A Consultant Ophthalmologist at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Prof. Bola Adekoya, says congenital blindness can be caused by genetic defect, and is a condition common in consanguineous marriage — that is, a union between individuals who are closely related.

The renowned glaucoma specialist, who heads the Ophthalmology Department of LASUTH,

Lagos Commissioner of Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, says the state is experiencing lesser COVID-19-related deaths, even as the infection rate continues to rise. He attributed the reason for the reduced fatalities to the knowledge acquired so far in the management of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He also noted that a sizeable number of young people are testing positive for the virus in the state; even as he disclosed that Lagos has amplified its testing capacity to 3,000 people per day. Abayomi made this known on a live radio programme on Wednesday while analysing the ‘huge strides’ made by the Lagos government at curbing the spread of the virus in the state.

The World Health Organisation says cancer is now a leading cause of death for children, noting that more than 400,000 children and adolescent of zero to 19 years are diagnosed with cancer each year. 

WHO, however, stated that most childhood cancers can be cured, disclosing that cancer deaths in children have been due to late diagnosis and lack of access to affordable treatment and supportive care for patients. It noted that the most common types of childhood cancers include leukemias, brain cancers, lymphomas and solid tumours, such as neuroblastoma and Wilms tumours.

United States researchers say they have discovered seven new variants of COVID-19. They noted that the newly discovered variants could be more transmissible. In the study, published online in medRxiv, the researchers said that while it is still unclear if the strains are more contagious, they are concerned the seven new virus mutations were in the same genetic letter.

The study states that, “Independent genomic surveillance programmess based in New Mexico and Louisiana contemporaneously detected the rapid rise of numerous clade 20G (lineage B.1.2) infections carrying a Q677P substitution in S.

Over five million abortions have been committed globally between January 1 and this moment, according to Worldometer. According to the reference website, since the dawn of this day alone, over 43,000 abortions have been committed. Worldometer, formerly Worldometers, is a reference website that provides counters and real-time statistics for diverse topics.

It is owned and operated by a Chinese data company Dadax which generates revenue through online advertising. Dadax says the data on abortion as displayed on Worldometers is based on the latest statistics published by the World Health Organisation.

A retired Chief Research Fellow at the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Yaba Lagos, Dr. Dan Onwujekwe, says steam inhalation cannot cure COVID-19. According to him, steam inhalation has no antiviral effect but only improves elimination of waste products in the body.

Onwujekwe disclosed this while reacting to a post by the World Health Organisation Regional Office for Africa, which states that steam inhalation is not a cure for COVID-19. WHO-AFRO, via its official Twitter handle @WHOAFRO, said, “Steam inhalation is not a cure for COVID-19. It may even cause serious burns.”

Four leading international health and humanitarian organisations have announced the establishment of a global Ebola vaccine stockpile to ensure outbreak response. The four organisations are the World Health Organisation, United Nations Children’s Fund, Médecins Sans Frontières [Doctors Without Borders], and International Federation of Red Cross.

An initial 6,890 doses of the Ebola vaccines are now available for outbreak response, with further quantities to be delivered into the stockpile throughout 2021 and beyond, the announcement stated.

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control has approved Oxford/AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine for the management of the pandemic in Nigeria. The World Health Organisation had recently approved the vaccine for emergency use.

The Director-General of NAFDAC, Dr. Mojisola Adeyeye, made the announcement during a live briefing on Thursday [today]. She said that the vaccine can be stored at between +2°C to +8°C. 

A Consultant Oral and Maxillofacial surgeon, Prof. Wasiu Adeyemo, on Wednesday says many of the doctors who tested positive for COVID-19 did not contract the infection from their respective workplaces.

Rather, he said, most of the confirmed cases, especially those witnessed in secondary and tertiary hospitals across the country, had been discovered to have happened outside healthcare facilities. Adeyemo, an associate professor at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos, stated this during the Circum Vent training of health workers organised on Wednesday by the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research.

Higher consumption of caffeinated coffee has been associated with reduced risk of heart failure later in life, a study suggests. The review of diet data from three major studies, using analytic tools from the American Heart Association, stated that decaffeinated coffee is not associated with reduced risk of heart failure, however.

The review is titled, ‘Association Between Coffee Intake and Incident Heart Failure Risk.’ Coronary heart disease, heart failure, and stroke are among the top causes of death attributable to cardiovascular disease globally. Heart failure occurs when a weakened heart fails to supply the body’s cells with enough blood to get the oxygen needed to keep the body functioning properly.