'I'll be more scared of tuberculosis and measles than COVID-19'.

This online interview was conducted in the early days of the new coronavirus outbreak so what appears in text as COVID-19 was actually originally nCoV in e-mail exchanges between Dr. Maria Rhona M. Gatpandan-Bergantin and INQUIRER.net.

Dr. Bergantin is a specialist in infectious diseases who has a master's degree in Science. While she holds clinic and teaches at the University of Sto. Tomas, she is in this discussion about COVID-19 as a member of the Philippine Society for Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.

Dr. Bergantin's discussion of COVID-19 offers some insights from the perspective of a Filipino private health professional and could be useful in providing a calm narration of how to respond to the disease.

INQUIRER.net: It is now widely known that there is no cure or vaccine yet for COVID-19 but since there are existing vaccines against pneumonia, will these or can these provide protection for those who had the vaccines or those who planned to have them against COVID-19, particularly if its end result is pneumonia? I ask the question on the basis of information that pneumonia is one of the most likely result of the new coronavirus .

DR. RHONA M. GATPANDAN-BERGANTIN: Setting things straight, when we talk about infectious pneumonia, which is the inflammation of the lungs brought about by infectious agents, commonly bacteria or virus (as there are also some parasites, fungus and even non-infectious causes of pneumonia), we speak of various pathogens which can gain entry into the lungs.

Among the more common bacteria are Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae and Staphylococcus aureus. Bacterial pneumonia is not limited to these organisms as there are a lot of other bacteria which can cause the infection.

Among the viruses, we have a number of organisms which attach and invade the respiratory tree, including rhinoviruses, parainfluenza, influenza and coronaviruses. Again, like the bacteria, there are a lot more of other viruses which cause pneumonia.

Now going back to the vaccines, for the common causes of bacterial pneumonia, we have pneumococcal (streptococcal) and Haemophilus influenzae vaccines which are recommended for children. In selected population of adults, pneumococcal vaccines are given but the Haemophilus is not part of the current recommendations. Among the viruses, influenza virus vaccine is recommended for both children and adult.

Can having either the bacterial vaccine or viral vaccine or both, be protective against COVID-19? The answer is a resounding NO, because there are no vaccines yet against coronaviruses, whether the old coronaviruses nor the new ones.

But, if you have vaccines against streptococcus, haemophilus and influenza and you get these bacteria and virus in your lungs while you are also infected with COVID-19, to some extent, you are protected from developing the streptococcal, haemophilus or influenza pneumonia which may cause co-infection or complicate the coronavirus infection.

Also to set things straight with regards to the nature of these organisms, it doesn't mean that once they enter a person's body, that person will automatically have pneumonia. If the person's immune system is quite robust, the body can get rid of these organisms quite fast in such a way that there are people who may not have any symptoms, some may have mild disease which can manifest as cough or colds or even sore-throat, muscle and joint pains without lung involvement, while some really develop pneumonia.

Q: Aware that several vaccine types against pneumonia are being compared on the basis of...