Scientists at the King’s College London say the list of COVID-19 symptoms should be extended to include fatigue, sore throat, headache and diarrhoea. Researchers say since the signs and symptoms associated with the disease are extensive and overlap with other common viral infections, adding a handful of symptoms to the existing list will lead to the detection of ‘millions’ of unconfirmed COVID-19 cases.

In the United Kingdom, only three symptoms make anyone eligible for COVID-19 test. They are cough, fever and loss of smell. However, the new study, published in the Journal of Infection,

Medical experts have disagreed on the most appropriate COVID-19 vaccine for the country as the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), yesterday, gave emergency use authorisation (EUA) for Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) recently approved Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine for emergency use. The move to use the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine in Nigeria has raised questions on the implications of approving a vaccine that was ineffective in clinical trials against the South African strain.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control has placed Nigeria at ‘moderate risk’ of Ebola outbreak as Guinea battles the contagion. The NCDC made this known via its website, stating that the decision was based on the proximity of Guinea to Nigeria and other West African countries, as well as other indicators.

Guinea experienced outbreak of the Ebola on February 14, and cases and deaths were reported in the N’zerekore region of the country. The cases were detected among seven people who had attended the burial of a nurse on February 1, NCDC said.

Public health experts warn that alcohol consumption is contributing to the increasing incidence of bile duct cancer. They noted that efforts to reduce the risk of the condition affecting many people around the world must include better education on the health effect of alcohol consumption.

The public health physicians, Dr. Kabir Mody and Dr. Ayodele Micheal Adewale stressed that it is now important to educate people around the world about the health danger of alcohol abuse. The experts spoke in relation to the designation of February as Gallbladder and Bile Duct Cancer Awareness Month.

A biotechnology company, INOVIO, says the first participant in Lassa vaccine trial has been dosed in a Phase 1B clinical trial for INO-4500, its DNA vaccine candidate for Lassa fever. The clinical trial is being done in Ghana, the firm says, adding that INOVIO is focused on bringing to market precisely-designed DNA medicines to treat and protect people from infectious diseases and cancer.

The Phase 1B clinical trial (LSV-002), ongoing at the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research in Accra, Ghana, is the first vaccine clinical trial for Lassa Fever to be conducted in West Africa, where the infection is endemic.

A new study suggests that T cells try to fight SARS-CoV-2 by targeting a broad range of sites on the virus beyond the key sites on the virus’s spike protein. T cells are a type of white blood cell known as a lymphocyte.

Lymphocytes protect the body against cancerous cells and cells that have become infected by pathogens, such as bacteria and viruses. T cell lymphocytes develop from stem cells in bone marrow. These immature T cells migrate to the thymus via the blood. The thymus is a lymphatic system gland that functions mainly to promote the development of mature T cells. In fact, the “T ” in T cell lymphocyte stands for thymus derived.

The National Association of Resident Doctors warns that COVID-19 global pandemic is not under control yet in the country, urging continued maintenance of personal protection from the infectious disease. The NARD said that though the situation is better than last December and early January, “it is not yet uhuru.”

The association also disclosed that 725 physicians have so far been infected with COVID-19 while managing patients in several treatment facilities across the country. It added that about 2,573 of its members have been exposed to the virus.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control says that a new variant of COVID-19 has been detected in Nigeria and 15 other countries. The new strain, B.1.2.5, which is different from the highly infectious B.1.1.7 has, however, not been described as a variant of concern yet.

Disclosing this at the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 briefing on Monday in Abuja, NCDC Director-General, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, said that researchers and scientists were still working hard to understand if the variant had any effect on the virus’ transmissibility, immunity, as well as diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics.

The Lagos State Government has deployed a verification platform to validate the authenticity of COVID-19 Polymerase Chain Reaction tests done within the Private Laboratory Consortium and all State Public laboratories for outbound flights. 

In a statement made available to PUNCH HealthWise and signed by the Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, the government said the platform can be accessed through an App and the use Unstructured Supplementary Service Data-codes.

The probability that Africa will achieve HIV testing and condom use targets by 2030 is only 12.1 per cent and 28.5 percent respectively, making the need for more testing and treatment a priority, a modelling study suggests.

The study, published online by HIVr4p, notes that there has been limited progress on  Treatment-as-Prevention [TasP] in Africa and little prospect of reaching global targets for HIV/AIDS elimination.