Dr S Ranganathan

Microbiology and basic science were terribly missing in our understanding about novel coronavirus in India, from the beginning.   It looks like, the pandemic has been totally contracted to medical fraternity to deal and we have mixed both COVID 19 and novel coronavirus as porridge or jelly.   Further such mixing has been done predominantly by our policy makers and medical fraternity, microbiology appears to have lost even its toe hold space from the game.   The article of Gavin M Joynt, William KK Wu published under the title “ Understanding COVID-19: what does viral RNA load really mean?” i n The Lancet 2020 has opened the Pandora box of our panic and ignorance in reacting and doing everything; mostly what is not necessary.   The national level lockdown could have been avoided and other pragmatic measures could have been taken to address the pandemic. Today the world has adopted PCR based screening method to detect coronavirus positivity. The PCR detects the vira

When we run and gallop from pillar to post to contain the fast spreading viral pandemic with the conscious surrender to the notion that molecular biology and PCR based research alone shall answer, we may soon come back to the drawing board in search of observation based solutions or shall start to read the famous essay – ‘on doing nothing’ written by JB Priestley.   We need to solve the problem aggressively when the problem reaches pandemic proportion but the solution shall not sustain if we fail to understand the problem from the realm of evolution or its origin.    No effect can come into existence without a cause; it is otherwise called as “Ex nihilo nihil fit” . Today the Context may not be ripe or appropriate for such questions, but the question is extremely important, relevant and every scientist must ask. The purpose of the article; some would call it an essay, is only meant to open the inner eye (s) of those who have it and not to meddle with our combat against

“Fear not waves in the sea, but mind leaks in your vessel” Time has come India must show courage and conviction to revoke the senseless and meaningless lockdown to save humanity from hunger and unemployment pandemic.  The non-nucleated fear (fear without any scientific substance) spreads faster than the virus and does more harm to our country than the poor virus. From the evolutionary perspective no pathogen can target all races of humans in all geography, all age and gender group, barring all climatic conditions……….   Always we are trained and tutored to view the term ‘pathogen’ only with fear and caution.  We associate the term pathogenicity or infectivity only to the pathogen or the infective agent and consider our susceptibility factor (s), the least.  If we take measures thinking the pathogen is pathogenic by excluding the core susceptibility factor (s), we cannot win such war ever in our lifetime. It would be like to prevent Tsunami, we are attempting to dr

We need to dwell more into the evolutionary theories associated with endemic, epidemic and the medically coined term called pandemic in the present context; instead of we running after novel coronavirus to stop it from spreading or we attempt to escape from the virus that is chasing us multi-dimensionally.   Encounter, not escape is the way. Even if we have to believe the ancestor of novel coronavirus is the one that found in bat and pangolin, still it tells the same story that novel coronavirus cannot be eliminated from our society because it has not yet identified its definite host or it may be on its way to become extinct.   The theory around the origin of novel corona from bat, the host-shift and rapid spread of the virus in pandemic proportion among people all over the world clearly suggests that both the ‘social gene’ of the virus and the anxiety & restlessness of the virus to establish its terminal host may be in all probability causing great concern to huma

Blame none; develop endure all threshold; that alone the people of India can practice today.   Because by blaming Modi Indians cannot achieve anything and Indians may have to live inside the lockdown chamber, may be till 2024.   Blaming Modi is equal to blaming our destiny because WE the people of India only elected him with astounding majority for the second time to the play the emotional game called lockdown; for our safety.   Novel coronavirus is reported to mutate fast and hence a vaccine to develop against such fast mutating virus is not that easy.   Further the fast mutation of the virus also helps the virus to escape the immunity.   From the evolutionary standpoint, the virus may be mutating rapidly because it has not yet identified and equilibrated its host.   The host-virus harmony has not happened. According to the observation of WHO, asymptomatic carriers of the virus are less infective than symptomatic carriers and those fully infected individuals or CO

Bombs after bombs, WHO has been shelling at the world about novel coronavirus and COVID 19 thanks to the privilege it enjoys over the virus that WHO has cleverly named as novel coronavirus with the prefix ‘novel’. The term ‘novel’ means new, it means, the virus is new to me, new to you and new to everyone.   Therefore every day, every hour and every second our policy makers can release different, contradictory and new statements with brave face that they are continuously learning about the virus and hence updating the world. The latest bomb is that those people who recovered from either coronavirus positivity or from COVID 19 are equally susceptible like anyone in the community to re-infection.   https://www.timesnownews.com/india/article/as-global-covid-19-death-toll-nears-200000-who-says-no-evidence-that-recovered-patients-are-immune/583038 WHO is quite right that no substantial evidence is available now with WHO to suggest that those who are already infected are n