Door-to-door survey for Covid in Karnataka from today

Bengaluru: The Karnataka government will start a massive door-to-door survey from Thursday to gather data on people with influenza-like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory illness (SARI) and to check on the health status of patients with existing conditions such as non-communicable diseases, TB and AIDS, and pregnant women. The exercise is being done for early detection of Covid-19 cases....read more

Lateral Thinking

Nosodes or autologous inactivated potentized pathogens - Heterologous convalescent plasma antibodies vs. autologous inactivated potentized virus antigen.The science is virgin for exploration as is disowned by homoeopaths and not recognized by Modern Medicine and Ayurveda....read more

CMAAO Coronavirus Facts and Myth Buster 69

(With regular inputs from Dr Monica Vasudev)Poison centers see 20% spike in calls related to cleaners, disinfectantsPoison centers in the United States have seen over 20% rise in calls for exposures to cleaners and disinfectants during the first 3 months this year compared with the same time period in 2019, according to a new MMWR report....read more

What is the importance of silence?

True silence is the silence between the thoughts and represents the true self, consciousness or the soul. It is a web of energized information ready to take all, provided there is a right intent. The process of achieving silence is what meditation is....read more

Health Sutras By Dr K K Aggarwal

Dont spit in public places

Healthcare News Monitor

Coronavirus vaccine: UK, Germany start trial; Indian pharma will also play a big role

Mint

The race to develop an effective vaccine against the novel coronavirus gathered pace this week, as clinical trials on humans were approved in Germany and launched in the UK. Though there are now around 150 development projects worldwide, the German and British plans are among only five clinical trials on humans which have been approved across the globe. Indian pharmaceutical companies, well-known for producing affordable low-cost medicines, will play an important role in the global fight against the coronavirus pandemic. Indian pharmaceutical firms will play important role in fight against COVID-19 pandemic: Indian pharmaceutical companies, well-known for producing affordable low-cost medicines, will play an important role in the global fight against the coronavirus pandemic that has affected over 2.5 million people across the world, India’s top diplomat here has said. Indias Ambassador to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu also underlined that as global strategic partners, India and the US are prepared to face this public health crisis together. India, one of the largest producers of anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine, has seen a spurt in demand in recent weeks. India has sent the drug to over 50 countries over the last few days, including the United States, he said on Tuesday. Hydroxychloroquine has been identified by the US Food and Drug Administration as a possible treatment for the COVID-19 and it is being tested on more than 1,500 coronavirus patients in New York.

Gileads antiviral drug remedesivir being made in India on trial basis

Business Standard- Sohini Das

Inspired by the positive initial responses shown in global studies, India is planning to use a broad spectrum anti-viral drug remedesivir on patients here. A handful of Indian pharma majors have also started working on developing the patented drug that was innovated by US pharma giant Gilead. Moreover, firms like Glenmark have approached the countrys drug regulator to do trials on another anti-viral drug favipiravir. In fact, India is now working on evaluating about 20 different drugs that can be used as a line of treatment against COVID19. Gileads remedesivir was orginally developed for Ebola and then eventually found to be useful against coronaviruses like SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome). Now some recent studies show that if administered at an early stage the drug can stop COVID19 from replicating inside the body. Reports suggest that researchers from a Houston Methodist Hospital, Texas, US have seen promising results in patients if administered early, Chinese studies too have shown that remedesivir blocks the novel coronavirus from replicating inside the body. Two Chinese studies have been stopped in the middle of this month after lack of eligible patients as the virus outbreak got contained in the country. Another anti-viral drug, that is sold in Japan under the brand name Avigan to treat influenza, is also showing promise. Fujifilm Toyama Chemical Co has, in fact, started a phase 3 trial in Japan to test the drugs efficacy against COVID19. Even the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has completed synthesis of the anti-retroviral drug favipiravir and handed it over to a private company that has approached the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for approvals.

Puducherry MLA falls at doctors feet to thank him for contribution in fighting Covid-19 outbreak

India Today- Akshaya Nath

The Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) of Ariyankuppam in Puducherry, T Jayamoorthy was caught on camera touching a doctor’s feet on Thursday. Speaking to media outlets in connection with the incident, T Jayamoorthy said that this was his effort to respect the medical professional for rendering invaluable service to the community during the novel coronavirus outbreak. “We are prostrating as a way of showing our respects to the medical community for the service that they are giving,” T Jayamoorthy told media persons after stepping out of the doctor’s cabin. In a video of the incident, the MLA from Ariyankuppam can be seen folding his hands before bending over to prostrate as a mark of respect for the doctor. At the same time, the surprised doctor can be seen taking two steps back. The MLA then repeats the gesture and leaves the doctor’s cabin. On Thursday, Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy and a number of other ministers in his cabinet were tested for Covid-19 at the union territory’s assembly. Puducherry has recorded seven confirmed cases of Covid-19 to date. This figure includes 3 recoveries and 4 active cases with no casualties.

Coronavirus in India: 8 staff at Rajasthan hospital test positive for Covid-19

India Today- Rohit Parihar

Eight staff at Sawai Man Singh (SMS) hospital in Jaipur, Rajasthan, have tested positive for Covid-19. Nine doctors had earlier tested positive for the novel coronavirus. The eight infected staff include a doctor, a computer operator, a male nurse, a ward boy, a trolley man, a lift operator, a washerman of resident doctors hospital and two radiographers. The nine doctors who were tested positive earlier include three surgeons who had operated an emergency patient for hernia who later tested positive. Before that, four anaesthetist had tested positive. Also, a canteen contractor at SMS hospital had tested positive. He lived in Ramganj which was under curfew because of the high number of Covid-19 cases in the area. However, he continued to comming back to work defying curfew norms. Later, he ended up infecting around 50 people at the SMS hospital, although none of them were doctors or nursing staff. The SMS hospital is the states largest hospital in Jaipur and major centre to treat seriously-ill Covid-19 patients : Authorities suggested that doctors and other staff should be subjected to frequent Covid testing and if they get infected, they should be admitted to the hospital and provided the best care. The health department is also tracing persons who could have infected the doctors and staff. Several corona-warriors including grass-root health workers, doctors, police officials and non-medical staff have either been placed in isolation or quarantined in the state as a preventive measure.