A General Physician with Isolo General Hospital Lagos, Dr. Olumuyiwa Akinola, has alerted that there is a dramatic increase in hypertension prevalence among older Nigerian adults. Akinola disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Thursday in Lagos. He decried the increase saying there was particularly a prevalence of systolic hypertension in older adults.

According to him, studies show that the prevalence in adults aged 65 to 94 years is 73.8 percent, translating to 3 out of 4 older adults having high blood pressure. He added that the age-standardised prevalence of hypertension is slightly higher in men than women and increases with age.

The Director-General, World Health Organisation, Tedros Ghebreyesus, has called for more commitment from member states to end Tuberculosis as COVID-19 continued to impact TB care globally. Ghebreyesus made the call in his remarks at the high-level event: “Global drive to scale up TB prevention’’ on Wednesday.

In his speech on the WHO website, the director-general said an estimated 1.4 million fewer people received care for TB in 2020, which is 21 percent less than in 2019; this disruption could cause an additional half a million deaths.

Scientists at Oxford University in the United Kingdom are testing combinations of the two-dose COVID-19 vaccines made by AstraZeneca, Moderna, Novavax and Pfizer-BioNTech. According to a report published by AP, smaller trials on the mixing of COVID-19 vaccines are also ongoing in Spain and Germany.

So far, limited data suggests an AstraZeneca vaccine followed by the Pfizer vaccine seems safe and effective, researchers are, however, still gathering data to be sure, AP reported. The combination also appears to come with a slightly higher likelihood of temporary side effects like aches and chills.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on Tuesday donated one million dollars worth of medical equipment to the Nigerian government. Speaking at a ceremony organised to hand the pieces of equipment over to the federal government, the Saudi Ambassador to Nigeria, Faisal Ebraheem, said the donation was to affirm the Kingdom’s commitment to enhancing the relations between both countries.

He added that the gesture would go a long way toward strengthening the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. “This is in order to combat the ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the medical equipment includes 23 ventilators, which are a key component in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

A new study by researchers at the University of Minnesota is assessing whether COVID-19 vaccines protect people with compromised immune systems — a key group excluded from vaccine clinical trials. 

While evidence shows COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness in the general population, there is little known about how the vaccines work in people with HIV or those taking immune-suppressing drugs as part of their cancer care or organ transplants, said Dr. Amy Karger, a lead investigator of the U study, as reported by Star Tribune. “We really need to dig deeper and look at these groups, where we know they have something that could be impairing their ability to mount an immune response,” she said.

No fewer than 289 cholera deaths have been recorded in the country between January and June. This was disclosed by the Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, in a statement on Monday. Ihekweazu said the NCDC had activated a multi-sectoral National Cholera Emergency Operations Centre, following an increase in cholera cases across the country.

He said, “Since the beginning of the year, 10,833 suspected cholera cases have been reported with 112 confirmed cases and 289 deaths in 2021. In the last one month, an increasing number of cholera cases has been reported across the country.

A medical practitioner, Dr. Chinonso Egemba, says drinking a lot of alcohol within a short period can lead to sudden heart failure and death. Dr. Egemba, who is popularly known as ‘Aproko Doctor’ noted that the liver can only process about one unit of alcohol per hour. The physician stated that a can of beer contains about two units of alcohol.

The doctor was reacting to a viral video of a man who reportedly died after gulping a bottle of spirit alcohol in a competition, via his Instagram handle @aproko_doctor.  He said, “This man drank a whole bottle of spirit for a bet and died shortly after. Drinking a lot of alcohol within a short period is very risky and could kill you. “Your liver can only process roughly one unit of alcohol per hour, a can of beer is roughly two units. Don’t try this at all.”

President, Nigerian Association of Nephrology, Professor Fatiu Arogundade, says Nigeria can only boast of only about 250 active nephrologists for its estimated 200 million population. This is a far cry from, at least, 120,000 nephrologists that should serve the population.

Speaking in an interview with PUNCH HealthWise, Arogundade, who is a Professor of Medicine and a Consultant Nephrologist, said there is a need for more nephrologists in the country to improve the nephrologist-patient ratio and increase the survival rate among patients with kidney disease. 

Medical experts say the fear of litigation and patients’ demand are among the major factors influencing the rising incidence of caesarean section in the world. 

The experts, President, Society of Gynaecology and Obstetrics of Nigeria, Prof. Oluwarotimi Akinola; and the Chairman, Lagos State chapter of SOGON, Dr. Joseph Akinde said that safety concerns also influence the decision to perform CS, rather than aim for vaginal birth.

Nutrition experts say iodine deficiency during pregnancy could have a devastating impact on babies in the womb and also delay their growth after they are born. According to the experts, it is important for pregnant women to avoid having iodine deficiency as it can cause sluggishness, deafness and impaired neurological conditions in children.

Also, according to the World Health Organisation, severe iodine deficiency in pregnancy can lead to maternal and foetal hypothyroidism.