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Corona virus related words and what they mean
We hear/ read and use a lot of words these days while dealing with corona virus. Lots of the jargon 's being transferred from labs to the wider world.
But do we really know what they exactly mean? Here is a list of words and their real meanings ...
ACE2: A protein on the cells in your airways and other parts of the body that coronavirus attaches to.
Antibody: Large Y-shaped proteins that stick to the surface of bacteria and viruses.
Antigen: A foreign substance that induces an immune response in the body – especially the production of antibodies.
Case fatality rate: The percentage of confirmed cases that resulted in death is the case fatality rate, or CFR. The World Health Organization estimates the CFR for COVID-19 to be about 3.4%. But this number is likely to come down as more tests are performed and we identify more of the large number of cases with no symptoms. In South Korea, where lots of testing was performed, the CFR is about 1.5%.
COVID-19: The disease, not the virus that causes the disease. That’s SARS-CoV-2 (see below).
Outbreak: A sudden occurrence of a disease in an area. Two examples of outbreaks in recent history are Sars (2002-2003) and the H1N1 influenza virus (2009)
Endemic: Not to be confused with “epidemic”. A disease that is regularly found among a particular group or in a particular region, such as malaria.
Epidemic: The widespread occurrence of an infectious disease in a population at a particular time. So COVID-19 is a pandemic (because of its global spread), but it is also an epidemic in the UK, for example.
Pandemic: Compared to an epidemic disease, a pandemic disease is an epidemic that has spread over a large area, that is, it’s “prevalent throughout an entire country, continent, or the whole world.” When many people in several countries on several continents have a disease, it is called pandemic.
Flattening the curve: Slowing a virus's spread to lower the peak number of cases and related demands on hospitals and infrastructure. Hospitals can only cope with so many patients. Flattening the curve is an attempt to reduce how many cases of COVID-19 occur at the same time so that hospitals aren’t overwhelmed.
Coronavirus: A generic term to describe a large family of viruses that cause illness, ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases like SARS. They often spread from animals to people.
Immunity: Our body’s response to viruses. We have two types: our innate immunity kicks in as soon as we’re infected by a virus and it’s the thing that keeps us alive. Then there’s acquired immunity: this takes a week or two to kick in and it’s when you start making antibodies. They will generally clear the virus. Some of the cells that make the antibodies become memory cells and they can last for a long time, so when we come across the virus again we don’t have to wait a couple of weeks - we can make them in two to three days.
Herd immunity: When a large number of people in a population are immune to a disease, either through vaccination of through having the disease naturally, it is difficult for that disease to spread. For highly infectious disease, such as measles, if 95% of the population is vaccinated, the number of cases of the disease will be dramatically reduced and can even be wiped out. For COVID-19, which is less infectious than measles, herd immunity would work only if majority of the population (sometimes 70% to 95% )was vaccinated.
Immunocompromised: People who have weakened or impaired immunity due to a chronic health condition, medication or malnutrition.
Incubation period: This is the length of time between being infected and showing symptoms. Most people show symptoms within five days of being infected within SARS-CoV-2, but it can take up to two weeks.
N95 mask: These are also called respirator masks. All the air being breathed in passes through a filter which reduces the chances of someone be infected. These masks only work if they fit properly.
Patient zero: Not a medical term and one that is stigmatising . Best avoided. In medicine, we usually refer to an “index case”, but that’s something different. It refers to the first known case of a disease especially in a region.
PCR test: This is the test used to find out if you have a COVID-19 infection (contrast with serological test). It’s a genetic test. A swab is taken from the mucous membrane lining your nose and throat. Any RNA (the genetic instructions contained within the virus) samples are turned into DNA using an enzyme called reverse transcriptase. The DNA is then amplified in a process called polymerase chain reaction – hence PCR. This test can take hours to get a result, but several companies are trying to develop rapid molecular testing methods.
Pre-print: A research paper that is yet to be peer-reviewed. There are published in “pre-print servers”, such as BioRxiv and MedRxiv, and are free for anyone to access. Usually, research that hasn’t been reviewed by other experts in the field is frowned upon, but in a rapidly growing and evolving crisis, such as the current one, they serve a very useful purpose.
PPE: No, not mis-sold insurance. This is personal protective equipment. Stuff front-line healthcare staff need to keep them safe. Things like masks, disposable gloves and goggles. The level of protection that PPE needs to provide is different depending on how risky the activity being performed is.
Reagent: A reagent is any chemical needed to conduct an experiment. Like an ingredient in a recipe. There has been a lot of talk about reagents in the press lately as it is one of the “ingredients” needed to make the COVID-19 tests.
