “When will the COVID-19 pandemic end?,” few locations are likely to achieve herd immunity against SARS-CoV-2. The highly transmissible nature of the Delta variant, ongoing vaccine hesitancy, and incomplete protection against transmission by current public-health measures mean that a goal of “zero COVID-19” is very likely unachievable without…
Q: Many experts have said they expect COVID-19 to become an endemic disease. How does a disease go from being acute to endemic? What factors shape the transition to endemicity? What’s a likely timeline for COVID-19 to become endemic? A: The expectation that COVID-19 will become endemic essentially means that the pandemic will not end with the virus disappearing; instead, the optimistic view is that enough people will gain immune protection from vaccination and from natural infection such that there will be less transmission and much less COVID-19-related hospitalization and death, even as the virus continues to circulate. The expected continued circulation of SARS-CoV-2 stands in contrast with the first round of SARS in 2003 and with the Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa in 2014, when public health measures…
