Month: June 2021

Britain’s longest COVID-19 patient has died, after spending more than a year in hospital. Jason Kelk, 49, who suffered from asthma and diabetes, died at hospice in Leeds, surrounded by family after deciding he could not “live like this anymore.” He had asked his doctors to cease all treatment after spending more than 14 months in a hospital. Kelk was admitted to St. James Hospital March 31, 2020, and was hooked up to a ventilator and transferred to an intensive care unit soon after he arrived. The virus ravaged his lungs and kidneys, according to a report. Kelk also developed acute stomach ailments and had to be fed intravenously. In March, after surviving two weeks without a ventilator, there was hope Kelk could return home. Kelk said he looked fo...

Sen. Rand Paul slammed Dr. Anthony Fauci Saturday on "Unfiltered" for a possible "conflict of interest" related to the theory that COVID escaped from a Wuhan lab, and said the NIAID director was continuing to make scientific mistakes related to the virus. SEN. RAND PAUL: When you look at COVID-19, it doesn’t even seem to infect bats very well. It doesn’t infect an intermediate animal. They checked 80,000 animals at the wet markets in Wuhan. None of the animals at the wet market would accept COVID-19 or were positive for it. But it looks like it’s most well-adapted for humans. So this is worrisome, and yet more evidence that this, in all likelihood, came from the lab.  … I think if you look back at the last year and you look at the people who are discounting the theory that it originat...

AHMEDABAD, India — In the stifling, tightly packed medical ward at Civil Hospital, the ear, nose and throat specialist moved briskly from one bed to the next, shining a flashlight into one patient’s mouth, examining another’s X-rays. The specialist, Dr. Bela Prajapati, oversees treatment for nearly 400 patients with mucormycosis, a rare and often deadly fungal disease that has exploded across India on the coattails of the coronavirus pandemic. Unprepared for this spring’s devastating Covid-19 second wave, many of India’s hospitals took desperate steps to save lives — steps that may have opened the door to yet another deadly disease. “The pandemic has precipitated an epidemic,” Dr. Prajapati said. In three weeks, the number of cases of the disease — known by the misnomer “black fungus,” b...

People with a severe back-pain condition are set to be given a new drug that can halt the disease in its tracks and protect them from permanent spine damage. Until now, the powerful treatment – a self-administered injection – has been reserved for those with the most advanced disease. But from this week the NHS will get the green light to offer the DIY jabs to those in the early stages. The drug, secukinumab, is designed to treat spondyloarthritis, an umbrella term for a number of conditions in which the immune system, for unknown reasons, turns inwards and attacks healthy spinal joints. The drug, secukinumab, is designed to treat spondyloarthritis, an umbrella term for a number of conditions in which the immune system, for unknown reasons, turns inwards and attacks h...

The delta variant is known to be a more dangerous strain of the virus, especially for those who are not vaccinated. It can also spread a lot quicker. Health leaders announced the delta variant of COVID-19 has been detected in Indiana. As of Saturday, there were 97 cases of the variant, according to the state’s website.  They were found through sequencing, that’s when the state submits randomized samples to test for variants.   The delta variant is known to be a more dangerous strain of the virus, especially for those that are not vaccinated. It can also spread a lot quicker. ...

A nurse shows a dose of the Soberana-02 COVID-19 vaccine to be used in a volunteer as part of Phase III trials of the experimental Cuban vaccine candidate, amid concerns about the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Havana, Cuba, March 31, 2021. Jorge Luis Banos/Pool via REUTERS HAVANA, June 19 (Reuters) - Cuba's Soberana 2 vaccine candidate has shown 62% efficacy with just two of its three doses, state-run biopharmaceutical corporation BioCubaFarma said on Saturday, citing preliminary data from late phase trials. Cuba, whose biotech sector has exported vaccines for decades, has five vaccine candidates in clinical trials, of which two - Soberana 2 and Abdala - are in late phase trials. "In a few weeks we should have the results for the efficacy with three doses which we expec...