R0 (pronounced R nought): The average number of people a sick person will infect. And the word “average” here is key because, depending on how many people are being tested and how many cases are identified, the R0 will change. The R0 of SARS-CoV-2 is between two and three, meaning that each infected person will infect two or three other people. This is why it can spread so quickly.
R-naught or R0: An epidemiologic metric used to describe how contagious an infection is. In the case of COVID-19, research is still in its early stages, but indications suggest its R0 is between 2 and 2.5, which means an infected person will pass the infection on to a minimum of two other people.
SARS-CoV-2: The virus that causes COVID-19. Initially named 2019-nCoV by the World Health Organization (which caused a lot of confusion), but later given its official moniker by the people actually in charge of naming viruses: the Coronavirus Study Group (CSG) of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (yeah, we don’t go for snappy names in biology).
Serology test: Blood tests that look for the presence of antibodies that indicate if someone has already been exposed to a disease. These tests will not work early in an infection, it takes some time for our bodies to start producing the antibodies against the virus.
Super spreader: A pejorative term for someone who infects lots of people with the disease they have. It sounds like a medical term, but it’s not. It’s also stigmatising and shouldn’t be used – by anyone.
Quarantine: This is a very old concept, which used to be applied to ships when they came into ports carrying disease. It’s when you’re told to separate yourself from other people and it’s imposed by the authorities as a way of stopping people with the disease coming into contact with those who don’t.
Self-quarantine: Staying home and away from other people as much as possible after exposure or potential exposure to an infection.
Red zone: An area in a country that is under quarantine. It can mean that people are prevented from travelling in and out, and that people may be told to stay indoors.
Self-isolation or self-quarantine: A voluntary action of quarantine by the person who’s got the disease. It’s often under advice from various authorities, but it’s not been imposed upon them. This is sometimes to protect family members and other people in your area.
Fomites:
Any inanimate object, such as a book, money, carpet, etc., that can transmit germs from one person to another.
Vaccine: A vaccine introduces your body and immune system to a virus or bacteria before you encounter it in the wider world. This teaches your body how to cope with it, so it can fight it if you ever come across it again. It’s our way to take a shortcut to acquired immunity or the memory state. It typically involves injection of what is effectively part of the virus which isn’t dangerous to us, but which can stimulate the immune system to create antibodies.
There are currently no vaccines for human coronaviruses. One is being worked on as we speak but it needs to go through several series of tests before it can be rolled out to the public.
Virus: Viruses are the most common pieces of biology on the planet. They’re designed to invade the cells in other organisms, and while most of them are harmless, some can make us very unwell.
World Health Organisation: A non-governmental organisation based in Geneva which evaluates outbreaks of infectious disease, advises governments around the world on controlling them and also plays a role particularly in vaccination programmes. Notably it played a key role in the eradication of small pox in the late 1970s by vaccination, and two of the three types polio, also by vaccination.
Close contact: Also referred to as "direct contact", this is when one person is physically close enough to an infected individual to come into direct contact with their bodily fluids, including respiratory droplets through which COVID-19 is believed to be spread. In order to avoid being in direct contact with someone who may be infected, it is important to practice "social distncing", see below.
Covid-gyan: SCI-COM brought by Indian Scientists to the general public of India to check misinformation
ICMR: (Indian council of medical research ) The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), New Delhi, the apex body in India for the formulation, coordination and promotion of biomedical research, is one of the oldest medical research bodies in the world.
CORONA mahammari: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19)
Social distancing: Any number of measures taken to increase the physical space between people to slow the spread of the virus. They include staying home more often, catching up with loved ones online instead of in person, strictly limiting the number of visitors to your home, and staying away from other people when you are in a public space. The WHO recommends being more than one metre (three feet) away from the nearest person, while some health experts have suggested maintaining a distance of at least two metres from others.
Underlying condition: A long-term health issue, including asthma, diabetes, HIV, chronic lung disease, cancer and more.
Disease control: DC is when we see a reduction in disease incidence and prevalence (new cases and current cases) as a result of public health measures. The reduction does not mean to zero cases, but rather to an acceptable level.
Unfortunately, there’s no consensus on what is acceptable. It can differ from disease to disease and from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.
Disease elimination: In DE there must be zero new cases of the disease in a defined geographic area. There is no defined time period this needs to be sustained for – it usually depends on the incubation period of the disease (the time between being exposed to the virus and the onset of symptoms). Even when a disease has been eliminated, we continue intervention measures such as border controls and surveillance testing to ensure it doesn’t come back.
Disease Eradication is when there is zero incidence worldwide of a disease following deliberate efforts to get rid of it. In this scenario, we no longer need intervention measures.
