There was an outbreak of a strain of the Coronavirus in China, and faster than anyone could comprehend, it spread to the whole world, taking the form of a pandemic and bringing the whole world to its knees.
Even though most people experience mild symptoms, such as low-grade fever, weakness, and shortness of breath, it might become deadly and fatal in a few by attacking the respiratory system and even causing kidney failure, leading to death. For all these reasons, it is important for people to follow standard operating procedures (SOPs), like social distancing and wearing masks and gloves.
Treatment options
There is no specific treatment available for Covid-19 and most people’s symptoms go away on their own after a time. However, you can do the same things for COVID that you do for the flu. Basically, whether you beat this virus or not depends on how strong your immune systems are, and to combat successfully, it is important you have good immunity. Hence, you can take food and supplements at home that boost your overall immunity, such as Vitamin C supplements, as well as a healthy diet, rich in proteins, fiber, and other important nutrients. Be sure to take lots of vegetables and fruits, as these foods are rich in nutrients very important to boost immunity. Also, drink lots of water and take Calcium supplements. You could also take Surbex to stay healthier.
Make sure to get as much rest as possible, take steam if you have a sore throat, avoid any tiring tasks, and get proper sleep.
A few drugs have been approved for COVID patients having increased severity of symptoms, such as azithromycin and remdesivir. You can do a 5-day course of azithromycin either for prophylaxis purposes or if you have symptoms. Currently, other antivirals are also being tested so that they can be used against COVID.
At present, there is no vaccine for COVID 19, but efforts are constantly being made to make an effective vaccine that can help eliminate or at least reduce the severity of COVID symptoms. Any vaccine that is made is going to be tested through clinical trials.
For now, those listed above are the most effective mode of treatment. However, severe corona patients can be given plasma from infected patients. However, no one still knows if this is even effective or not.
COVID testing
There are two types of COVID testing methods available. One is a diagnostic PCR test and the other is an antibody test. The diagnostic PCR test tells you whether you have COVID at present. A swab of your nose or throat is taken and then analyzed to see the presence of the coronavirus.
The antibody test tells you whether you had COVID in the past as it shows antibodies produced by your body to the virus. This test is a blood test and 2 types of antibodies are assessed, mainly IgM and IgG, of which one is produced by the body early on in the infection and the latter is produced to give long-term immunity.
Both of these methods require effective testing skills and instruments. Hence, it is important that labs possess the right and high-quality material for the testing. One such important thing is pipette tops.
Different types of pipette tips
With the Coronavirus constantly looming on our heads, it is important for labs to ensure that correct testing is done and that sample is not contaminated in any way and gives as much of an accurate result as possible. And lots of things need to be considered while doing that. One important thing is the pipette.
There are many different kinds of pipettes available. Here we have listed down a few of them and their uses.
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Filter and non-filter tips
What is the difference between filter tips and non-filter tips? Well, filter tips are made for use in specific tests. If the sample you need to pipette can damage the pipette due to its corrosive nature or is volatile or too viscous, it is better to use a filter pipette tip. It is also a good option for lab technicians that have just joined or are new at all this, as it helps them to prevent contamination of the sample.
It is important that a high-quality filter tip is used for the best results. Filter tips are very effective in PCR testing, as the filter forms a barrier and helps prevent the contamination of the PCR sample.
Non-filter tips lack all of these advantages but can be easily used for samples that have a lesser chance of being contaminated, and samples that do not pose a risk to the pipette. If you are working in a lab for many years and are experienced and know what you are doing, you will probably be able to work easily with a non-filter tip as well.
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Low retention tips
What these tips do can easily be guessed by their name, as in, these tips retain a lesser amount of fluid. If you have been working in a lab for a while, you have probably noticed that when you work with and use standard pipette tips, there is quite a bit of fluid that is left even after dispensing. However, the surfaces of low retention tips consist of a hydrophobic plastic additive, which prevents any sample from adhering or getting stuck to the inner part of the tips.
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Ergonomic tips
When you work with a pipette, you apply different forces in order to take or release the sample, such as insertion and ejection forces. Constant use of the pipette causes these forces to be applied repetitively over long periods of time and can hence cause repetitive stress injury or RSI, for short. Keeping this in mind, there is now a different kind of tip being manufactured by the companies, called ergonomic tips. These tips possess features that decrease the overall force that is needed to perform any task. Hence, ergonomic tips last longer and are more cost-effective and efficient in the longer run.
