AFRICAN PLUME

By Akin Ojumu In an age of rabid political nativism, it’s easy to lose sight of who a Christian really is. And in an era where many so-called Christians are ensconced within the perimeter of their political bubbles, the characters that define a Christian leader can become blurred by intractable political myopia.  From time to time, it’s vital to take off the political blinders in order to clearly see the man that God considers His own, and it’s crucial to step out from within confines of the ideological penitentiary to understand God’s standard for a Christian who will be a leader – be it president, governor, senator, or otherwise.  That portrait of a Christian leader was painted vividly by Apostle Paul in his first epistle to his spiritual son, Timothy.  Paul, in 1 Timothy 3, sketched a profile of the spiritual leader that is clear and encompassing and leaves no room for doubt or vacillation. Those same qualities and characters of a spiritual leader so desc...

STAGE I (MILD) – EARLY INFECTION The initial stage occurs at the time of inoculation and early establishment of disease. For most people, this involves an incubation period associated with mild and often non-specific symptoms, such as malaise, fever, and a dry cough. During this period, SARS-CoV-2 multiplies and establishes residence in the host, primarily focusing on the respiratory system. Treatment at this stage is primarily targeted toward symptomatic relief. Should a viable anti-viral therapy, such as remdesivir, be proven beneficial, targeting selected patients during this stage may reduce duration of symptoms, minimize contagiousness, and prevent progression of severity. In patients who can keep the virus limited to this stage of COVID-19, prognosis and recovery are excellent. STAGE II (MODERATE) – PULMONARY INVOLVEMENT (IIA) WITHOUT AND (IIB) WITH HYPOXIA In the second stage of established pulmonary disease, viral multiplication and localized inflammation in ...

TITLE: Hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine with or without a macrolide for treatment of COVID-19: a multinational registry analysis AUTHORS: Mandeep R Mehra, Sapan S Desai, Frank Ruschitzka, Amit N Patel JOURNAL: The Lancet, May 22, 2020 BACKGROUND: Hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine, often in combination with a second-generation macrolide, are being widely used for treatment of COVID-19, despite no conclusive evidence of their benefit. Although generally safe when used for approved indications such as autoimmune disease or malaria, the safety and benefit of these treatment regimens are poorly evaluated in COVID-19. METHODS: We did a multinational registry analysis of the use of hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine with or without a macrolide (i.e. azithromycin, clarithromycin, erythromycin) for treatment of COVID-19. The registry comprised data from 671 hospitals in six continents. We included patients hospitalised between Dec 20, 2019, and April 14, 2020, with a posi...

By Akin Ojumu From election season to election season, men and women with brains the size of millet seeds have been elected to political offices in Nigeria. Consequently, the country has been subject to successive regimes of inept political leadership. The political parties in the country are mirror images of one another and the political actors are all cut from the same soiled cloth. In Nigeria, people run for political offices not because they are driven by a passion to serve the nation. Nigerian politicians vie because of the largesse of political office. They are motivated by personal gain and not because they care for the greater good. Over the years, many ideas have been floated as solution to the endemic problem of hapless leadership and poor governance. Constitutional amendments, restructuring, secession, etc. have all been proposed and some have even been tried. Till date, none of those has wrought the much needed change. The reason they haven’t lived up to the ...

Long before she became a darling of conspiracy theorists, Judy Mikovits, along with other Scientists and investigators, participated in a 2012 press conference, organized by the Columbia University, Center for Infection and Immunity, where the results of a multi-center collaborative follow up study on chronic fatigue syndrome were presented. The follow up study was conducted in an attempt to reproduce the conflicting findings of earlier studies conducted by Judy Mikovits and other investigators. The findings of the follow up study conclusively refuted the earlier results of Judy Mikovits’ study which in 2009 linked chronic fatigue syndrome to mouse retroviruses. Her findings, the collaborative study concluded, was due to contamination of her research  processes. It was later found that she used faulty research methodology in her study. As a member of the joint study team, and a panel discussant in the press conference, Dr Mikovits was effusive of the joint effort and she...

This graph compares the number of people that died from the 1918 Spanish Flu across 4 major US cities based on the timing and robustness of the social distancing measures instituted by each city. The city, St Louis, that put in place the earliest and most extreme social distancing measure recorded the smallest number of deaths. Philadelphia, on the other hand, took the laissez faire, "give me liberty or give me death", approach. The city instituted social distancing measures late and consequently recorded one of the highest number of deaths. Philadelphia detected its first case of a deadly, fast-spreading strain of influenza on September 17, 1918. The next day, in an attempt to halt the virus’ spread, city officials launched a campaign against coughing, spitting, and sneezing in public. Yet, 10 days later – despite the prospect of an epidemic at its doorstep – the city hosted a parade. Ignoring warnings of influenza among soldiers preparing for World War I, the mar...

By Akin Ojumu Our cognitive faculty enables us to process information and make decisions through a process of deductive reasoning. That cognitive prowess is what distinguishes us from animals or cave dwelling Neanderthals. At least, that's what we all like to think. From time to time, however, this cognitive ability find itself at the mercy of our emotions and innate instincts. Our emotions and innate instincts often displace the cognitive ability, making it impossible for us to objectively examine facts and allow those facts to influence our preconceived notion; which is the process by which we learn, expand our knowledge base, and become wiser. For certain individuals though, they are simply unable to free themselves from the clutches of this primitive mindset of emotions and innate instincts. They are, as it were, held in bondage by the lesser evolved, and are perpetually tethered to the more primitive, part of their being. This imprisonment by the less developed ...