ABSTRACT
Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in India, the country has faced a slew of new challenges, spawning a slew of other deadly viruses and diseases while also serving as a breeding ground for them. Not only did Malaria (a vector-borne disease) emerge as a coincidental outbreak during the pandemic, but many others did as well, causing severe diseases in humans due to flaws in health-care systems that were already overburdened with identifying, preventing, and treating the recently introduced coronavirus disease. Inadequate water cleanliness, as well as the delayed and misdiagnosis of Malaria with COVID-19 due to overlapping symptoms, are major impediments in the incidence of these unique outbreaks. Appropriate steps, such as providing clean water and diagnostic facilities to control Malaria cases, should be adopted to prevent such epidemics in the country.
ABSTRACT
Extensively drug resistant typhoid fever is a major public health concern in Pakistan. During the COVID-19 pandemic, poor sanitation is leading typhoid cases to a surge and obsolete diagnostic methods are paving the way towards ir-rational pharmacotherapy. In particular, the overuse of azithromycin for the treatment of COVID-19 might impair one of the few remaining regimens against XDR. Facing COVID-19 and XDR at the same time can lead to a catastrophy, unless the government, the stakeholders and healthcare workers take joint action to improve sanitation, educate the public, vaccinate vulnerable groups and establish good diagnostic and management practices.