Infectious Disease
Tokyo 2021: Japan, medical experts disagree over safe Olympics
Japanese infectious disease specialist Atsuo Hamada wants to see the Olympics happen in Tokyo this summer, but admits if they were being held anywhere else, he’d probably support a cancellation. “Even without the coronavirus pandemic, the Olympics as a mass gathering fosters all sorts of infectious diseases,” Hamada, a professor at Tokyo Medical University, told AFP. With less than six months until the pandemic-postponed Games, organisers say they’re confident the event will be safe. But some medical experts aren’t so sure, and think cancellation is safer. “I do understand the athletes’ sentiments,” said Michael Head, a senior research fellow in global health at Britain’s University of Southampton. “But I think from… the global public health point of view, there’s nothing about the Olympic...
California hospitals overrun even as vaccine is rolled out
Even as high profile figures like U.S. Vice President Mike Pence rolled up their sleeves for COVID-19 vaccinations, patients already ill with the disease crowded emergency rooms and overran intensive care units in California, now a worldwide epicenter. Another 41,000 people tested positive in the most populous U.S. state on Thursday, and 300 died, state public health officials said. In a state with 40 million residents, only about 1,200 intensive care beds remained available by Friday – just 2.1% of the total, the California Department of Public Health said. “We anticipated a surge, but I’m not sure if anyone imagined it would be as bad as it has been,” said Adam Blackstone, a spokesman for the Hospital Association of Southern California. Hospitals are strained under the press of patients,...
UATH honours 80 coronavirus frontline healthcare workers
The University of Abuja Teaching Hospital (UATH), Gwagwalada, FCT, on Wednesday honoured 80 COVID-19 frontline healthcare workers for their dedication and selfless service in the hospital. Presenting the awards to the recipients, Prof. Bissallah Ekele, Chief Medical Director (CMD), UATH, said that the gesture was to encourage and prepare them for greater tasks in the future. Ekele said that when FCT recorded its first case of COVID-19, the institution was the first to receive patients because of its capacity to manage the pandemic through the help of its frontline healthcare workers. “About this time in 2019, we gathered to honour and celebrate the 2019 UATH Staff Award winners. We are here today to do the same and we thank God for keeping us alive to witness another celebration. “Permit m...
Nigeria records 136 new virus cases, three more deaths
Nigeria reported 136 new cases of coronavirus and three more deaths from the virus in the past 24 hours, the country’s infectious disease agency, NCDC, said on Monday. With the new figures, the total coronavirus infections in the country is now 58,640 while 1,111 COVID-19 related deaths have so far been reported. The health agency said almost 50,000 patients have recovered from the virus, which translates to a recovery rate of about 85 per cent. Meanwhile, the are still about 7,400 active infections in Nigeria. The 136 new cases were reported from 13 states: Lagos (71), Rivers (23), Plateau (12), Adamawa (6), Oyo (6), Kaduna (5), Abia (3), FCT (3), Katsina (2), Kwara (2), Bauchi (1), Borno (1), Edo (1). Lagos had the highest number of new cases on Monday with 71 infections. The commercial ...
Nigerian government inaugurates infectious disease centre in Abuja
The Federal Government on Friday inaugurated the first Infectious Disease Centre (IDC), in the Federal Capital Territory, and handed it over to the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital (UATH). Speaking at the inauguration of the 40-bed centre in Gwagwalada, Abuja, the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, said that the centre would improve Nigeria’s capacity to respond to all infectious diseases. “With laboratory testing and case management in one location, there is a much shorter time between sample collection and infection confirmation. ”This will ensures early initiation of treatment and thus mitigate mortality during infectious disease outbreaks. “I am very proud that today, we now have an international standard centre where we can manage highly pathogenic infectious disease cases, i...
