Microbiologist Milanko Shekler: Vaccine is just a temporary solution – Society

The masks stop 95% of the drops that transmit the corona virus, but only if they are used correctly.

Photo: YouTube / N1 Screenshot

You’re supposed to put on a mask and wear it all day. When it is no longer needed, remove it and dispose of it properly. You can also do this by spraying rubbing alcohol before throwing it outside. On the other hand, inappropriate use of a mask, which means wearing a mask under the chin, putting it on the elbow, fist, taking the mask out of the pocket and putting it on the face, touching the mask with the hands, same mask for several days, it can create more problems than uses. In this way, you run the risk of ingesting the virus droplets left on the outside of the mask, explains Danas Milanko Šekler, a microbiologist at the Kraljevo Specialist Veterinary Institute.

At the end of November, Shekler wrote an article for the New Serbian Political Thought site, in which, as he himself says, he tries to answer the questions that citizens have been asking him since March.

One of the answers it provides is the amount of virus it takes to enter the body for someone to become infected.

As he says, it is a quantity of 500 to 1000 particles.

At the same time, if we consider that with a single sneeze, an infected person can emit several million virus particles, then it becomes clear what the value of the mask is.

As he points out, the greater the amount of virus introduced, the more likely a person is to develop a more severe form of the disease. On the other hand, Shekler says that the introduction of smaller amounts of virus, say between 30 and 50 particles, can also be useful, because that way the body learns to fight the virus.

Shekler explains to Danas that it is very likely that a large number of people in Belgrade are currently exposed to the virus in this way, and that the most logical thing would be that the number of new infected will start to decrease in the capital in the next period. , where there are more people who so far have not had contact with the virus.

– A large number of people have already been infected. I think something similar happened in Madrid, where in the third wave there was no major disease of the population, although they left open the restoration facilities, what was called the “miracle of Madrid”. Contact testing and isolation, as well as other measures, certainly had an impact, but not a crucial one. Because all these measures were applied in Madrid during the previous waves, so it did not save them. Rather, I think that Madrid, conditionally, have kept the infection, says Shekler.

Speaking of the properties of the new corona virus, the interlocutor from Danas says that it is a very sensitive virus to desiccation. When asked how to explain the fact that there were a large number of infected people in Serbia during June and July, he points out that all circumstances should be considered.

– In early June, it was cold and cloudy with a very low UV radiation index. At the same time, people spend less time outdoors than they would during the summer months, so there were more crowds in closed bars, and we know the situation is where they talk and sing loudly, where there is little ventilation and little “Adequate space” for the spread of the virus, “Danas said. He believes that the corona virus vaccine will solve the” current problem “and protect those most threatened, but that the definitive way out of the pandemic is to infect the population.

– When you start vaccinating, you initially accept the fact that the virus will always be present. To eradicate it, everyone would have to be vaccinated every eight or 12 months, while the protection of the vaccine lasts, and that is impossible. The virus will continue to move for the duration of the vaccine. And it will look for a solution on how to survive. At the same time, the pressure exerted by the vaccine will make it mutate, that is, new strains will appear, which means that we will also need new vaccines, as is the case with the flu. That is why I believe that the way out of this pandemic will be to probe. In 2009 we had the swine flu, which no one mentions anymore, and which has been moving naturally in recent years. The rule is that the population always gets used to the virus and that the relationship between the population and the virus finds its evolutionary balance. No virus “is not interested” in killing an infected person, because its death ends its further multiplication and spread to other susceptible people. The problem with this virus is that it is new, that it comes from the animal world and that it takes time to fight it, Shekler concludes.

About the interlocutor

Milanko Šekler completed a specialization in microbiology, a master’s degree in immunology and a doctorate in microbiology and virology at the Belgrade Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. He is a full member of the Academy of Veterinary Medicine, which has only 37 members and is one of the youngest admitted to this organization.

The oldest at least in contact with the crown

Sheckler explains that vaccination is the solution for older citizens, who were the least exposed to the virus, due to the quarantine period during the state of emergency, and because they are the people who most respect the measures and avoid risky situations. From the preliminary results of the serological epidemiological investigation, it is clear that with the age of the examined human serum samples, the number of those with specific antibodies decreases. Those between the ages of 70 and 79 had the least contact with the virus, and those over 80 had no registered antibodies. This is the result of strict measures to restrict the movement of the elderly population, according to Shekler.

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