Frontpage News (3249)
COVID-19 nasal spray trial gains attention as vaccine use continues
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As the world seeks various solutions and interventions to halt the spread of COVID-19, experts say developing nasal spray vaccine against the viral infection will be economical and easier to administer, especially in the developing countries.
An Ear, Nose and Throat Surgeon at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Kwara State, Prof. Adekunle Dunmade, told PUNCH HealthWise that having nasal spray vaccine against COVID-19 has lots of advantages.
This is the detail of COVID-19 Health Protection Regulations 2021, as signed into law by the President, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (retd). Defaulers risk a fine or six-month jail terms, says Secretary to Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha.
It is titled: CORONAVIRUS DISEASE (COVID-19) HEALTH PROTECTION REGULATIONS 2021. In the exercise of the powers conferred upon me by Section 4 of the Quarantine Act, Cap. Q2 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2010 and all other powers enabling me in that behalf;
How to curb neglected tropical diseases, according to WHO
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The World Health Organisation has called for multi sectoral actions to beat neglected tropical diseases. Neglected tropical diseases include buruli ulcer, chagas disease, cysticercosis, dengue fever and dracunculiasis (Guinea worm disease).
Others are echinococcosis, fascioliasis, human African trypanosomiasis (African sleeping sickness). leishmaniasis and leprosy. The remainder are lymphatic filariasis, mycetoma, onchocerciasis, rabies, schistosomiasis, soil-transmitted helminths and trachoma.
Over 44,000 children below the age of five years have been immunised in Gabasawa Local Government Area of Kano for the January round of the Immunisation Plus Days. Alhaji Sani Dawaki, the Primary Health Care Coordinator in the area revealed this on Wednesday during the evening review meeting at Gabasawa, Kano.
The coordinator attributed the success of the exercise to the efforts of the District Head of the area, the Fulani leaders as well as Ward Heads who mobilised their subjects. In his comments, the District Head of the area, Alhaji Sani Dawaki, called on health workers to put more efforts to ensure a polio-free Kano.
24-year-old student develops breast cancer screening device
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A 24-year-old student from Spain, Judit Giró Benet, has developed a home-testing kit for breast cancer. Benet came up with the idea following her mother’s diagnosis of breast cancer. She had realised the need for a more accessible test for the disease, reports say.
Her invention — The Blue Box — fetched her the top prize for the 2020 James Dyson Award. However, a former President of the Nigerian Cancer Society, Prof. Sani Malami, said though a very commendable effort, the device is still a long way from being recommended as a screening or diagnostic tool for cancer of the breast, because it has not been clinically validated in a clinical trial.
Consecutive drop in new global COVID-19 cases encouraging, says WHO
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The number of new COVID-19 cases globally has fallen for the third week in a row, the World Health Organisation reported on Monday. The global health agency, however, urged countries not to let up efforts to defeat the disease.
“There are still many countries with increasing numbers of cases, but at the global level, this is encouraging news”, said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, speaking during the agency’s bi-weekly briefing from Geneva.
Why people test positive after taking COVID-19 vaccine -Report
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Some people in the United States have tested positive after obtaining the COVID-19 vaccine, reports say. The New York Times says at least three members of Congress, a Hall of Fame basketball coach, and a nurse in California had all tested positive after obtaining the vaccine.
Reacting, experts say cases like these are not surprising and do not indicate that there was something wrong with the vaccines or how they were administered. They explained that, to start with, vaccines don’t work instantly.
The United Nations says the continuous destruction of wetlands around the world is a threat to global water availability. According to the UN, prompt proactive global actions are now needed to stop indiscriminate wetland destruction to avert serious global water availability challenge in coming years.
The UN stated this in a post posted on its official Twitter handle @UN on Monday to commemorate the 2021 UN World Wetland Day. The UN World Wetland Day is marked every February 2. It is used to call attention to the challenges facing wetland around the world.
Scientists diagnose prostate cancer using artificial intelligence to analyse urine sample
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A team of scientists from the Biomaterials Research Centre at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology and the Asan Medical Centre in South Korea has developed a new technique that detects prostate cancer in patients with almost 100 percent accuracy within 20 minutes, using urine sample and artificial intelligence.
The current method of diagnosing prostate cancer, the most common type of cancer in men, is typically invasive if physicians must get a decent accuracy rate. In the study, published December 2020 online in the ACS Nano, the team of scientists developed a technique that diagnosed prostate cancer using urine samples and an artificial intelligence analysis system within 20 minutes.
Experts develop skin patch that delivers COVID-19 vaccine through microneedles
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Researchers at Swansea University in the United Kingdom say they are developing the world’s first smart vaccine device that will both deliver the COVID-19 vaccine and measure its efficacy through monitoring the body’s associated response.
The research, from the Institute for Innovative Materials, Processing and Numerical Technologies, will produce the vaccine through the use of microneedles to create a ‘smart-patch’. This device will simultaneously measure a patient’s inflammatory response to the vaccination by monitoring biomarkers in the skin.
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Consider Ivermectin for COVID-19 management, physicians tell Lagos govt
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Two medical practitioners on Thursday called on the Lagos State Government to urgently approve the use of Ivermectin for COVID-19 management. They are a former Chairman, Association of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria, Dr. Tunji Akintade; and public health expert, Dr. Femi Ogunremi.
The experts made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Thursday in Lagos.
Gbagada COVID-19 isolation centre to become fee-paying facility -Sanwo-Olu
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Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu says the Lagos Government is making efforts to transform the state-owned isolation centre in Gbagada into a fee-paying facility that people could elect to be treated at. The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Sanwo-Olu made this known on Sunday in a statement in which he updated residents on the management of COVID-19 in the state.
He said that the decision was due to the growing clamour by patients and families that are willing to pay for COVID-19 treatment, but would like to do so at a cost that is lower than what currently obtains in private facilities.
Lagos records 285 AIDS-related deaths, 8,385 new HIV cases in six months
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The Lagos State AIDS Control Agency says an estimated 285 Persons Living With HIV/AIDS died in the first two quarters of 2020. The agency also disclosed that the state recorded about 8,385 fresh infections, with Eti Osa, Epe and Ikeja leading the pack of local governments with the highest prevalence rates.
According to the World Health Organisation, HIV continues to be a major global public health issue, having killed almost 33 million people so far. However, with increasing access to effective HIV prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care, including for opportunistic infections,
‘Ventilators, surgical interventions for cancer patients converted to COVID-19 treatment’
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A professor of Radiation Medicine at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu, Prof. Ifeoma Okoye, says the attention being accorded COVID-19 pandemic is robbing cancer patients of access to quality treatment.
Okoye says some oncology facilities, ventilators and other surgical interventions meant for cancer patients have been converted for COVID-19 treatment.
