Month: October 2021

In Malawi, health authorities say an outbreak of scabies around the commercial capital of Blantyre has affected more than 300 people. Scabies is a contagious, intensely itchy skin condition caused by tiny mites that burrow into the skin.  “We started seeing cases from June and we have seen that the cases have been increasing such that by the end of September we had seen 255 cases. But as I am talking now, as of October, the number has risen to 309 cases,” says Chrissy Banda, the spokesperson for Blantyre District Health Office. Residents of Blantyre like Matilda Lamba say the outbreak is concerning, especially with records indicating that it is more prevalent in rural areas. “Those people from villages they come in town. You know we buy things from then like agriculture commodities, we interact with them daily and right at the moment we are very afraid that we might catch the scabies,” she notes. But Banda says people should not panic, saying efforts are under way to stop the outbreak. “In our facilities the treatment is there. We have a lot of scabicides; the treatment for scabies. So first thing, we identify the cases, and then we are treating the cases to make sure that we block the transmission.” The scabies outbreak comes at a time when Malawi is starting to recover from COVID-19, currently registering low infection and death rates. George Jobe, executive director of the Malawi Health Equity Network says although the scabies outbreak is scary, the good news is that its preventive measures are similar to those that prevent COVID-19, like hand washing and observing social distancing. In …

The United States is sending more than 4.8 million coronavirus vaccine doses to four African nations, the White House told VOA on Wednesday. White House officials said the 55-member African Union determined the allocations. Landlocked Chad, one of the world’s poorest nations, will get 115,830 doses; populous U.S. ally Egypt will receive 3,634,020 doses; West Coast oil producer Gabon is to get 101,790 doses and East Coast bulwark Kenya will receive 990,990 doses. The donated Pfizer vaccine doses should all arrive in the countries by Friday or Saturday, White House officials said. That vaccine requires two shots for full immunity, and American authorities have recommended that certain high-risk groups should receive booster shots of that vaccine after their initial course. The move follows an announcement earlier in the week that the United States would allow the African Union to purchase an allotment of 33 million doses of the two-shot Moderna vaccine that were originally intended for the United States. “As the president has said, the virus knows no borders, and it is going to require every company and every country to step up and take bold, urgent action to stop the spread of COVID-19 and save lives,” said Natalie Quillian, White House deputy COVID-19 response coordinator. “We are grateful to have helped negotiate this encouraging step forward between Moderna and the African Union that will significantly expand access to vaccines on the continent in the near term. This is an important action, as we continue to expand manufacturing capacity now …

A cheap antidepressant reduced the need for hospitalization among high-risk adults with COVID-19 in a study that was looking for existing drugs that could be repurposed to treat coronavirus. Researchers tested the pill used for depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder because it was known to reduce inflammation and looked promising in smaller studies. They’ve shared the results with the U.S. National Institutes of Health, which publishes treatment guidelines, and they hope for a World Health Organization recommendation. “If WHO recommends this, you will see it widely taken up,” said study co-author Dr. Edward Mills of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, adding that many poor nations have the drug readily available. “We hope it will lead to a lot of lives saved.” The pill, called fluvoxamine, would cost $4 for a course of COVID-19 treatment. By comparison, antibody IV treatments cost about $2,000 and Merck’s experimental antiviral pill for COVID-19 is about $700 per course. Some experts predict various treatments eventually will be used in combination to fight the coronavirus. Researchers tested the antidepressant in nearly 1,500 Brazilians recently infected with coronavirus who were at risk of severe illness because of other health problems, such as diabetes. About half took the antidepressant at home for 10 days, the rest got dummy pills. They were tracked for four weeks to see who landed in the hospital or spent extended time in an emergency room when hospitals were full. In the group that took the drug, 11% needed hospitalization or an extended ER stay, …

Wildlife officials and environmental groups in Florida are raising an alarm over the unprecedented die-off this year of manatees, the large, slow-moving sea animals that are the southeastern U.S. state’s official marine mammal.  The latest figures from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission show that as of October 15, 974 manatees have been found dead, more than twice the number that died all of last year and more than any other year on record. The number represents more than 10% of the total population of manatees in the state.  Officials fear the onset of winter and colder weather could bring another wave of deaths.  Environmental officials say there is no real mystery for the die-off. They say over the past 10 years, seagrass, the primary food for the animals, has been steadily declining.  When wildlife officials conducted postmortem examinations on the bodies found in the first half of the year, the vast majority were found to have starved to death.  Environmental experts say the seagrass is being killed off by declining water quality traced to man-made sources such as fertilizer runoff, wastewater discharges and other pollutants. State estimates show that since 2009, about 58% of the seagrass has been lost in the Indian River Lagoon, a prime habitat for manatees, The Associated Press reported.  The Florida Legislature this year approved $8 million in funding for a manatee habitat restoration program run by state and federal environmental officials.  The Associated Press reports the Fish and Wildlife Commission is calling for state …

