Weapons against disease: Secret to defeat COVID-19

Summary

The article emphasizes the importance of adhering to established health practices, including good hygiene, proper exercise, and adequate ventilation, to combat the spread of COVID-19 and maintain health during the pandemic.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to light the necessity of revisiting basic health principles that have been known for ages. The article discusses the rapid spread of the virus, particularly in Italy, and the global concern it has generated. It outlines the origins of the virus, tracing back to bats and highlighting the shift from animal-to-person spread to widespread community transmission. The text advocates for a return to traditional health practices, such as maintaining physical activity to strengthen the body, ensuring proper ventilation in sickrooms, and emphasizing personal cleanliness and diet to fortify against disease. It suggests that while the pandemic is a significant challenge, the tools to defend against it are not mysterious but rather well-established health habits that have been understood since ancient times.

Opinions

The article opines that a significant portion of illness is due to the disregard of physical laws and poor personal habits.
It posits that physical exercise, even when it induces weariness, is crucial for maintaining muscle strength and overall health.
The text criticizes the notion of avoiding fresh air when sick, arguing that pure, fresh air is especially necessary when internal organs are affected.
It emphasizes the importance of maintaining a healthful condition and proper ventilation in the sickroom to protect both the sick and the caregivers.
The article conveys that while the pandemic is a cause for alarm, the methods to defend against it are straightforward and rooted in ancient health wisdom.

Weapons against disease: Secret to defeat COVID-19

Healthy habits by Harvard Education

Now that the COVID-19 is considered as a pandemic the whole health related topic as become trending in all the world. The common things that years ago everybody knows about common hygiene are becoming something new, and Italy is the perfect example of that. A country that a few days ago were warned about the highly virulence of SARS-Cov-2 (well known as “coronavirus”) dismissed (by the population) and now is the second country with more infection cases and recurred to extreme measures to stop the spread like a national quarantine, curfew , etc.

But the question open for the rest of the world is: What can we do to avoid becoming another Italy, and why all this become so huge?

A “mysterious origin”?

“The SARS-CoV-2 virus is a betacoronavirus, like MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV. All three of these viruses have their origins in bats. The sequences from U.S. patients are similar to the one that China initially posted, suggesting a likely single, recent emergence of this virus from an animal reservoir.” — COVID-19 CDC

Early on, many of the patients at the epicenter of the outbreak in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China had some link to a large seafood and live animal market, suggesting animal-to-person spread. Later, a growing number of patients reportedly did not have exposure to animal markets, indicating person-to-person spread. Person-to-person spread was subsequently reported outside Hubei and in countries outside China, including in the United States. Some international destinations now have apparent community spread with the virus that causes COVID-19, as do some parts of the United States. Community spread means some people have been infected and it is not known how or where they became exposed.

An ancient but current medicine

A large share of the sickness and suffering among us is the result of the transgression of physical law, is brought upon individuals by their own wrong habits.

Another precious blessing is proper exercise. There are many indolent, inactive ones who are disinclined to physical labor or exercise because it wearies them. What if it does weary them? The reason why they become weary is that they do not strengthen their muscles by exercise, therefore they feel the least exertion. Invalid women and girls are better pleased to busy themselves with light employment, as crocheting, embroidering, or making tatting, than to engage in physical labor. If invalids would recover health, they should not discontinue physical exercise; for they will thus increase muscular weakness and general debility. Bind up the arm and permit it to remain useless, even for a few weeks, then free it from its bondage, and you will discover that it is weaker than the one you have been using moderately during the same time. Inactivity produces the same effect upon the whole muscular system. The blood is not enabled to expel the impurities as it would if active circulation were induced by exercise.

Many labor under the mistaken idea that if they have taken cold, they must carefully exclude the outside air and increase the temperature of their room until it is excessively hot. The system may be deranged, the pores closed by waste matter, and the internal organs suffering more or less inflammation, because the blood has been chilled back from the surface and thrown upon them. At this time, of all others, the lungs should not be deprived of pure, fresh air. If pure air is ever necessary, it is when any part of the system, as the lungs or stomach, is diseased. Judicious exercise would induce the blood to the surface and thus relieve the internal organs. Brisk, yet not violent, exercise in the open air, with cheerfulness of spirits, will promote the circulation, giving a healthful glow to the skin, and sending the blood, vitalized by the pure air, to the extremities.

When severe sickness enters a family, there is great need of each member’s giving strict attention to personal cleanliness and diet, to preserve himself in a healthful condition, thus fortifying himself against disease. It is also of the greatest importance that the sickroom, from the first, be properly ventilated. This is beneficial to the afflicted, and highly necessary to keep those well who are compelled to remain a length of time in the sickroom.

So despite the horror that a pandemic can cause, the way to defend us against any disease is not a secret, just habits that have been known since ancient ages.