IS COVID-19 CAUSED BY BACTERIA?

Rodgers Odhiambo and Celine Abuga

COVID-19 NOT CAUSED BY BACTERIA, ASPIRIN NOT A CURE

In Italy, the corona virus remedy was finally found,” reads a message circulating on Facebook since 20 May 2020. It claims that Covid-19 is caused by a bacterium, not a virus, and can be treated with the common drug aspirin.

Several versions of the message are doing the rounds, all claiming that Italian doctors defied orders from the World Health Organization (WHO) and autopsied people who had died from Covid-19. This is supposedly how they found that “a bacteria” causes the disease.

Viruses are tiny bundles of genetic material enclosed in a protein coat. They only reproduce by hijacking the cells of other organisms such as animals, plants and even bacteria. Bacteria are single-celled organisms that reproduce by themselves. Both viruses and bacteria can cause disease.

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses. The scientific consensus is that the disease Covid-19 is caused by a coronavirus called Sars-CoV-2. Other coronaviruses cause other diseases, such the common cold and severe acute respiratory syndrome, or Sars.

The new coronavirus was identified in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late December 2019. The genome of the virus was sequenced and publicly released by February 2020. Since then, other samples of the genome have been recorded, including a sequence taken from a case in Nepal.

Many parts of the virus have been modelled based on this genetic information. Together with images of the virus taken with sensitive microscopes, these have given scientists a reliable idea of what the virus looks like.

The message claims that Italian doctors defied the WHO’s “global health law not to perform an autopsy” on Covid-19 patients. But there is no such ban.

The organization has published evidence-based recommendations for countries and healthcare workers. These are non-binding, not a “global law”, and don’t advise against autopsies. They do include advice on how healthcare workers can keep themselves safe from infection while performing autopsies.

Aspirin is a common drug often used for pain relief. As the British National Health Service (NHS) explains, daily low doses of aspirin are also sometimes recommended to thin the blood and prevent heart attacks and strokes.

But the NHS warns: “Taking low-dose aspirin isn’t safe for everyone. Only take low-dose aspirin if your doctor recommends it.” Aspirin can have serious side effects.

The Facebook message suggests that aspirin’s blood-thinning effects are what allow it to treat Covid-19. It says the non-existent bacterium it claims causes the disease also “causes blood clots to form and causes the death of the patient”.

The message claims that aspirin and other blood-thinning drugs can prevent thrombosis, the formation of clots in blood vessels, and so prevent Covid-19 deaths.

Aspirin no ‘cure’ for Covid-19

A review of literature into autopsy-based Covid-19 research did note that many autopsies found evidence of thrombosis in patients. Other researchers have published similar results.

Blood-thinning medications are being considered as possible Covid-19 treatments, and at least one small trial, with just over 100 participants, is examining whether aspirin can reduce the severity of Covid-19 symptoms. At least one larger trial, with just over 1,000 participants, has also been proposed.

But at time of writing, there are no published results from clinical trials of aspirin.

The WHO has not banned or even advised against autopsies, and no doctors have found that Covid-19 is caused by a bacterium. While blood-thinning drugs such as aspirin are being tested, among other treatments, they are not a cure for Covid-19.

This information was first published by Africa Check.

This message is brought to you by Sky fm in collaboration with Code For Africa’s iLab Data Journalism Program supported by DW Akademie

 

 

 

 



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