U.S. federal law enforcement agencies and Europol announced dozens of arrests to break up a global operation that sold illegal drugs using a shadowy realm of the internet.  At a Department of Justice news conference Tuesday in Washington, officials said they arrested 150 people for allegedly selling illicit drugs, including fake prescription opioids and cocaine, over the so-called darknet. Those charged are alleged to have carried out tens of thousands of illegal sales using a part of the internet that is accessible only by using specialized anonymity tools.  The 10-month dragnet called “Operation HunTor” — named after encrypted internet tools — resulted in the seizure of 234 kilograms of drugs, including amphetamines, cocaine and opioids worth more than $31 million. Officials said many of the confiscated drugs were fake prescription pills laced with the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl. The counterfeit tablets are linked to a wave of drug overdoses. “This international law enforcement operation spanned across three continents and sends one clear message to those hiding on the darknet peddling illegal drugs: there is no dark internet,” said U.S. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco.  Investigators rounded up and arrested 65 people in the United States. Other arrests occurred in Australia, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. In addition to counterfeit medicine, authorities also confiscated more than 200,000 ecstasy, fentanyl, oxycodone, hydrocodone, and methamphetamine pills.  “We face new and increasingly dangerous threats as drug traffickers expand into the digital world and use the darknet to sell …

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth has pulled out of the COP26 conference in Glasgow next week after she was advised by doctors to rest, Buckingham Palace said on Tuesday, in a blow to the United Nations climate summit. A palace source said the decision to not attend had been taken as a “sensible precaution” and to let everyone know in advance. The queen remains in good spirits and wants COP26 to be a success, the source added. “Following advice to rest, The Queen has been undertaking light duties at Windsor Castle,” Buckingham Palace said. “Her Majesty has regretfully decided that she will no longer travel to Glasgow to attend the Evening Reception of COP26 on Monday, 1st November.” The 95-year-old queen, the world’s oldest and longest-reigning monarch, stayed overnight in hospital last Wednesday after undergoing “preliminary investigations” for an unspecified but not COVID-19 related ailment. She carried out her first official engagement since the hospital stay earlier on Tuesday, holding two virtual audiences to welcome the new ambassadors to Britain from South Korea and Switzerland. Elizabeth, who is queen of 15 other realms including Australia, Canada and New Zealand and next year celebrates 70 years on the throne, is known for her robust health and still carrying out many public duties. News of the cancellation is likely to raise concerns about her health. She was recently overheard saying she was irritated by world leaders who talk about climate change but do nothing to tackle it. The queen had been due to attend …

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s independent advisory committee is meeting Tuesday to consider giving emergency approval to the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11. While it is considered rare for younger children to become seriously ill or die from COVID-19, FDA vaccines chief Dr. Peter Marks told the panel Tuesday that 1.9 million children in the 5 to 11 age group have tested positive and 8,300 have been hospitalized in the United States. Of those hospitalized, one-third needed intensive care and nearly 100 died.  If the children’s dose of the vaccine is approved as expected, officials say they hope it will help close a major gap in the U.S. vaccine campaign that has worried parents, educators and public health leaders. Last week, the White House said it has already obtained enough vaccine for all 28 million children in the United States who would become eligible, and established a network of pediatricians, pharmacies and other health care providers to quickly distribute the shots. Pending FDA approval, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s independent advisory committee is expected to consider the proposal next week.  Moderna vaccine In a related development, U.S.-based pharmaceutical company Moderna said a clinical trial shows that a low dose of its COVID-19 vaccine is safe for children between 6 and 11 years of age.  The company says it inoculated more than 4,700 children with its two-dose vaccine about 28 days apart, with each shot about half the strength given to adults. Preliminary results …

