ABSTRACT
Background: The unprecedented outbreak of a contagious respiratory disease caused by a novel coronavirus has led to a pandemic since December 2019, claiming millions of lives. Aims and Objectives: The present study was undertaken to estimate the various risk factors associated with COVID, to study the common presenting symptoms and prognosis, and to estimate the degree of association between computed tomography (CT) value in reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) with mode of disease transmission in north coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study comprising of 1462 COVID-positive individuals. It is based on structured questionnaire on demographic, socioeconomic and symptoms, and correlation of clinical pattern with CT value in RT-PCR and further prognosis. Results: Diabetes (6.7%), hypertension (7.5%), and bronchial asthma (8.6%) are the main comorbid conditions. Middle (44.6%) and low socioeconomic status (47.3%) are more susceptible. Male gender (63.5%) is more affected, especially 16-30 years age group (32.4%). Vaccination offers considerable protection from infection. Contact (59.4%) with known case and travel (31%) are main factors that determine disease transmission. Blood group may not play a role in COVID susceptibility. Health careworkers (22.9%) and students (16.2%) are mostly affected. Conclusion: Bronchial asthma, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus are the predominant risk factors associated with COVID. Transmission of the disease is more by virtue of contact with the infected person than by travel.
ABSTRACT
Coronavirus disease COVID-19 is caused by the recently discovered corona virus that can spread between animals and humans. The outbreak of the corona virus was begun in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The most com-mon symptoms are fever, tiredness, and dry cough. Some individuals also develop aches and pains, nasal congestion, runny nose, sore throat, or diar-rhea. It was reported that traditional remedies may alleviate the symptoms of COVID-19. Ayurveda is the world’s oldest medical system that can manage any disease without side effects. Ayurveda is equipped with varieties of treatment modalities to handle with any type of deadly diseases. However, a major drawback is a lack of adequate scientific basis. Tulsi has multi-modal therapeutic effects, we hypothesize that tulsi may be effective in the prevention and management of COVID-19. Though the existing literature supports the management of symptoms of COVID-19 using tulsi, a lack of standard formulation limits its use. This is the need of time to start with translational research to provide scientific evidence for the efficacy and to establish the standard formulation of tulsi in the management of COVID-19.