by Sammy Ketz KHARTOUM, Sudan (AFP) — It seemed little to worry about: Sudanese farmer Khadija Ahmad was planting onions when she stepped on a thorn that pierced her sandal and cut her foot. But the thorn brought with it a flesh-eating infection, a bacterial and fungal disease called mycetoma, which rips through the body causing severe deformities. For Ahmad, a 45-year-old from El-Fasher in western Sudan’s war-ravaged Darfur region, the first she knew something […]
Health
Obesity greatest risk factor for young adults with Covid-19
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Young adults with underlying conditions such as morbid obesity, diabetes and hypertension are at the highest risk of being placed on a ventilator or dying from Covid-19, according to a study of 3,000 hospitalized patients aged 18 to 34. The analysis, published Wednesday in the journal Jama Internal Medicine, focused on patients hospitalized between April and June in the United States. It confirmed first and foremost that black and Hispanic […]
AstraZeneca pauses Covid-19 vaccine trial after unexplained illness
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca said Tuesday it had “voluntarily paused” a randomized clinical trial of its coronavirus vaccine in what it called a routine action after a volunteer developed an unexplained illness. The company, which is developing the drug alongside the University of Oxford, is a frontrunner in the global race for a Covid-19 vaccine. “As part of the ongoing randomized, controlled global trials of the Oxford coronavirus vaccine, our standard review […]
WATCH: Pharma giants give their update on COVID-19 vaccine research
A group of pharmaceutical companies give an update on their research to find a vaccine for the novel coronavirus, with US giant Pfizer saying it could have results from its late-stage vaccine trial as early as October
Russia vaccine ‘passes early trial test’; participants developed antibodies within 1st 3 weeks
Kelly MACNAMARA Agence France Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Early tests of a Russian coronavirus vaccine showed encouraging results when details were published Friday, but experts said the trials were too small to prove safety and effectiveness. Russia announced last month that its vaccine, named “Sputnik V” after the Soviet-era satellite that was the first launched into space in 1957, had already received approval. This raised concerns among Western scientists over a lack […]
WHO tempers quick vaccine hopes
by Nina LARSON Agence France Presse GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The World Health Organization said Friday it did not expect widespread immunization against the novel coronavirus until mid-2021, tempering hopes just as research revealed encouraging early results from a Russian vaccine. The virus which has killed nearly 870,000 people worldwide continues to spread, with Italy’s flamboyant former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi now in hospital after becoming the latest high-profile figure to test positive for Covid-19. […]
What is the best way to share out a future Covid-19 vaccine?
by Ivan Couronne Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — An international group of ethicists on Thursday criticized the World Health Organization’s goal of distributing coronavirus vaccines to treat 20 percent of each country’s population, proposing instead what they said was a more equitable system of distribution. In an article published in the journal Science, US professor Ezekiel Emanuel and more than a dozen experts from Britain, Canada, Australia, Norway and Singapore suggested […]
Unilever to cut carbon footprint in cleaning items
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Anglo-Dutch consumer giant Unilever on Wednesday unveiled a one-billion-euro plan to remove fossil fuels in the production of cleaning and laundry products which have experienced soaring demand from coronavirus-fearing consumers. The initiative, worth the equivalent of $1.2 billion, will replace all the carbon derived from fossil fuels used in the production of some of Unilever’s best-known products by 2030, it said in a statement. Unilever aims to transform the sustainability […]
Experts probe obesity link to severe virus response
by Kelly MACNAMARA PARIS, France (AFP) — Inflammatory and immune responses linked to obesity could help explain the likelihood of a more severe outcome among patients with Covid-19, European experts said Wednesday. As the new coronavirus has spread, killing more than 800,000 people globally, it has become increasingly clear that co-morbidities put patients at greater risk. In a presentation at European and International Congress on Obesity, researchers said that inflamation caused by a buildup of […]
Chinese bus offers new evidence of airborne coronavirus spread: study
WASHINGTON D.C., United States (AFP) — A person on a poorly ventilated Chinese bus infected nearly two dozen other passengers with coronavirus even though many weren’t sitting close by, according to research published on Tuesday that offers fresh evidence the disease can spread in the air. Health authorities had initially discounted the possibility that simply breathing could send infectious micro-droplets into the air, but did a U-turn as experts piled on pressure and evidence mounted. […]
Study shows how masks with valves and face shields allow spread of virus
WASHINGTON D.C., United States (AFP) — People wearing plastic face shields or masks fitted with a valve can spray invisible droplets over a very wide area when they sneeze or cough, making the devices ineffective at preventing the spread of coronavirus when used on their own, a simulation model shows. In a report published Tuesday in the US journal Physics of Fluids, researchers at Florida Atlantic University used vertical and horizontal laser sheets to track […]
WHO urges ‘dialogue’ with virus protesters
by Nina LARSON Agence France Presse GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The World Health Organization urged governments Monday to engage with people demonstrating against Covid-19 restrictions and listen to their concerns, but stressed protesters needed to understand the virus was dangerous. Asked about recent demonstrations in a number of countries against coronavirus restrictions, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it was important to “listen to what people are asking, what people are saying”. “We should […]