It is always a tense moment when health and science intersect, especially when it involves a global pandemic like Covid-19. A medical-professor luminary from the revered Faculty of Medicine at Chulalongkorn University has recently disclosed quite alarming data relating to the unseen aftermath of Covid-19 infection— the heightened risk of developing the ominous condition of diabetes.
The eminent Dr. Thira Woratanarat lent his expert commentary on research that was first unveiled on the bustling online scholarly platform, medRxiv.org, last week. Echoing the findings of the research, the professor uncovered the broad strokes of where the correlations between Covid-19 and the risk of developing diabetes were found.
15 million individuals in the United Kingdom lay at the heart of the study, forming a considerable sample size from which to draw reliable conclusions. According to the elucidating revelations from the research, which the good doctor shared on the world’s largest social media platform, Facebook, Covid-19 exposes patients to a 24% increased risk of developing Type-2 diabetes in comparison to those who have escaped its viral clutches.
Quite unsettlingly, the study highlighted that patients’ health circumstances at the time of Covid-19 infection played a considerable role in the chance of diabetes onset. Dr. Thira noted that patients who experienced severe symptomatic distress from the virus that warranted hospital admission were threefold more likely to succumb to diabetes compared to their healthier counterparts in the populace not exposed to the virus.
Even those with milder symptoms did not escape the ripple effects of the virus. Those lucky enough to experience only mild symptoms now face a 10% escalated likelihood of developing Type-2 diabetes later in life.
Alarmingly enough, those who received their vaccine shots are not completely insulated from this startling revelation. According to the study, individuals who contracted the virus post-vaccination are also at an elevated risk of developing Type-2 diabetes.
Given this fascinating yet disconcerting correlation between Covid-19 and diabetes, the prudent Dr. Thira advises individuals to include Type-2 diabetes screening in their annual health check-ups as a proactive measure against this latent aftereffect of the virus.
Moving away from the research implications and reflecting upon the current on-ground reality of Covid-19, data from Thailand’s Department of Disease Control rivets attention on the alarming statistics. As of August 12th, the department reported a whapping count of 31,843 new Covid cases within the year, resulting in a tragic toll of 775 lives.
While the pandemic continues its relentless march, the ray of hope manifesting as the Covid-19 vaccination drive continues with full force. Thailand has fervently administered over a staggering 144 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine since the outset of the pandemic. The statistics narrate a tale of collective defense, with over 57 million receiving their first dose, 53 million completing their second, and almost 34 million going the extra mile to receive their third dose of the vaccine.
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