Professor Georgina Odaibo, the Head at the Department of Virology, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan has confessed that all virologists and others presently involved in understudying the novel coronavirus are ‘learners’.
She made this confession while featuring on this week’s edition of Parrot Xtra Hour on Radio, a popular magazine programme aired on Space 90.1FM in Ibadan.
The university don explained that the virus is new and nobody knew about it till the end of 2019 adding that scholars and researchers have since been working on it to know how to tackle it.
Odaibo said “We all do not have any conclusive submission to make on the novel coronavirus. This means that we cannot now confidently say that this, or that, is the cure. The best thing is for all of us to abide by the instructions given by the government and other constituted authorities.”
She also used the opportunity to emphatically submit that there is no connection between the COVID-19 pandemic and 5G network as against the rumour making the rounds.
Prof Odaibo, whose office has been charged by Nigeria Centre For Disease Control (NCDC) to test the people of Oyo, Kwara and Ogun States for COVID-19, said that presently, there is no treatment or vaccine recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) for the disease.
She maintained that those that have been confirmed for the disease are receiving treatment based on the symptom they exhibit, “if it is cough, you manage cough and while some who have not been showing symptoms, the bottom line is that we are advised to eat well, take lots of fruits and vegetables to boost immune systems so as to be able to fight infections.
“In most situations, it is when your immune system is overwhelmed that the individual succumbs and starts to show symptoms of various kinds.
“Why I said we are all learners is because the COVID-19 was reported for the first time in December, and that was about four months ago. There’s still so much that we need to do, there’s a lot of studies that we need to know about it. We are hoping that something will come up in terms of treatment, in terms of vaccine so that we can fight the disease”.
While responding to the possibility of the state government realizing fully its proposed plan to test 10,000 people in the state for COVID-19, Prof. Odaibo said “it is feasible, the duration of the exercise will only depend on the turn out of the people and the number of the people that meet up with the NCDC criteria”.
She pointed out that the Drive in/Walk in rapid test initiative launched by the state governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde to test 2000 is a pointer to the 10,000 proposed plan.
The HOD, who delivered her inaugural lecture in 2019 on the topic, “the same enemy different consequences”, in her background information, described viruses as common enemy to everybody that exposed them.
The elegant-looking Professor also submitted that a virus is a pathogen or organism that is very small and invisible, that cannot be seen even with a light microscope but has to live inside a host, either human, animal, or even plants to survive.
The don disclosed that coronavirus has been in existence for several years when the first case was reported officially. She added that 30 percent of common cold is caused by one strain of coronavirus or the other.
She explained that the level of the virulence of a virus depends on the host, citing the case of COVID-19 as a typical example, which has become a pandemic due to its virulent nature.
Packaged by Kunle Gazali, Olawale Awe and Olaitan Ige
