Can the “herd immunity” be applied in the Arab countries to address the Corona pandemic?

Statements have been made about the use of "herd immunity" to address the pandemic of the emerging coronavirus (SARS Cove 2), which causes Covid-19, is this a logical option for Arab countries?

The outbreak of the Corona virus began in the Chinese city of Wuhan last December in a food market that was selling wild animals illegally. The number of infections worldwide exceeded one million and four hundred thousand, and the deaths reached eighty thousand, and the number is on the rise.

The virus was called SARS-CoV-2, to distinguish it from the SARS-CoV virus that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), which spread in 2002-2003, and caused 774 deaths. Mostly in Asia.

Several countries had decided to adopt the herd immunity strategy; that is, to leave things as they were before the virus spread to infect as many people as possible; most of them would have immunity against the disease naturally and spontaneously. Then it is possible to start studying this formed immunity and producing drugs extracted from it.

But as the number of deaths worsened globally, many countries retreated from that strategy.

Arab world
On this matter and its applicability in the Arab world, researcher at Heidelberg Hospital in Germany, Alia Abu Kiwan, says that applying this methodology is a great risk, especially for the elderly and vulnerable groups; therefore, many countries stand against the implementation of this strategy because they do not want to sacrifice those groups Critical.

She added that this would result in a huge number of injuries, which may put pressure on the health sector, noting that Germany - despite all its enormous potential - preferred to disable the economy for a whole month, because it does not want to risk the health or lives of the elderly or the weak, but rather On the contrary, I decided to do more to protect and treat them.

Professor Magdy Badran, a member of the Egyptian Society for Allergy and Immunology in Cairo, believes that the idea of ​​herd immunity will not be beneficial at present, and “I do not accept that we sacrifice the death of a million for a hundred million lives. But perhaps this strategy will be useful in the future if the virus mutates, becomes seasonal or endemic, Its clock will acquire the immunity of the public against it, and it becomes a minor disease.

Commenting on the hypothesis that vaccination of BCG (bacillus Calmette-Guerin-BCG) helps reduce the incidence of corona, he says, “The Corona virus is new and mysterious and it is not yet known how effective the TB vaccine is in increasing the ability of the immune system to combat it.” That the increase in the incidence of infections in countries whose citizens do not receive tuberculosis vaccine is not sufficient evidence that this hypothesis is correct.

He pointed out that in Iran, the vaccine is vaccinated with "BCG", despite that, they have a high mortality rate with the emerging corona virus. He said that the decrease in the number of infections and deaths in Africa with the virus may be due to several reasons; including the weak ability to diagnose or the presence of better immunity among some, the lack of foreign tourism trips, humid climate and high temperature.

Important advice
Dr. Alia Abu Kiwan says that the most important thing that Arab countries can do now is to fully adhere to the recommendations of the World Health Organization to prevent gatherings, reduce exit to the streets, wear masks, and adhere to social distance, preferably the distance between people about two meters, frequent washing of hands and disinfection of surfaces .

The researcher at Heidelberg Hospital added that "the most important thing now is to conduct tests for the largest possible number of people, and to make an early diagnosis so that virus carriers are discovered and prevented from mixing with others, which will greatly reduce the infection, and will contribute to" flatten the curve ", What is meant is the curve indicating infection with the virus, the stages of its development, its spread, recovery and deaths.

In turn, Professor Majdi Badran stressed that it is possible to abort the spread of the Corona virus by implementing precautionary measures strictly, and the masses must adhere strictly to prevention instructions, the most important of which are:

1. Stay at home.

2. Avoid crowds.

3. Refrain from touching each other.

4. Increase safe distances between others.

He adds that, depending on the number of patients in the community, it can be done:

Close schools, restaurants, shops, cinemas and other places where people congregate.

Not meeting with friends.

Not to go to the stores except when necessary.

- Work from home.

Disrupting public transportation, including buses, subways, and taxis.

Not to go to other people's homes.

- Stay away from everyone, even if they do not show illness.

- If you are ill, stay away from others, and this is the most important thing you can do.

All of these things, Badran says, will "starve" the new Corona virus. It is intended to deny the virus access to individual cells; when people who are infected with the virus remain far away from others, they cannot pass it on to anyone else, and the virus will die; in this way the number of people who contract the disease decreases, and the virus does not find someone who infects it and dies.