Paul, E, Brown, GW orcid.org/0000-0002-6557-5353, Dechamps, M et al. (5 more authors) (2021) COVID-19: an ‘extraterrestrial’ disease? International Journal of Infectious Diseases, 110. pp. 155-159. ISSN 1201-9712
Abstract
Background
Since the beginning of the pandemic, COVID-19 has been regarded as an exceptional disease. Control measures have exclusively focused on ‘the virus’, while failing to account for other biological and social factors that determine severe forms of the disease.
Aim
We argue that although COVID-19 was initially considered a new challenge, justifying extraordinary response measures, this situation has changed — and so should our response.
Main arguments
We now know that COVID-19 shares many features of common infectious respiratory diseases, and can now ascertain that SARS-CoV-2 has not suddenly presented new problems. Instead, it has exposed and exacerbated existing problems in health systems and the underlying health of the population. COVID-19 is evidently not an ‘extraterrestrial’ disease. It is a complex zoonotic disease, and it needs to be managed as such, following long-proven principles of medicine and public health.
Conclusion
A complex disease cannot be solved through a simple, magic-bullet cure or vaccine. The heterogeneity of population profiles susceptible to developing a severe form of COVID-19 suggests the need to adopt varying, targeted measures that are able to address risk profiles in an appropriate way. The critical role of comorbidities in disease severity calls for short-term, virus-targeted interventions to be complemented with medium-term policies aimed at reducing the burden of comorbidities, as well as mitigating the risk of transition from infection to disease. Strategies required include upstream prevention, early treatment, and consolidation of the health system.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | ©2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of International Society for Infectious Diseases. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ ). |
Keywords: | COVID-19; health policy; public health; treatment; health promotion |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Education, Social Sciences and Law (Leeds) > School of Politics & International Studies (POLIS) (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 25 Nov 2021 14:01 |
Last Modified: | 25 Jun 2023 22:50 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.ijid.2021.07.051 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:180830 |