CORONA DASHBOARD

HOW MASKS AND GOWNS CAUSE SKIN INJURIES AMONG DOCTORS-

Private protective equipment that medical professionals wear while handling COVID-19 patients-masks, goggles, face shields, and protective gowns-causes skin scratch. In the process, it puts them at increased risk of infection, according to a new study by a large team of Chinese researchers, and published in Advances in Wound Care, a monthly from Mary Ann Liebert publishers. The education covered 4,308 medical staff from 161 hospitals, with responses from 4,306 valid. The medical employees worked every day for 8 to 12 hours wearing PPE. Among them, 42.8% experienced serious skin injury related to the use of PPE, the study found. Flagging the increased danger of infection, the researchers wrote: The skin injuries among medical staff are serious, with insufficient prevention and treatment. The analysts identified three main classes of PPE-related skin scratches:device-related pressure injuries; moist associated skin damage; skin tear. Several factors increased the risk of skin injury, including gender.

COVID'S VITAMIN D LINK-

The latest study has found a coalition between small average levels of vitamin D and peak numbers of Covid-19 cases and mortality rates across 20 European countries. Vitamin D is known to adjust the response of white blood cells, preventing them from releasing too many inflammatory cytokines which is basically a part of the body's immune response to fight infections. And the SARS-CoV2 virus is known to cause a surplus of pro-inflammatory cytokines, called a cytokine storm. The latest study shows that Italy and Spain, both of which have experienced peak COVID-19 mortality rates, have lower average vitamin D levels than most northern European countries. This, the researchers said, is partly because people in southern Europe, particularly the elderly, avoid the strong sun, while skin pigmentation also diminishes natural vitamin D synthesis. The highest average levels of vitamin D are found in northern Europe, due to the utilization of cod liver oil and vitamin D supplements, and possibly less sun avoidance, Scandinavian countries are among the countries with the little number of COVID-19 cases and mortality rates per head of population in Europe. Vitamin D has been shown to safeguard against acute respiratory infections, and older adults, the group most deficient in vitamin D, are also the ones most seriously affected by COVID-19. In the previous study, it is found that 75% of people in institutions, such as hospitals and care homes, were severely deficient in vitamin D. We suggest it would be advisable to execute dedicated studies looking at vitamin D levels in COVID-19 patients with different degrees of disease severity.