The life imprisonment given to 17 of the 19 convicts in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case was on Thursday upheld by the Supreme Court, but the apex court freed one of them by reducing his sentence saying being an HIV positive patient, his was a "special circumstance".
A group of female AIDS patients were not allowed to meet Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar at his much publicised janata darbar on Tuesday. "We were stopped at the gate by policemen following instruction from officials in charge of the janata darbar because we are suffering from AIDS," said Kamla Sinha.
In a letter to all states and Union territories, the ministry highlighted that under the emergency use authorisation, coronavirus vaccination is indicated only for 18 years and above. If required, COVID-19 vaccine and other vaccines should be separated by an interval of at least 14 days.
Tele/video-consults have been effective for patients requiring post-hospitalisation follow-up, especially if they are from outside the city; patients with chronic diseases that need periodic monitoring; and pregnant women who require routine checkup with minimum exposure.
'Some of the longer-term implications of COVID-19 are not related to the virus itself.' 'They are actually related to immune responses from the virus.'
'But he doesn't let me forget when he wins,' Dr Sanjeeth Peter tells us in this fascinating, multi-part, diary of a Covid Warrior.
'The first duty of the government is to learn lessons from a bad experience and course correct. It's a pity that the government is making policy without looking at evidence and differentiating between immediate and urgent.'
Brokerages have cut their estimates of listed diagnostics players for the financial year 2023-24 (FY24) after mixed December quarter results and muted near-term outlook. Their volumes and realisations will be under pressure due to weakness in Covid-adjusted performance and higher competitive pressures, the brokerages believe. In a post-Q3 results note on Dr Lal Pathlabs, Bhavesh Gandhi of YES Securities pointed out that there has been a lack of volume revival in recent quarters, with an increasing likelihood that FY24 too would be a work-in-progress year for the company's initiatives to bear fruit.
'If at all there is going to be a second wave, it will not be very strong unlike in the US and Europe.'
'The most intriguing thing (about COVID-19) is the range of the illness -- from asymptomatic or less symptoms to death and quite severe manifestations.' 'The vaccine will be at least another year away from having any effect.'
Anti-inflammatory or immunomodulatory therapy, such as steroids, can have the risk of secondary infection like invasive mucormycosis, when used too early, at higher dose or for longer than required, they highlighted.
'For free supply of drugs and medicines itself, almost Rs 20,000 crores would be required.'
It also advised people not to rush for self-medication, blood investigation or radiological imaging like chest X-ray or CT scan without consultation of treating medical officer.
'While many policies say that they will cover mental illnesses, the wordings of a few still have mental illness as a permanent exclusion.' 'After the new IRDAI circular, such exclusions should go away.'
"We have received complaint from a state yesterday and so far discussed with three states. Too much variations have been reported in results of rapid test kits and RT-PCR kits. We advise states not to use them for the next two days," ICMR's Dr Raman R Gangakhedkar said.
'Corona will go on for more than six months now in Mumbai city.' 'It cannot vanish within just two or three months.' 'This infection may remain there in communities, somewhere or the other, like swine flu.'
As many as 34 new drugs were added to and 26 dropped from an updated list of essential medicines on Tuesday, with the government saying this will reduce "patients' out-of-pocket expenditure". The National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM 2022) has 384 drugs, up from 376 in 2015. "Drafting this list is a lengthy process, and around 350 experts from across India have held over 140 consultation meetings to draft the NLEM 2022," Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said.
A drug developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) may reverse the heart damage caused by a protein in the SARS-CoV-2 virus, a study conducted in fruit flies and mice has found.
The ministry has removed its earlier recommendation of the use of anti-HIV drug combinations Lopinavir and Ritonavir on a case-to-case basis depending upon the severity of the condition of a patient suffering from coronavirus infection.
This year, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bollywood actor Ayushmann Khurrana, the 'dadi from Shaheen Bhagh' Bilkis, Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Professor Ravindra Gupta are among TIME's 100 most influential people of 2020.
The guidelines stated that systemic oral steroids are not indicated in mild cases and if the symptoms (persistent fever, worsening cough etc.) persist beyond seven days, the treating doctor should be consulted for treatment with low-dose oral steroids.
'Where did this fungus suddenly come from and get all over the country?'
'Testing is a very good strategy if only symptomatic people are transmitting the disease.' 'Here asymptomatic people, with minimum, trivial symptoms, are transmitting too.' 'Testing, treating, tracing contacts and quarantining them -- yes, it will work up to a certain extent.' 'But more important is physical distancing, hand hygiene, cough etiquette and cocooning, protecting with reverse quarantining the most vulnerable people, senior citizens, people with other major medical problems.' 'To me, that makes much more sense.'
According to medical practitioners, the treatment is especially useful in controlling disease among those who have not received the vaccine or got only one shot and also the high-risk contacts of a patient.
Asymptomatic positive patients have been included in the list of mild or pre-symptomatic coronavirus infection cases. However, patients suffering from immune-compromised status (like HIV, transplant recipients, cancer therapy) are not eligible for home isolation.
Pak chose India for the training because of its vast experience in treating AIDS patients and due to similarity in social conditions and cost effectiveness, Pakistan's National AIDS Control Programme Manager Asma Bukhari said.
The man had attended a stag party recently in Manali in Himachal Pradesh.
Donating one unit of blood -- 350ml to 450ml -- can save up to three lives
Hepatitis B virus is 10 times more infectious than hepatitis C virus and 50-100 times more infectious than HIV.
Plasma is separated from the blood of donors using a plasmapheresis machine. ILBS has 10 of these machines at present, and two more are expected to arrive soon, the senior doctor at ILBS said.
No matter whoever we choose to blame, the reality is that we are in the midst of an epidemic and if we do not mend our ways, the virus will solve our population problem.
As the pandemic spreads and the urgency for effective treatment of COVID-19 mounts, several countries, including the US, have started relying heavily on HCQ, majorly used in the treatment of malaria and rheumatoid-arthritis.
If you are pregnant or obese you are at higher risk of swine flu.
A kidney transplant can improve the quality and longevity of life, says Shruti Tapiawala.
'The rate of transmission of COVID-19 in Hong Kong was 0.7 -- anything below 1 suggests the epidemic is receding.' 'The city-State achieved this without the de facto police-State curfew that India has resorted to,' says Rahul Jacob.
'People had said it will explode and everyone will die. Nothing of that sort has happened.' 'Our government has done a splendid job so far.'
'Don't panic. Believe in yourself.' 'This is a preventable illness. Only you can prevent it.'
Veronica Laboratories has tied up with SRL Ranbaxy Ltd, a special reference laboratory, to carry out clinical investigations in HIV positive patients.