Chennai: Here are interesting and important findings from a couple of studies of Covid-19. In the first, people who are vaccinated against Covid-19, and have a history of certain psychiatric conditions, face an increased risk of breakthrough disease, according to a study.
The researchers from the University of California (UC) San Francisco, US, noted that the risk may be related to impaired immune response as well as risky behaviours associated with some disorders.
The study, published in the journal JAMA Network Open on Thursday, found that patients over 65 with substance abuse, psychotic disorders, bipolar disorder, adjustment disorder and anxiety, faced increased risks of up to 24 per cent for breakthrough Covid.
For those under 65, risks were up to 11 per cent higher than for those without a psychiatric history, the researchers said. They tracked data from more than 2.5 lakh US Department of Veterans Affairs patients, who had completed their vaccine regimen and had at least one test for SARS-CoV-2.
Just over a half (51.4 per cent) of the patients had received at least one psychiatric diagnosis within the last five years and 14.8 per cent developed breakthrough COVID, confirmed by a positive test.
‘Our research suggests that increased breakthrough infections in people with psychiatric disorders cannot be entirely explained by socio-demographic factors or pre-existing conditions,’ said senior study author Aoife O’Donovan from UCSF.
As far as the second study is concerned, scientists in Japan have developed a new antiviral coating that inactivates various types of coronavirus variants under both indoor light and darkness.
The coating developed by researchers at Nara Medical University, Kanagawa Institute of Industrial Science and Technology, and Tokyo Institute of Technology is made using a combination of titanium dioxide (TiO2) and copper oxide (CuxO) compounds.
They noted that the main transmission pathway of the SARS-CoV-2 virus is through droplets released by infected people into the air, adding these droplets exist on various surfaces as well.
Viral infections mainly occur in indoor environments where many people gather, the researchers said.
Antiviral chemicals, such as alcohol and hydrogen peroxide, are often used to decontaminate regularly touched surfaces, they said.
These chemicals essentially render the virus inactive by breaking down its proteins. However, they are volatile in nature, and therefore evaporate away.