Latest healthcare news
Do Breakthrough Infections Occur Following COVID-19 Vaccination?
The CDC in America May 25th 2021 reports on this issue looks at breakthrough infections between January 1st and April 30th 2021. COVID-19 vaccines are a critical tool for controlling the ongoing global pandemic. The Food and Drug Administration...
What are the complications associated with COVID-19? A comment published in The Lancet by Gu and Cao July 17 2021 looks at this issue.
As the COVID-19 pandemic persists globally, an emerging challenge in the shift from acute infection to the burden of long-term consequences resulted from the disease. Although a consensus terminology has not yet been reached, the post-acute stage of...
How accurate are lateral flow tests in comparison to PCR swabbing for detecting SARS-CoV-2 in primary care?
An interesting research paper published by Leber and others July 13th 2021 discusses this issue. Testing for COVID-19 with PCR is considered gold standard. Again this may result in delayed detection of disease. Antigen detection via lateral flow testing is much...
The government’s testing programme for international arrivals. What information does it provide us with and how does it help?
Mandatory Day 2 and Day 8 PCR testing and variant sequencing of international arrivals has been recently introduced by the UK Government to mitigate against cross-border transmission of high-risk SARS-CoV-2 variants. SARS-CoV-2 testing and sequencing combines PCR with...
Mental Health and the COVID-19 Pandemic
An interesting research letter published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Network by Pieh and others researched this issue. The authors assessed mental health in high school students aged 14-20 years after one semester of attending school remotely...
Do Schoolchildren Transmit SARS-CoV-2 Infection?
An interesting article published in Paediatrics 2021 April by Zimmerman and others investigated this issue. In an effort to mitigate the spread of SARS-CoV-2 infection, North Carolina closed the Kindergarten schools through grade 12 to in person instruction on...
The Delta Variant
An interesting unedited manuscript published in Nature on 8th July by Planas and others researched this issue. The Delta variant was identified in October 2020 in India. It has since then become dominant in some Indian regions and the United Kingdom and...
What have we learnt from the two SARS-CoV-2 waves in South Africa?
An interesting comment published online in The Lancet Global Health July 9th considers this issue. As of July 2021, at least four variants of concern are circulating globally in the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic that has resulted in nearly 180 million documented viral...
AVOIDING HEATSTROKE
Avoiding the Dangers of Heatstroke Independent July 2021 Dr Angela Rai, GP at The London General Practice features in the Independent online about the dangers of heatstroke, the symptoms and what to do if you are suffering. View Independent article here View MSN...
Azithromycin, can its Benefit be Ruled Out in Mild COVID-19 disease?
An interesting comment in The Lancet published online July 9th. The health emergency triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic has led to the massive use of pharmacological treatments whose efficacy has not been sufficiently evidenced. Gradually, thanks to the results of...
