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Interviews | Dr D Nageshwar Reddy, Chairperson of the Asian Institute of Gastroenterology and Padma Bhushan recipient, interviewed by GS Vasu (The New Indian Express)
Dr D Nageshwar Reddy, Chairperson of the Asian Institute of Gastroenterology and Padma Bhushan recipient, interviewed by GS Vasu (The New Indian Express)

Dr D Nageshwar Reddy, Chairperson of the Asian Institute of Gastroenterology and Padma Bhushan recipient, interviewed by GS Vasu (The New Indian Express)

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published Published on Mar 29, 2020   modified Modified on Apr 4, 2020

-The New Indian Express

In a chat with The New Indian Express Editor GS Vasu, the internationally renowned medical expert shares two key findings that give India reason to hope.

HYDERABAD: At a time of paranoia and panic over how long this corona-fuelled lockdown may stretch, internationally-renowned medical expert Dr D Nageshwar Reddy has good news. "This is something we can easily conquer. There’s no need to panic,” he says, while adding that the current lockdown “should not prolong beyond 3-4 weeks”.

In a chat with The New Indian Express Editor GS Vasu, the Hyderabad-based gastroenterologist, who was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2016 and who currently serves as the Chairman of the Asian Institute of Gastroenterology, shares two key findings that give India reason to hope  - one emerging from a study on genome sequencing and another from research on the impact of temperature on the virus. He also elaborates on why he abhors the term social distancing and how staying positive could prove vital. Excerpts:   

* GS Vasu: You have studied the origin of the virus and the way it has spread. What, in your view, is the risk to India?

Dr N Reddy: If you look at its history, the virus originated sometime in the middle of December in China at a live seafood market and then spread to the Wuhan area. From the Wuhan area, it travelled to Western countries like Italy, the USA and Europe. With a lag of about two or three weeks, it came from these areas to India, indirectly. So, we had a gap of three or four weeks to study this virus.

Coronavirus is an RNA virus. This particular strain seems to be in bats but whether it directly came from the bat or not, we are still not sure. A small mutation occurred which allowed it to get transmitted from bats to humans. But the most important thing is that when this virus spread to say Italy or the US or to India, the genotypes of this virus turned out to be different. Sequencing of the whole virus has been done in four countries — the first in the USA, second in Italy, third in China and fourth in India.

What they are finding is that this virus has a different genome sequencing in India compared to say Italy. This has a lot of significance because in the Indian virus, there is a single mutation occuring in the spike protein of the genome. Spike protein is the area that attaches to the human cell. One small mutation has happened, making that attachment weak. So, this will become an important factor for us in India.

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Image Courtesy: The New Indian Express


The New Indian Express, 29 Marc, 2020, https://www.newindianexpress.com/lifestyle/health/2020/mar/29/no-need-to-panic-covid-19-is-something-we-can-easily-conquer-medical-expert-dr-d-nageshwar-reddy-2123093.html?fbclid=IwAR2_8JwttmzMAz82TMr_o6i5dIoToNoJElG


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