Obesity epidemic of India

-
Image
Obesity in India is on the rise. It has reached enormous proportions. As I sit and count at airports, the number of women who look obviously overweight and obese, the figures I get is 8 out of 10. And this is around same in children of all sexes and around 6 in 10 men show clearcut overweight and obesity that is obvious even to naked eye. Anthropometric measurements might reveal more of them.  What are the likely causes? I have a theory that starts analysing these cases right from the 2000s or previous century. Junk food eating and sedantry lifestyle had already given an upward push to obesity in last century. And this also gave rise to diabetes mellitus in both men and women. Hence, such mothers also had diabetes in pregnancy. Some who did not have diabetes otherwise had gestational diabetes. From 2000 to 2026 prevalence of gestational diabetes has risen in india. It has even spread to rural areas and recent national data gives a figure of 22.4% which is almost 1 in 4 pregnant mot...
2 comments

Triple mutant variant of coronavirus: What it is? How it is different? What are the problems of it?

-

 Coronavirus has hit the masses of the world badly and is now peaking. The second wave, as expected, is worse than the first wave. The virus has mutated in several countries. And now the virus with multiple mutations is in circulation. This is not good news because increasingly samples with triple mutations are reported from. India. And this mutated virus is replicating and spreading faster than the original virus of December 2019. The caseload is rising and more patients seek medical assistance. Many go for hospitalizations and need critical care with oxygen. Deaths are also more. 

Triple mutant variant of coronavirus 

Viruses are known to have mutations in order to help them survive, replicate, and remain in the population. Its infectivity and transmission increases with such mutations. Currently, in India triple mutated coronavirus is doing the round. 

B.1.167 was a double mutant variant. It was potentially more faster in spreading. Vinod Scaria, a scientist at the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research’s Institute of Genomic and Integrative Biology (CSIR-IGIB) in New Delhi tweeted:

"B.1.618 - a new lineage of SARS-CoV-2 predominantly found in India and characterized by a distinct set of genetic variants including E484K , a major immune escape variant,"

Triple mutant variant of coronavirus (Source: The Logical Indian) 

This started from West Bengal. He added:

"There are many unknowns for this lineage at this moment including its capability to cause reinfections as well as vaccine breakthrough infections. Additional experimental data is also required to assess the efficacy of vaccines against this variant," 

The current problem of coronavirus in India 

In India, coronavirus has reached alarming numbers. The land is recording more than 300k cases daily. It has the highest single-day rise of cases: a record that no country can break now. Many other countries of the world have stopped flights to and from India in the wake of this new variant of the virus. 

More young people are now getting infected and getting admitted to hospitals. More deaths amongst them is also noticed. Besides, new symptoms is being reported in such cases of triple mutations patients. It is a matter of concern. It is unclear whether current vaccines would prevent an individual against the new variant. Also not sure whether the diagnostic kits can pick all these variants or might miss them. This would complicate matters since false negatives would lead to more spread of the virus in the community. Additionally, monoclonal antibodies might also fail against the virus. 

What should be done? 

Prompt measures to minimize the spread of the virus in the general population should be initiated. Face masks, social distancing and hand washing should be reinforced  and monitored vigilantly. Health should get priority over other issues such as religion, construction, and economy. Research into the genetic structure of the new variant and usefulness of current vaccines against it should be evaluated soon. Other antiviral medicine against the virus should be looked into. Education of masses as regards this new variant should be widened. 

Also read, Bizarre rituals of India! 



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why I decided to not attend Nepal Respiratory society conference 2025?

-
I am a super-specialist doctor. Hence, when I learned about the pulmonology conference in Nepal in September 2025, I thought of attending it since I was there for some other work.  But I ultimately decided against attending the Nepal Respiratory society conference. You will agree that 'the first impression is the last impression'. And my first impression about the conference and organizers, unfortunately, was bad.  Reasons: 1. Incomplete information on internet  No proper directions on internet. There was incomplete and wrong information.  2. No office When anyone makes a medical society or association, it needs to have a proper physical address, phone number, and email id. But this, Nepal respiratory society, lacked all of this.  3. Piecemeal information  Initially, the registration details had no details about registration for international delegates. Later, this was added. But again, there was improper info on it. At one place, the fees was 12k npr and a...
Read more

Dementia: problem, risks, effects, and management

-
Image
I had met my classmate around 4 months back and informed her also about my mom's death. But in a recent email, she wrote to me that I had met her a couple of years back. She also enquired about my mom. Seeing her email, the first thought that came to my mind was: is she suffering from early dementia. I hope not. Maybe, she just forgot about the time that I had met her a few months back. Maybe because it was a hurried and surprise visit.  Nonetheless, dementia is on the rise. It affects people after 60 years of age. The increased life expectancy means that one will see more of such cases in the near future.  India has around 10 million dementia cases out of the world total of 57 million. This is a huge percentage. It affects not only an individual but the whole family. There is this individual who is physically okay but mentally absent. The person needs custodial care and it could turn out to be expensive. It is also emotionally disturbing to see your loved one in that state of...
Read more

Don't sacrifice or belittle your generation for the future generation!

-
Image
Our planet, Earth is an important abode for every living being including plants and animals. Earth belongs to everyone. Humans are the superior living beings, but they are also the ones destroying nature and earth with their excessive deeds and misdeeds.  Climate change and global warming are also the consequence of wrong human activities in excess. Industrial revolution of the 19th century paved the way for this downhill process of environmental deterioration. It has reached a stage where excessive temperatures are giving rise to glacier and ice cap melting, sea water level rising, ecosystem disruption, weather crisis, and high rates of infections and allergies.  Also, read Dementia and its risks and management  Effective steps need to be taken promptly and on a large scale to mitigate this climate crisis and in the meantime, measures to adapt to the rising temperatures also are required to be started.  However, in all this, some people make such vague statements th...
Read more