제 13 호 The Road to Endemic
Kicker: SCIENCE (ENDEMIC)
The Road to Endemic
Choi Yeong-Jin, Editor
Have you realized that it has been approximately three years since the Corona virus has changed our lives entirely? Everybody expected that the epidemic would just fade away someday and tried to be patient with the current situation of locking themselves up in their own house. However, when the situation was being prolonged, people started to question the possibility whether the situation will end someday. Since everybody has a life to live, people could not stand locking themselves up the whole time, and became more positive at working, enjoying hobbies, and spending time with their families and friends. Though news reports announce to us that the rate of daily new cases of COVID-19 is skyrocketing every day, there still are some medical advancements that give us hope.
Anti-Inflammatory, Anti-Viral, and Antibody Therapy
There are many types of drugs that are available now for anti-COVID. Anti-inflammatory* drugs that stop our immune system overacting with deadly consequences, anti-viral drugs that make it harder for the coronavirus to replicate* inside the body, and antibody therapies that mimic our own immune system to attack the virus are the main solutions.
What happens to our body when we catch COVID-19? Our body releases a flood of chemicals to warn that our body is under attack. This chemical alarm is called inflammation, and it is vital* for rallying our immune system to boot out* COVID. However, if we cannot get rid of the virus quickly, inflammation can spiral out of control and eventually damage vital organs such as lungs. In this case, it becomes a massive problem that can eventually kill people. To prevent this, we can use anti-inflammatory drugs which includes the steroid hydrocortisone*. It has already proven very effective, but is highly expensive, so an asthma drug called budesonide is recommended to vulnerable people who encountered early COVID symptoms and recover more quickly at home.
Anti-Viral Drugs
Anti-viral drugs directly target the ability of the coronavirus to make copies of itself inside our bodies. A well-known drug named “Paxlovid” is one kind of anti-viral drug, and it keeps levels of the virus in the body low, so there is less of it for our immune system to deal with. Lastly, Antibody therapy is to give people an infusion* of antibodies that can attack the virus. These stick to the surface of the coronavirus and mark it for destruction by the body’s immune system. Therefore, the body makes its own antibodies when it is attacked by coronavirus.
*Inflammatory: Causing or related to swelling and pain in the body.
*Replicate: To make or do something again in exactly the same way.
*Vital: Necessary for the success or continued existence of something.
*Boot out: To force someone to leave a job or not allow them to continue with an activity.
*Hydrocortisone: The name of the hormone cortisol when supplied as a medication.
*Infusion: The act of adding one thing to another to make it stronger or better.
Pandemic Becoming Endemic
Many experts have already said that they expect COVID-19 to become an endemic disease. Then what is endemic? Endemic is especially of a disease or a condition that is regularly found and very common among a particular group or in a particular area. Imagine a cold, for example. Back in the old days, the common cold killed millions of people. That was when the cold was recognized as pandemic. Nowadays, on the other hand, nobody worries when we catch a cold.
The expectation that COVID-19 will become endemic essentially means that the pandemic will not end with the virus disappearing, but to be weaker and very less fatal. Optimistic view of COVID to become endemic 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 hospitalization and death, even as the virus continues to circulate.
The Quarantine* Authority of Korea, too has agreed with optimism with Western experts that COVID-19 will be transferred to endemic sooner or later. Yes, some experts worry that since Korea’s quarantine circumstances and vaccination differs, the outcome might turn out differently with foreign precedents*. However, optimists of COVID becoming endemic argue with the example of the Omicron variant*. Omicron spreads extremely quickly compared with the Delta variant, and as massive infection occurred, many people are obtaining natural immunity, and this happened in both Europe and America. This explains that Korea, too has hopes to go back to our normal life in a matter of time.
Though some question the effectiveness of vaccination as more and more people are being infected even though they are fully vaccinated, it is already proven that being vaccinated protects us from serious illness and death. Breakthrough infection happens more often as time passes, and this phenomenon explains that immunity becomes weaker as time goes by. That is why more and more countries are accelerating to invent new vaccines. There are possibilities that when COVID-19 is finally treated as endemic, it would be likely to be handled like flu by getting an injection once or twice a year.
*Transmission: The process of broadcasting or sending out something by radio or television, on the internet, etc., or something that is broadcast or sent out.
*Quarantine: A specific period of time in which a person or animal that has a disease, or may have one, must stay or be kept away from others in order to prevent the spread of the disease.
*Precedent: An action, situation, or decision that has already happened and can be used as a reason why a similar action or decision should be performed or made.
*Variant: A form of a virus or disease that is slightly different from other forms.
Countries all around the world, including Korea as well, are paying lots and lots of attention and care for the end of the reign* of the coronavirus. As we can witness the current situation of the Western world and their efforts to make COVID become endemic, it would not be considered a hopeless dream that we might return to our normal life without wearing masks anymore.
*Reign: A period when a particular person, feeling, or quality is very important or has a strong influence.
Sources:
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-52354520
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/features/what-will-it-be-like-when-covid-19-becomes-endemic/
