To better understand the concepts involved with the COVID-19 pandemic, we have created a glossary of some coronavirus terms in Spanish related to the medical sector.

Coronavirus or COVID-19.

These terms are the same in every language, Spanish is not an exception. The coronavirus is a family of viruses that may cause respiratory infection. COVID-19 is just one of these infections brought about by the Coronavirus. Its name is derived from a shortening of the term, coronavirus disease. And it is femenine in Spanish.

Epidemia or pandemia.

Epidemia means epidemic, and it takes place when there occurs a rapid outbreak of a disease within a country, but only for a determined period of time and which affects more people than any other illness.

Therefore pandemia means pandemic, on the other hand, is the propagation of a disease at a global level.

Sanitarios and EPI

Sanitarios are health care workers, the medical and nursing professionals that cure and care for the sick, and whom we applaud every evening from our balconies. These anonymous heroes, instead of capes, wear PPEs.

EPI in Spanish stands for Equipo de Protección Individual. The equivelent in English would be PPE (Personal Protective Equipment), which is the outfit designed to protect the health care worker from infection. It is made up of a gown, respiratory equipment, helmet, mask, goggles, gloves and covering for the feet. Inside all of this we find great dedication with a big smile.

Mascarilla, Ffp2-3 and gel hidroalcóholico

Mascarilla is a mask in English, and it protects the mouth and nose from possible infection while at the same time ensuring that the wearer cannot infect others. There exist different types of masks: hygienic, surgical, home-made, and the ffp2 and ffp3, which are used by professionals, as they filter 92% and 98% of particles in the air.

Logically, gel hidroalcóholico is hydroalcoholic gel and it contains fast-acting high level of alcohol to disinfect in the shortest time possible.

PCR and IgG-IgM

The PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction, Reacción en Cadena de la Polimerasa in Spanish) is a test which takes a sample of mucus from our nasal passage and pharynx in order to determine the existence or otherwise of the COVID-19 virus.

The IgG-IgM is a blood sample test that measures the level of antibody presence that the immune system has produced to fight an infection. Both an IgG and an IgM positive result indicate that the patient has recovered from the illness and now possesses antibodies to fight off future infection.

Antibióticos y antivirales and vacuna.

Antibióticos or Antibiotics in English are medicine designed to fight against bacterial infection. They are therefore an ineffective remedy against the COVID-19, as it is a virus.

Antivirales mean antiviral drugs, meanwhile, are used for the treatment of infectious diseases caused by viruses.

A vaccine is vacuna in Spanish, it is a substance made up of microorganisms that are injected into the patient in order to bring about the generation of antibodies against a certain illness.

Curva de contagio and pico.

Curva de contagio or the contagion curve measures the speed at which a virus spreads, plotting the number of cases of a disease which arise over time. When the number of infections falls and the number of patients that have recovered rises, a peak is reached, at which point the contagion curve levels out.

El pico de contagios or the peak of contagion is the moment at which a country, region or city reaches its highest number of cases.

To be continued….

Photo by Glen Carrie on Unsplash