Global pledges to cut greenhouse gas emissions are just a fraction of what’s needed to prevent catastrophic global warming, according to a new report from the United Nations Environment Program. The warning comes ahead of the critical COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow which begins next week.  World leaders pledged to restrict global warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels at the Paris Climate Summit in 2015. However, those promises are not being matched with policies, according to the United Nations Emissions Gap Report 2021, published Tuesday. The report warns that new commitments to reduce emissions made in the run-up to the Glasgow summit — known as Nationally Determined Contributions or NDCs — will reduce greenhouse gases by just 7.5% by 2030, compared to previous pledges. Restricting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius would require emissions cuts of 55 percent. “Following an unprecedented drop of 5.4 percent in 2020, global carbon dioxide emissions are bouncing back to pre-COVID-19 levels,” the report says. “A strong rebound in emissions is expected in 2021. Preliminary estimates suggest fossil energy CO2 emissions could grow by 4.8 percent in 2021… and global emissions in 2021 are expected to be only slightly lower than the record level of 2019.”  Petteri Taalas, the secretary-general of the U.N.’s World Meteorological Organization, said Monday the world is on course for potentially disastrous climate change. “So far, we have heard lots of political support for enhanced ambition of mitigation, but the concrete pledges have still been missing, and at the …

U.S.-based pharmaceutical company Moderna says a clinical trial shows that a low dose of its COVID-19 vaccine is safe for children between 6 and 11 years old.  The company says it inoculated more than 4,700 children with its two-dose vaccine about 28 days apart, with each shot about half the strength given to adults. Preliminary results show the antibody levels in the children were the same levels as those seen in young adults who received a full dose of the vaccine.  Moderna says the children suffered mild side effects from the vaccine such as fatigue, headache, fever and pain at the site of the injection.  The number of test subjects was too small to detect any rare side effects such as myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart, which has been detected mostly among boys and young men who received either the Moderna or the Pfizer vaccine.   The study has not been published by any peer-reviewed journal, but Moderna says it will soon present its findings to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other global drug regulators. The FDA is meeting Tuesday to review an application by Pfizer and its German-based partner, BioNTech, to offer its vaccine for children between 5 and 11 years old. In a related development, Reuters is reporting that the African Union will purchase up to 110 million doses of the Moderna vaccine.  The AU will receive 15 million doses before the end of the year, with another 35 million doses arriving in the first quarter of 2022 and up to 60 million in the …

Coal-rich Australia unveiled a much-delayed 2050 net zero emissions target Tuesday, in a plan that pointedly dodged thorny details or near-term goals ahead of a landmark UN climate summit.  Widely seen as a climate laggard, Australia is one of the world’s largest coal and gas exporters.    For the last eight years, its conservative government has resisted action to reduce emissions, routinely approving new coal projects and peddling skepticism about climate change.  Under domestic and international pressure, Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Tuesday announced a shift in approach and acknowledged the “world is changing,” Australians want policy that “does the right thing on climate change”, he said, adding the phenomenon “is real, it’s happening. We understand it and we recognize it.”  Just how Australia will get to net zero by 2050 carbon emissions remains unclear, with the government refusing to release its modeling.  The plan would invest US$15 billion in low-emission technologies over the next decade, but it also leans heavily on unproven technologies and carbon offsets, which critics deride as an accounting gimmick.    And Morrison was keen to stress he was not dropping long-running support for the country’s lucrative fossil fuel industry.  “It will not shut down our coal or gas production or exports,” Morrison told a press conference. “It will not cost jobs, not in farming, mining or gas.”  While backing away from demands for more ambitious 2030 targets, Morrison said he expects Australia to “meet and beat” the previously agreed goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 26-28 percent on 2005 levels.    He said …

The battle to stem climate change may be lost as new information indicates the Amazon rain forest is turning from a carbon sink – or area that absorbs CO2 – into a source of carbon dioxide, the World Meteorological Organization warns.  The latest edition of the WMO’s Greenhouse Gas Bulletin reports emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide once again broke all records last year. The U.N. agency’s report warns the concentrations of these greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere are driving climate change. It says carbon dioxide, the single most important greenhouse gas, accounts for approximately 66 percent of the warming effect on the climate. The secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organization, Petteri Taalas, says about half of CO2 emissions remains in the atmosphere for centuries. He says the other half is taken up by oceans and land ecosystems. He says it is not clear for how much longer forested areas, often referred to as the lungs of the Earth, will continue to act as effective carbon sinks.  “We have already seen some alarming indications that, for example, Amazonian rain forest ecosystem, which used to be a major sink of carbon, has become now a source of carbon, which is alarming,” Taalas said. “And this is related to deforestation in the area and also changes in local climate because of this deforestation.” Oksana Tarasova, who heads the WMO’s Atmospheric and Environment Research Division, says the WMO only now is revealing this new finding because it has taken nine …

