AFRICAN PLUME

Last Friday, French researchers led by Prof. Didier Raoult published results of their new study that examined the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine in combination with azithromycin in the treatment of COVID-19. Unlike the previous small study of 36 patients, the new observation study has a larger sample size of 80 COVID-19 patients. This non-randomized, uncontrolled, and non-comparative group study shows that hydroxychloroquine in combination with azithromycin is effective in the treatment of COVID-19 and also has the potential to limit the contagiousness of the virus. STUDY TITLE : Hydroxychloroquine-Azithromycin and COVID-1 AUTHORS: Philippe Gautret, Jean-Christophe Lagier, Philippe Parola, Van Thuan Hoang, Line Meddeb, Jacques Sevestre, Morgane Mailhe, Barbara Doudier, Camille Aubry, Sophie Amrane, Piseth Seng, Marie Hocquart, Julie Finance, Vera Esteves Vieira, Hervé Tissot Dupont, Stéphane Honoré, Andreas Stein, Matthieu Million, Philippe Colson, Bernard La Scola, Vér

This report provides a road map for navigating through the current COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. It outlines specific directions for adapting our public-health strategy as we limit the epidemic spread of COVID-19 and are able to transition to new tools and approaches to prevent further spread of the disease. We outline the steps that can be taken as epidemic transmission is brought under control in different regions. These steps can transition to tools and approaches that target those with infection rather than mitigation tactics that target entire populations in regions where transmission is widespread and not controlled. We suggest measurable milestones for identifying when we can make these transitions and start reopening America for businesses and families. In each phase, we outline the steps that the federal government, working with the states and public-health and health care partners, should take to inform the response. This will take time, but planning for each

Lack of health coverage has been a persistent problem in the US. The Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, sought to address gaps in the health coverage system and led to historic gains in health insurance coverage by extending Medicaid coverage to many low-income individuals and providing Marketplace subsidies for individuals below 400% of poverty. The number of uninsured nonelderly Americans decreased from over 46.5 million in 2010 (the year the ACA was enacted) to just below 27 million in 2016. However, for the second year in a row, the number of uninsured people increased from 2017 to 2018 by nearly 500,000 people. As millions of people enrolled in new coverage options under the Obamacare, the uninsured rate dropped to its lowest level from 2013 to 2016; however, amid efforts, (by Donald Trump, the Republican Party, the rightwing movement and Christian conservatives), to repeal Obamacare and alter the availability and affordability of coverage, the uninsure

The Nigeria CDC is quickly ramping up laboratory testing capacity for Coronavirus in the country. As at last week, the number of laboratories in the country with the capacity to test for Coronavirus has been expanded to 6 with the inclusion of the Virology Laboratory of University College Hospital, Ibadan. Early next week, the NCDC plans to set up an additional laboratory in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State. This expansion of lab capacity for COVID-19 is a major shift from the erstwhile lackluster and halfhearted response of the Nigerian government to the Coronavirus pandemic that has been witnessed so far. Hopefully, with this development, and in addition to a critically needed expansion of testing facilities around the country, the government will now be well positioned to get a better handle on the rapidly spreading contagion.

South Korea must be doing something right. The south-east Asian country marked a new milestone on Saturday, as more coronavirus patients, 4,811 total, have been discharged than those currently undergoing treatment, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 4,500 people still remain in isolation and are undergoing treatment. Cases were first confirmed in South Korea on January 20, 2020, and spiked dramatically in the following months. A huge cluster was linked to a religious sect in Daegu, who got sick in February. But public health experts there say that the country has now managed to slow the tide and achieved a 50 percent recovery rate – a significant achievement. South Korea has been routinely held up as one of the model countries for responding to the coronavirus outbreak and has been praised for very aggressively testing suspected patients at one of the highest rates in the world. Officials in Seoul are now preparing new guidelines to ease t

To them, we are tree dwelling monkeys from shithole countries. It took them no thought to place us on the travel ban list of undesirable souls. In their eyes, we are good for nothing common criminals unworthy of breathing the rarefied air of their land, partaking in the milk and honey flowing in abundance in their cities, or walking their streets all paved in gold.  But now that a deadly pandemic sweeps through their land, a devastating contagion that has overwhelmed their healthcare system and stretched the healthcare workforce to breaking point, they have now come running to us - the unwanted stones that the builders rejected - to beg us to come save their @$s. The gods of irony, if such exist, must be laughing their @$s off. Mshweeeeee!!!

Hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial drug dubbed a "gift from God" by Donald Trump for its potential ability to fight the new coronavirus, was found to be no more effective than standard treatment in a small Chinese study. The report published by the Journal of Zhejiang University in China on March 6, showed that patients who got the medicine didn’t fight off the new coronavirus more often than those who did not get the medicine. The study involved just 30 patients. Of the 15 patients given the hydroxychloroquine, 13 tested negative for the coronavirus after a week of treatment. Of the 15 patients who didn’t get hydroxychloroquine, 14 tested negative for the virus. The results of the study weren’t statistically significant. Name of Study: A pilot study of hydroxychloroquine in treatment of patients with common coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) Authors: CHEN Jun, LIU Danping, LIU Li, LIU Ping, XU Qingnian, XIA Lu, LING Yun, HUANG Dan, SONG Shuli, ZHANG D

By Akin Ojumu With a total number of cases standing at close to 86,000 and 1,300 deaths, the United States now has more confirmed cases of Coronavirus than anywhere else in the world. As the country sets record for the new cases of COVID-19, hospitals and healthcare facilities across the country are experiencing an acute shortage of medical supplies. Masks, gowns, gloves, PPEs, respirators, ventilators, etc. are in short supply. In addition, the healthcare workforce is overwhelmed and stretched thin, with some states allowing medical students to graduate early so that they can add to the workforce. The response of one of the nation’s hospitals to the shortage of medical supplies is to institute plans to ration and prioritize care to patients who have the best chance to survive. One of such plans was outlined in a letter sent out to patients, families and the community by the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit. The Henry Ford Health System letter reads, To our patient

By Akin Ojumu Playing out on the conservative news outlets and social media is a rather cynical and perplexing development. Several videos, from the folks on the right, have gone viral holding China responsible for the Coronavirus pandemic in the United States. Now, I don't know that I understand the purpose of this seemingly coordinated and choreographed campaign, and it is not entirely clear to me how the actions or inactions of the Chinese government are to be blamed for the handling of the Coronavirus pandemic by Donald Trump’s administration. It is true that the pandemic started in Wuhan, China. Yes, the Chinese government tried to cover it up and downplayed the extent of the outbreak, but they failed. We know that many of the infectious disease epidemics in the past two decades have originated from China. It is not a surprise that the Chinese government are adept at misinformation, disinformation, and propaganda, and nothing they say can be trusted. All of th

New York (CNN Business) – A record number of Americans filed for their first week of unemployment benefits last week, as businesses shut down to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Initial jobless claims soared to a seasonally adjusted 3.28 million in the week ended March 21, according to the Department of Labor. That is the highest number of initial jobless claims in history, since the Department of Labor started tracking the data in 1967. The previous high was 695,000 claims filed in the week ending October 2, 1982. Last week's jump marked a massive increase from a revised 282,000 claims in the prior week. Prior to the pandemic, initial claims had been hovering in the low 200,000s each week, reflecting a strong job market. But in the last couple weeks, the coronavirus outbreak has forced many businesses to suddenly shut down as the country tries to slow the spreading virus. For many businesses that also means laying off workers, at least temporarily. That i

By Akin Ojumu Coronavirus infects and kills more men than women. That’s what the data suggests worldwide. Although we really don’t know why the Coronavirus seems to target men, and there is no clear explanation for the higher COVID-19 mortality seen in men, it is more likely to be a combination of factors, behavioral and biological. Biology For instance, women generally have stronger immune systems than men. This makes women less susceptibility to viral infections and more able to fend off infections than men. The explanation for this is the protective effect that women have by virtue of having X chromosomes and sex hormones, both which play an important role in how the body fights infection s. The X chromosome contains a large number of immune-related genes, and because women have two of them, they gain an advantage in fighting disease, according to a recent study in the journal Human Genomics. In addition to the protective effect of sex hormone and X chromosomes, h

Here at the National Institutes of Health, we continue to play a critical role in the US effort to address the challenge of COVID-19, as we've done in past infectious diseases outbreaks. Yesterday, the NIH Clinical Center enrolled its first two research participants with COVID-19 as part of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) randomized, controlled clinical trial of the antiviral Remdesivir. The patients were transported from Suburban Hospital, (a member of Johns Hopkins Medicine located in Bethesda, Maryland), and placed in the Special Clinical Studies Unit (SCSU), a highly specialized infectious disease containment and treatment facility within the NIH Clinical Center. This facility was successfully used from 2014 to 2016 to care for patients with Ebola Virus Disease and is used for many other infectious disease trials. The NIH Clinical Center is specially equipped to handle patients with highly infectious diseases, including high-l