When will the COVID-19 pandemic end? And how?

According to historians, pandemics typically have two types of endings: the medical, which occurs when the incidence and death rates plummet, and the social, when the epidemic of fear about the disease wanes.“When people ask, ‘When will this end?,’ they are asking about the social ending,” said Dr. Jeremy Greene, a historian of medicine at Johns Hopkins....read more

The Young Bravehearts

Reproduced from: https://www.indialegallive.com/special/the-young-bravehearts-98521; May 8, 2020In a move that gives hope to those waiting for organs, the Delhi High Court has said that minors can donate in rare cases. But the consent should be supported by parents or guardians to prevent any exploitation.All people should consider themselves as potential organ and tissue donors regardless of age, health, race or ethnicity. No one is too old or too young to be a deceased donor and most major religions support it. In a novel move, the Delhi High Court recently said that a minor can donate an organ or tissue in a rare situation unless there is a risk to her life. ....read more

CMAAO Coronavirus Facts and Myth Buster 92 Living with Corona 1.0 is the answer

(With inputs from Dr Viraj Suvarna)829: Extending Lockdown not the answer: Living with Corona 1.0 is the answerHow long can we continue lockdown? 54 days are enough to learn and get prepared. We all know that prevention with physical distancing and hand hygiene is the only vaccine. ....read more

Why do we not offer Vanaspati Ghee at the time of cremation or worship?

Vanaspati Ghee is never offered to God at the time of Aarti in the Diya or to the dead body at the time of cremation. Only pure ghee is offered.It is considered a bad omen to offer Vanaspati ghee at the time of the last cremation ritual even though the consciousness has left the body. ....read more

Healthcare News Monitor

Triple antiviral combo shows early promise: Study

The Indian Express

A new triple antiviral drug combination has shown early promise in treating coronavirus in a phase 2 randomised trial, according to a study published in The Lancet recently. The researchers have said that larger phase 3 studies in critically ill patients are needed to confirm whether the triple regimen can provide meaningful results. A two-week course of antiviral therapy with interferon beta-1b plus lopinavir–ritonavir and ribavirin, started within seven days of onset of coronavirus symptoms, is safe and more effective at reducing the duration of viral shedding than lopinavir–ritonavir alone in patients with mild to moderate illness, according to the first randomised trial of this triple combination therapy involving 127 adults (18 years and older) from six public hospitals in Hong Kong. The subjects did not include severe cases of coronavirus. The study suggests that clinical improvement and length of hospital stay may be significantly shorter in people treated with triple combination less than seven days after showing symptoms, compared to lopinavir-ritonavir alone. “The treatment combination appeared safe and well tolerated by patients,” said Professor Kwok-Yung Yuen from the University of Hong Kong, who led the research.

Chennai Pharma Firm Employee Dies as ‘COVID Experiment’ Goes Wrong

The Quint- Megha Kaveri

As medical and science experts around the globe are scrambling to find a cure for COVID-19, a pharma company founder and his long-term employee were involved in a medical experiment that went horribly wrong in Chennai. The duo were trying to invent a cure for COVID-19, according to the police. Dr Rajkumar, the founder of Sujatha Biotech (which manufactures and sells the cough syrup ‘Nivaran 90’, Memory Plus and Velvette shampoo) and Sivanesan (47), his company’s manager, were conducting a medical experiment on themselves when the incident happened, as per the police. Sivanesan had been working in the company for around 27 years. “Their products that are in the market were mostly developed together by these two men. Similarly, they wanted to invent a cure for COVID-19 and they assumed that one way to do that would be to somehow increase the count of blood cells in the body. They both, hence, ingested sodium nitrate tablets while conducting an ‘experiment’ in a lab at Rajkumar’s house in GN Chetty Road,” a police officer said. However, they both fainted in the lab immediately. Rajkumar’s family members rescued the duo and admitted them in a private hospital in T Nagar, where Sivanesan died of complications in the wee hours of Friday, 8 May.

Plasma therapy to treat serious COVID-19 patients at Rajasthan hospital shows promising results

The New Indian Express- PTI

Plasma therapy started by Sawai Man Singh (SMS) medical college here to treat serious coronavirus-infected patients has delivered "promising" results so far, a top doctor at the facility said. The therapy has been successfully given to three patients and two more are likely to be administered the same soon. The team of doctors is encouraged with the results, Principal and Controller of SMS medical college Dr Sudhir Bhandari said. Bhandari, who is heading the team which is performing COVID-19 plasma transfusion since last week at the hospital, said three successful therapies have been conducted and the results were "promising". "So far, we have conducted three successful COVID plasma therapies and all the three patients are showing improvement in their clinical state, oxygen saturation and D-dimer levels," he told PTI. "This has given a ray of hope," he added. A D-dimer test is a blood test that can be used to help rule out the presence of a serious blood clot. Bhandari said the convalescent plasma therapy is being conducted as per the protocol of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and with the permission of the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI). The therapy aims at transfusing plasma (component of blood) containing antibodies donated by a recovered COVID-19 patient to the serious coronavirus patients harbouring an active infection.

AIIMS Doctor Removes Protective Gear To Save COVID-19 Patient, Advised Quarantine

NDTV- PTI

A senior resident doctor of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has been advised 14 days of quarantine after he took off his protective gear and put himself at risk to save a critical coronavirus patient while shifting him to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), a senior official said. "Zahid Abdul Majeed, a native from Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir, was not even able to break his (Ramzan) fast when he was called for shifting a COVID-19 intubated patient to the ICU in the AIIMS Trauma Centre, which has been converted as a dedicated COVID-19 hospital," Srinivas Rajkumar T, General Secretary of AIIMS Resident Doctors Association in New Delhi, said. The incident took place inside an ambulance around 2am on Friday. When Mr Majeed reached the ambulance, he had difficulty in ventilating the patient and suspected "accidental extubation." "I immediately decided to re-intubate. Owing to poor visibility through the PPE inside the ambulance, I decided to remove the goggles and face shield, and then re-intubated the patient as any delay would have led to imminent death of the patient," he said.