Health care activists in Cameroon are visiting homes, markets and farms this month, encouraging women to get free screenings for breast cancer. The central African state says the number of women diagnosed with breast cancer has risen sharply over the past year because many women delayed screenings for fear of COVID-19 infections. The push to increase screenings is part of this year’s breast cancer awareness month in October. Civilians, mostly women, visit various neighborhoods in Yaoundé asking people to go to hospitals for free breast cancer screening. Each group of a dozen people includes medical staff members, representatives of healthy living organizations, cancer patients and their family members. Among those participating is 24-year-old Amin Ruth Tabi of the Noela Lyonga Foundation, a Cameroon-based NGO. The foundation’s main objective is giving hope to persons who have lost hope either due to frustration, stress or ill health. Tabi says she wants to stop people from dying from breast cancer. “Every female seven to ten days after menstruation is supposed to conduct a breast self-examination to look for abnormal nodules, redness, fluid coming from the nipples, orange skin appearance on the breast because breast cancer is treated well and quickly when it is noticed at an early stage,” she said. Cameron’s Health Ministry said several thousand women came out in at least 11 towns including the capital Yaoundé, the commercial capital Douala and the English-speaking western towns of Kumba, Buea, Limbe, and Bamenda Kumbo. Claudette Mani, 36, says she was diagnosed with breast …

The director-general of the World Health Organization said Sunday that unless countries use existing tools in the fight against the pandemic effectively, there will be no end in sight. “The pandemic will end when the world chooses to end it,” Tedros said addressing World Health Summit, a global forum held in Germany. “We have all the tools we need — effective public health tools and effective medical tools. But the world has not used those tools well,” Tedros said, addressing participants drawn from 100 countries online. The barriers to fulfilling WHO’s goal of vaccinating 40% of every country’s population against the coronavirus are “politics and profit,” the WHO chief said, “not production.” “The countries that have already reached the 40% target, including all G-20 countries, must give their place in the vaccine delivery queue to COVAX and the African Vaccines Acquisition Trust,” Tedros said. COVAX is the international collaboration established for the equitable distribution of the COVID vaccine. The WHO official also urged vaccine producers to “prioritize and fulfil their contracts with COVAX and AVAT [the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust]” and become “far more transparent about what is going where.” AVAT is an African Union initiative focusing on providing access to COVID-19 vaccines across Africa.  He urged vaccine manufacturers to “share know-how, technology and licenses, and waive intellectual property rights.” “We’re not asking for charity,” Tedros said,” we’re calling for a common-sense investment in the global recovery.”  A report in The Washington Post says Americans living abroad are struggling to …

“Coral reefs are amazing and beautiful, and we must conserve them,” Sam Purkis, chair of the department of marine geosciences at the University of Miami, told VOA. Although coral reefs only cover 0.1% of the ocean floor, they are a lifeline for the planet.  With the most biodiverse marine ecosystem on earth, they contain 25% of all marine life, including more than 4,000 fish species. Besides food, “corals provide economic, ecological and even cultural value,” where local communities living near the reefs bond over fishing activities, explained Robert Richmond, director of the Kewalo Marine Laboratory at the University of Hawaii. “Corals also hold potential drugs from the sea, the vast majority of which we haven’t discovered yet,” Nancy Knowlton, scientist emeritus at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, said during an interview with VOA. However, coral experts have sounded the alarm that the reefs could disappear, threatened by a number of factors, including pollution, overfishing and especially climate change. The latest study on the status of coral reefs, released earlier this month by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, blamed climate change for killing 14% of coral reefs in just one decade. “Large-scale bleaching events caused by elevated sea surface temperatures are the greatest disturbance to the world’s coral reefs,” the report said. Despite the gloomy picture, coral reef experts say there is hope, despite significant coral losses worldwide. “We still have corals that are healthy, but it requires a massive global effort to protect them,” said Elizabeth Mcleod, leader of The Nature Conservancy’s global reef …

Millions of people in the United States are gearing up to get COVID-19 booster shots amid ongoing controversy over vaccine mandates. Michelle Quinn reports. Produced by: Mary Cieslak  …