Only two infectious diseases have been declared eradicated by the World Health Organisation – smallpox in 1980 and rinderpest (a disease in cattle caused by the paramyxovirus) in 2011.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on
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Coronavirus has led to an explosion of new words and phrases, both in English and in other languages. This new vocabulary helps us make sense of the changes that have suddenly become part of our everyday lives.
Established terms such as “self-isolating”, “pandemic”, “quarantine”, “lockdown” and “key workers” have increased in use, while coronavirus/COVID-19 neologisms are being coined quicker than ever.
These include “covidiot” (someone ignoring public health advice), “covideo party”(online parties via Zoom or Skype), and “covexit” (the strategy for exiting lockdown), while coronavirus has acquired new descriptors – including “the ‘rona” and “Miley Cyrus” (Cockney rhyming slang).
Other terms deal with the material changes in our everyday lives, from “Blursday” (an unspecified day because of lockdown’s disorientating effect on time), to “zoombombing” (hijacking a Zoom videocall). “WFH” (working from home) and “quaranteams” (online teams created during lockdown) are helping people deal with changing work circumstances.
This is to say nothing of the metaphors people are using to talk about our response to Coronavirus, from war metaphors – for example, Boris Johnson’s briefing where he stated that: “This enemy can be deadly, but it is also beatable” – to sports, storms, monsters, natural disasters, and more.
https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-has-led-to-an-explosion-of-... -
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COVID-LINGO: In these times of COVID-19, there are the usual suspects: shortenings like “sanny” (hand sanitizer) and “iso” (isolation), abbreviations like BCV (before corona virus) and WFH (working from home), also compounds “corona moaner” (the whingers) and “zoombombing” (the intrusion into a video conference).
Plenty of nouns have been “verbed” too — the toilet paper/pasta/tinned tomatoes have been “magpied”. Even rhyming slang has made a bit of a comeback with Miley Cyrus lending her name to the virus (already end-clipped to “the Miley”). Some combine more than one process — “the isodesk” (or is that “the isobar”) is where many of us are currently spending our days.
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What is interesting about COVID-lingo is the large number of creations that are blended expressions formed by combining two existing words. The new portmanteau then incorporates meaningful characteristics from both. Newly spawned “coronials” (corona + millennials) has the predicted baby boom in late 2020 already covered.
“Blursday” has been around since at least 2007 but originally described the day spent hung over — it’s now been pressed into service because no one knows what day of the week it is anymore. The official disease name itself, “COVID”, is somewhere between a blend and an acronym because it takes in vowels to make the abbreviation pronounceable (CO from corona, VI from virus and D from disease).
True, we’ve been doing this sort of thing for centuries — “flush” (flash + gush) dates from the 1500s. But it’s never been a terribly significant method of coinage. John Algeo’s study of neologisms over a 50-year period (1941–91) showed blends counting for only 5% of the new words. Tony Thorne’s impressive collection of over 100 COVID-related terms has around 34% blends, and the figure increases to more than 40% if we consider only slang.
Not only have blends become much more common, the nature of the mixing process has changed too. Rather than combining splinters of words, as in “coronials”, most of these corona-inspired mixes combine full words merged with parts of others. The “quarantini” keeps the word “quarantine” intact and follows it with just a hint of “martini” (and for that extra boost to the immune system you can rim the glass with vitamin C powder). Many of these have bubbled up over the past few weeks — “lexit” or “covexit” (the strategies around exiting lockdown and economic hardship), “coronacation” (working from home) and so on.
Humour: from the gallows to quarantimes
Humour emerges as a prevailing feature of these blends, even more so when the overlap is total. In “covidiot” (the one who ignores public health advice and probably hoards toilet paper), both “covid” and “idiot” remain intact. There’s been a flourishing of these types of blend — “covideo party”, “coronapocalypse”, “covidivorce” to name just a few.
Clearly, there is a fair bit of dark comedy in the jokes and memes that abound on the internet, and in many of these coinages too — compounds like “coronacoma” (for the period of shutdown, or that deliciously long quarantine sleep) and “boomer remover” (used by younger generations for the devastation of the baby boomer demographic).
Callous, heartless, yes. But humour is often used as a means of coming to terms with the less happy aspects of our existence. People use the levity as a way of disarming anxiety and discomfort by downgrading what it is they cannot cope with.
Certainly, gallows humour has always featured large in hospital slang (diagnoses like GOK “God only knows” and PFO “pissed and fell over”). For those who have to deal with dying and death every day, it is perhaps the only way to stay sane. COVID challenges us all to confront the biological limits of our own bodies – and these days humour provides the much-needed societal safety valve.
So what will come of these creations? The vast majority will fall victim to “verbicide”, as slang expressions always do.
Source: https://theconversation.com/iso-boomer-remover-and-quarantini-how-c...
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