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NEWS & EVENTS

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26/Oct/2021

A new mutated form of coronavirus that some are calling “Delta Plus” may spread more easily than regular Delta, UK experts now say.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has moved it up into the “variant under investigation” category, to reflect this possible risk.

There is no evidence yet that it causes worse illness.

And scientists are confident that existing vaccines should still work well to protect people.

Although regular Delta still accounts for most Covid infections in the UK, cases of “Delta Plus” or AY.4.2 have been increasing.

Latest official data suggests 6% of Covid cases are of this type.

Experts say it is unlikely to take off in a big way or escape current vaccines. But officials say there is some early evidence that it may have an increased growth rate in the UK compared to Delta.

“This sub-lineage has become increasingly common in the UK in recent months, and there is some early evidence that it may have an increased growth rate in the UK compared to Delta,” the UKHSA said.

Unlike Delta, however, it is not yet considered a “variant of concern” – the highest category assigned to variants according to their level of risk.

There are thousands of different types – or variants – of Covid circulating across the world. Viruses mutate all the time, so it is not surprising to see new versions emerge.

AY.4.2 is an offshoot of Delta that includes some new mutations affecting the spike protein, which the virus uses to penetrate our cells.

The mutations – Y145H and A222V – have been found in various other coronavirus lineages since the beginning of the pandemic.

A few cases have also been identified in the US. There had been some in Denmark, but new infections with AY.4.2 have since gone down there.

The UK is already offering booster doses of Covid vaccine to higher risk people ahead of winter, to make sure they have the fullest protection against coronavirus.

There is no suggestion that a new update of the vaccine will be needed to protect against any of the existing variants of the pandemic virus.

Dr Jenny Harries, Chief Executive of the UKHSA, said: “The public health advice is the same for all current variants. Get vaccinated and, for those eligible, come forward for your third or booster dose as appropriate as soon as you are called.

“Continue to exercise caution. Wear a mask in crowded spaces and, when meeting people indoors, open windows and doors to ventilate the room. If you have symptoms take a PCR test and isolate at home until you receive a negative result.”


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26/Oct/2021

US surgeons say they have successfully given a pig’s kidney to a person in a transplant breakthrough they hope could ultimately solve donor organ shortages.

The recipient was brain-dead, meaning they were already on artificial life support with no prospect of recovering.

The kidney came from a pig that had been genetically modified to stop the organ being recognised by the body as “foreign” and being rejected.

The work is not yet peer-reviewed or published but there are plans for this.

Experts say it is the most advanced experiment in the field so far.

Similar tests have been done in non-human primates, but not people, until now.

Using pigs for transplants is not a new idea though. Pig heart valves are already widely used in humans.

And their organs are a good match for people when it comes to size.

During the two-hour operation at the New York University Langone Health medical centre, the surgeons connected the donor pig kidney to the blood vessels of the brain-dead recipient to see if it would function normally once plumbed in, or be rejected.

Over the next two-and-a-half days they closely monitored the kidney, running numerous checks and tests.

Lead investigator Dr Robert Montgomery told the BBC’s World Tonight programme: “We observed a kidney that basically functioned like a human kidney transplant, that appeared to be compatible in as much as it did all the things that a normal human kidney would do.

“It functioned normally, and did not appear to be undergoing rejection.”

The surgeons transplanted a bit of the pig’s thymus gland too, along with the kidney. They think this organ might help stop the human body rejecting the kidney in the long term by mopping up any stray immune cells that might otherwise fight the pig tissue.

A heart transplant recipient himself, Dr Montgomery says there is an urgent need for finding more organs for people on waiting lists, although he acknowledges his work is controversial.

“The traditional paradigm that someone has to die for someone else to live is never going to keep up.

“I certainly understand the concern and what I would say is that currently about 40% of patients who are waiting for a transplant die before they receive one.

“We use pigs as a source of food, we use pigs for medicinal uses – for valves, for medication. I think it’s not that different.”

He said it was still early research and more studies were needed, but added: “It gives us, I think, new confidence that it’s going to be all right to move this into the clinic.”

The family of the recipient, who had wanted to be an organ donor, gave permission for the surgery to go ahead.

US regulator the FDA has approved the use of the genetically modified pig organs for this type of research use.

Dr Montgomery believes that within a decade, other pig organs – hearts, lung and livers – could be given to humans needing transplants.


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26/Oct/2021

In a report released Monday, a national committee urged Tanzania to disclose COVID-19 cases to the World Health Organization and join the COVAX Facility — which is aimed at equitable vaccine access globally — to obtain free doses.

In early April, Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan announced the formation of an expert committee to evaluate the nation’s COVID-19 response, following a year of denial, misinformation, and a lack of transparency from the government led by then-President John Magufuli. He died in March, with suspicions that he succumbed to the coronavirus.

The country has not reported any COVID-19 figures since May 2020, leaving the total count at 509 cases and 21 deaths, which WHO called “very concerning” in February. In the report submitted to Hassan, the committee said that the country has gone through two major waves of the pandemic and that it is vulnerable to a third. The committee called on the government to report accurate information about the pandemic to both its citizens and WHO.

While the country is eligible for free vaccines from COVAX, Magufuli’s administration took no steps to receive doses and warned the population about being used as “guinea pigs” for vaccination. The committee advised Tanzania to submit the necessary documentation to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to start receiving doses.

The committee also called on Hassan to strengthen COVID-19 prevention efforts, comply with international resolutions, strengthen diagnostic capacity, finalize a COVID-19 treatment guide for health workers, use traditional medicines only if they are proven by science, update disaster response plans, and work to establish domestic vaccine manufacturing facilities.

 


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30/Jun/2020

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30/Jun/2020

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