Mangaluru, Jun 15: The case of two elderly Dubai returnees who are being treated for Covid-19 at the Wenlock Covid-19 Hospital has left doctors perplexed.
The two aged 76 and 81 men had arrived from Dubai on May 18 and 12 respectively and are at the hospital since one month.
To everyone's surprise, six of their tests have come out positive though they have not shown any symptoms of SARS-CoV-2.
Washington, Jun 30: Researchers in China have discovered a new type of swine flu that is capable of triggering a pandemic, according to a study published Monday in the US science journal PNAS.
Named G4, it is genetically descended from the H1N1 strain that caused a pandemic in 2009.
It possesses "all the essential hallmarks of being highly adapted to infect humans," say the authors, scientists at Chinese universities and China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
The researchers then carried out various experiments including on ferrets, which are widely used in flu studies because they experience similar symptoms to humans -- principally fever, coughing and sneezing.
G4 was observed to be highly infectious, replicating in human cells and causing more serious symptoms in ferrets than other viruses.
Tests also showed that any immunity humans gain from exposure to seasonal flu does not provide protection from G4.
According to blood tests which showed up antibodies created by exposure to the virus, 10.4 percent of swine workers had already been infected.
The tests showed that as many as 4.4 percent of the general population also appeared to have been exposed.
The virus has therefore already passed from animals to humans but there is no evidence yet that it can be passed from human to human -- the scientists' main worry.
"It is of concern that human infection of G4 virus will further human adaptation and increase the risk of a human pandemic," the researchers wrote.
The authors called for urgent measures to monitor people working with pigs.
"The work comes as a salutary reminder that we are constantly at risk of new emergence of zoonotic pathogens and that farmed animals, with which humans have greater contact than with wildlife, may act as the source for important pandemic viruses," said James Wood, head of the department of veterinary medicine at Cambridge University.
A zoonotic infection is caused by a pathogen that has jumped from a non-human animal into a human.
Mysuru, Mar 27: A 35-year old man from Mysuru, Karnataka was tested positive for coronavirus infection on Thursday, taking the state-wide count to 52 altogether.
This new case could be an indication that Covid-19 has entered into the third stage of community transmission in Karnataka, as the infected person neither has any travel history nor have been in contact with Covid-affected persons.
The patient works in the quality assurance section of a pharmaceutical company in Nanjangud in Mysuru district, and has been in continuous contact with medical care professionals.
Mysuru DC Mr Abhiram G Shankar informs that detailed investigation is under process.
He is currently undergoing treatment at an isolation ward in a designated hospital in Mysuru. So far his seven primary contacts have been traced and they are under home quarantine, Mr Abhiram Shankar said.
A 35 year old Mysurean, and another 46 year old Keralite, both who had come from Dubai, were the first and second cases tested positive for Covid-19 in Mysuru. They are also currently kept under isolation.
Mysuru district administration has identified 898 international passengers in Mysuru district including 152 in the taluks. Among them, while 149 persons have completed home quarantine period by now, the rest are still in isolation.
Kasaragod, Mar 31: The latest incidents of critically-ill patients dying due to lack of medical attention has been a cause of concern for the people here who had largely been depended on hospitals in Mangalore.
However the lock down has hindered follow-up treatment for these critically ill as the Karnataka authorities has been steadfast in restricting entry into their land.
The people of Kasaragod has been largely depended on the medical facilities in Mangalore for critical illness care. It was the gross inadequacies in critical healthcare in the district besides rather-easy proximity to nearby and bigger town that many residing on the north-east of the district have since long been making it to Mangalore for treatment of critical illness like cancer, dialysis and the alike.
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