Frontpage News (3256)
The African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases at the Redeemer’s University Nigeria, Ede, Osun State, says the strain of COVID-19 currently ravaging India has been detected in Osun and Edo states.
The virus is the same as India’s strain, but different in characteristics, says ACEGID researcher, Prof. Christian Hapi. This is even as renowned professor of Virology, Oyewale Tomori,
Why Nigeria should be worried about India’s COVID-19 variant –Researcher
Site Admin
A healthcare research scientist, Dr. Oladipo Kolawole, says Nigeria should be worried about the ongoing COVID-19 crisis in India, noting that the country must do whatever is necessary to prevent the importation of the Indian variant.
Speaking with PUNCH HealthWise on Tuesday, Kolawole, who is a lecturer at the Adeleke University, Ede, Osun State, said Nigeria must step up surveillance activities to ensure that new COVID-19 variants are not imported into the country,
Deworming pregnant women reduces neonatal death, low birth weight
Site Admin
Deworming pregnant women can reduce the risk of neonatal mortality and odds of low birthweight in countries with soil-transmitted helminthiasis, a new study has revealed
The study, jointly carried out by researchers from the Syracuse University and SUNY Upstate Medical University, New York, and the World Health Organisation, was published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, a peer-reviewed, open-access scientific journal. Based on findings from the study, the researchers called for an increased global effort towards the distribution of deworming medicine for pregnant women, noting that the benefits far outweigh the costs.
Why wearing tight clothes in pregnancy isn’t worth the trouble
Site Admin
Maternal health experts have decried the rate at which pregnant women wear tight-fitting clothes, especially among young mothers, saying it could have adverse effects on their health and, possible, that of their unborn babies.
Experts say that the womb does not grow out of the pelvis until 12 weeks of pregnancy and most women will still get away with wearing their normal clothes until then.
The global fight against COVID-19 pandemic last week received a boost with the approval of Chinese-made Sinopharm COVID19 vaccine by the World Health Organisation. The approval, experts say, will give more countries access to COVID-19 vaccines.
Describing the approval as a positive development, experts say it would scale up COVID-19 vaccination in the African region, as many African countries have barely moved beyond the starting line.
Lagos announces new vaccination strategy to prevent COVID-19 third wave
Site Admin
The Lagos State Government says it is deploying a new vaccination strategy to prevent COVID-19 third wave in the state. The state’s Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi disclosed this during a press briefing on Wednesday. According to Abayomi, Lagos was deploying what he described as “a ring strategy” to ensure the third wave of COVID-19 is prevented in the state.
Explaining what prompted the vaccination strategy, the commissioner said, “Given the small number doses received, the Ministry of Health wishes to deploy some of these vaccines via a ring strategy. “Ring vaccination controls an outbreak by vaccinating and monitoring a ring of people around each infected individual. The idea is to form a buffer of immune individuals to prevent the spread of the disease.”
Fans and well-wishers of Olanrewaju Fasasi, a.k.a Sound Sultan, have expressed concerns for the musician’s health after reports on Wednesday that he has been diagnosed with throat cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy in the United States.
As previously reported, The PUNCH contacted a close friend of the 44-year-old singer, who confirmed Sound Sultan’s presence in the U.S., but was unable to ascertain the purpose of the crooner’s visit to the country. The PUNCH provides an overview of throat cancer, explaining its types, causes, and symptoms. Throat cancer refers to cancer of the voice box, the vocal cords, and other parts of the throat, such as the tonsils and oropharynx.
About 38 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been acquired by the continent out of which 22.4 million doses have so far been administered, representing 1.8 per cent of the African population. Meanwhile, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Africa has reached 4,660,304 as of Thursday, the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said yesterday.
NMA Alleges Plot to Impose VC on LASU, Prevent Medical Doctors from Emerging
Site Admin
Medical doctors in Lagos State, under the aegis of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Medical Guild and Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN), have alleged that there are plans by political forces to impose a vice chancellor on Lagos State University (LASU).
It said there was also a plan to prevent medical doctors, who are professors of clinical medicine, from emerging as vice chancellor in the university as part of a larger conspiracy. Chairman, NMA Lagos, Dr. Adetunji Adenekan; Chairman Medical Guild, Dr. Oluwajimi Sodipo and Chairman, MDCAN LASUTH, Dr. Mumuni Amisu, yesterday, in a joint statement on the vice chancellor selection crisis in LASU, said:
The World Health Organisation Country Representative for Nigeria, Dr. Walter Mulombo, said Nigeria and other African countries would no longer receive funds to support polio eradication activities from January 2022.According to him, Nigeria and other countries on the continent had been removed from the priority list having been declared polio-free.
A statement by the Chief Press Secretary of the FCT Minister, Anthony Ogunleye, on Thursday, quoted Mulombo as saying this when he led a delegation of the WHO to update the minister on key public health issues.
More...
Working long hours increases death risk from heart disease, stroke –WHO
Site Admin
The World Health Organisation and the International Labour Organisation, say 745,000 deaths from stroke and ischemic heart disease occurred in 2016, noting that most of the deaths recorded are among people who worked for long hours. WHO, in a statement from its headquarters in Geneva on Monday, said that the figure was the first global analysis of loss of lives and health associated with working long hours.
“WHO and ILO estimate that in 2016, 398, 000 people died from stroke and 347, 000 from heart disease as a result of having worked at least 55 hours a week. “Between the Year 2000 and Year 2016, the number of deaths from heart disease due to working long hours increased by 42 per cent and from stroke by 19 per cent,” it said.
The recently identified COVID-19 variant has stealthily spread to two continents, according to a new study. The variant, named B.1.620, according to data from across Europe, hosts a suite of mutations that have been linked to increased transmissibility and the ability to escape the immune response.
As reported by Nature, multiple travelers carried the new variant from Central Africa to Europe, where it has now spread to at least a dozen countries.The report noted that the variant was first detected in April in viral samples from Lithuania. “After noticing it, Gytis Dudas at the Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre in Sweden and colleagues analysed SARS-CoV-2 genomic data from across the globe and found that B.1.620 had suddenly appeared in European samples in February.
A retired Director of Nutrition Services, Dr. James Oloyede, says that taking more than five cups of black tea a day may lead to caffeine-related health problems. Oloyede says this is because black tea also contains caffeine, just like coffee.
According to a study published online in ResearchGate, a European commercial social networking site for scientists and researchers, tea, next to water is the cheapest beverage humans consume. The study, co-authored by Hasan Mukhtar of the Department of Dermatology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, notes that drinking the beverage tea has been considered a health-promoting habit since ancient times.
Frequent lack of proper sleep can increase risk of dying from stroke, heart attack -Study
Site Admin
A consultant cardiologist at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, Dr. Ramon Moronkola, says sleep deprivation and disrupted sleep patterns can be linked to strokes, heart attacks and cardiovascular disorders.
Speaking in an interview with PUNCH HealthWise, Moronkola said that even people who have obstructive sleep apnea and poor sleep can be at risk of developing stroke and other cardiovascular diseases. Moronkola spoke against the backdrop of a 2021 study published in the European Heart Journal showing that Nocturnal Arousal Burden is associated with long-term cardiovascular and all-cause mortality in women and, to a lesser extent, in men.
