The COVID-19 outbreak, since it originated in Wuhan, China towards the end of 2019, has spread globally since January of 2020. Since then, the disease has been classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a pandemic. More than a year on since this declaration, the disease has spread across the globe, claiming more than […]
National
Scrub typhus, an overlooked condition
Scrub typhus is a little known disease that goes overlooked in India. Its burden is thought to be significantly underestimated due to a lack of available data and low public awareness. Scrub typhus is caused by being bitten by chiggers (larval mites) infected with the bacteria Orientia tsutsugamushi, which belongs to the Rickettsiaceae bacteria family. […]
Zoonotic diseases must be a priority in India
Zoonotic diseases have long been a blight to India. COVID-19 has underlined this issue, but India is no stranger to a host of other zoonotic diseases. In an exclusive interview with BusinessLine, Atul Chaturvedi, Secretary of the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying introduced the concept of “One Health”. The One Health framework underlines […]
COVID-19 in India, is the worst over?
Just 9,283 new COVID-19 cases have been recorded in the last 24 hours, according to the Union Health Ministry. Such figures are encouraging, indicative that after a period of being the most heavily affected nation, India has turned the tables. “Even after Diwali, we are not seeing a surge,” Dr M D Gupte, former director […]
Dengue fever outbreak continues to spread
Still reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic, India’s already overburdened health system is now grappling with one of the worst Dengue fever outbreaks in recent years. Since the beginning of the Dengue outbreak in late August in Firozabad city in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh there have been 116,991 cases nationally. According to The […]
Heart disease is not just a concern among the elderly
The recent deaths of celebrities Puneeth Rajkumar and Siddharth Shukla due to cardiac arrest have once again brought heart disease to the forefront of public attention. The key message derived from Indian cardiologists, as well as cardiologists across the globe is that heart disease is not just a disease of the elderly. As reported by […]
Northeast India: The country’s cancer capital?
A government report suggests northeast India is emerging as leading India’s number of new cancer cases. “Profile of Cancer and Related Health Indicators in the North East Region of India”, a joint report by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the National Centre for Disease Informatics and Research (NCDIR), found the region accounts […]
Air quality standards to be rethought next year
India is to review its air quality standards next year, addressing an environmental and public health issue of significant concern. New national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) are likely, reports indicate. Discussions are said to be considering ultra-fine particulate matter (PM0.1), smaller than fine particulate matter or PM 2.5 which denotes particular matter of 2.5 […]
Vaccine drive crosses 55 crore, unused doses remain
According to a provisional report, India’s vaccine drive surpassed the milestone of administering 55 crore and set a record in the last 24 hours. However, many vaccine doses provided to states and union territories remain unused. The past 24 hours saw 88.13 lakh doses administered, taking the cumulative number of shots in arms to 554,730,609 […]
Five kidneys after third kidney transplant
The Madras Medical Mission College in the Tamil Nadu state capital Chennai performed a kidney transplant for a 41-year-old man – the third time he has undergone such a procedure. Reports indicate that the man, who is said by surgeons to be recovering well, experienced kidney failure aged twelve and subsequently underwent his first kidney […]