Doctor reveals if symptoms are more severe depending on if virus enters through nose, mouth or eyes

Photo illustration: Tanjug/AP/NIAID-RML, Youtube/RTV Mars HD Valjevo

In a conversation with Telegraf, Dr. Branimir Nestorovic commented on the claims by some media that "Kawasaki syndrome has arrived in Serbia" and explained that this is not something new.

Recommended

"Kawasaki appears every year. In my department alone we have one or two cases a month. It is not known exactly what causes it, mostly a virus, and since it is now coronavirus time, they immediately linked it to that. Spring and autumn are the seasons when Kawasaki appears as a reaction to various types of viruses. It presents symptoms of a viral infection, after which inflammation of the blood vessels develops. It's quite easy to treat if it's detected in time," Dr. Nestorovic explained.

We were also interested in whether there is a difference if coronavirus enters the body through the nose and mouth or through the eyes. Can the way the virus enters the mucous membrane at all dictate the severity of the disease?

"The difference is in the amount of the causative agent, it enters the nose much more because the receptors are primarily in the nose. The amount is important, that is why coronavirus is not so dangerous now, because on one hand it has weakened, on the other, the amount is smaller. Fewer people are sick, the sunlight is stronger," he explained.

However, Dr. Nestorovic decided to share with us one exclusive news concerning the results of an Australian study.

"The day before yesterday, the Australians reported that the virus was of artificial origin. A group of scientists, led by Professor Petrovsky, investigated how the virus binds to various types of cells. It binds best to human cells. Much less so to others. So, the story that it crossed over from animals falls through. It is completely clear that it is artificial, but the question remains who made it," he stressed.

Accordingly, we asked him if he believed the results of a Chinese study that said the virus can also survive in the air.

"That is difficult to say because only the RNA of the virus is proven. It could be dead, and we're proving its RNA. In order to prove something like that, we would have to inject that sample that was found in the air into an animal or a human and see if infection occurs. So the Koreans clarified that story of whether the virus could come back again. No, the virus remains inside us, but it is inactive and can show up in a test and thus create confusion. It also stays in the air, on objects, for 10-15 days, but it is no longer vital, that's the point," Dr. Nestorovic concluded his conversation with Telegraf.

(Tara Tomovic/Telegraf.rs)