Showing posts with label UK. Show all posts
Showing posts with label UK. Show all posts

Thursday, February 6, 2020

Latest Information On the Wuhan's Corona Virus Infection







New cases of infection with a novel strain of coronavirus, which emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan, are being reported daily around the world.

In China, at least 563 people have died, the government said on Wednesday. At least 28,000 people have been infected across the country's mainland.

The virus has killed two people outside of mainland China, one in Hong Kong and another in the Philippines.

At least 25 countries have confirmed cases.

Countries around the world have rushed to evacuate their citizens from Hubei and Wuhan, while many have also imposed extraordinary travel restrictions on travelers to and from China.

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has called for greater solidarity among the international community, and criticized governments for being "well behind" in sharing data on virus cases.
Scores of cases have also been confirmed in several countries in the Asia-Pacific region as well as Europe, North America and the Middle East.

Here are the countries and territories that have so far confirmed cases of the new coronavirus:

Australia - 14

Australia has confirmed 14 cases of the virus as of February 5, including three people who have already been discharged from hospital. Most of the patients arrived in the country from Wuhan or Hubei province.

Belgium - 1
Belgium said on February 4 that one of nine repatriated Belgians from Wuhan has tested positive for the coronavirus.

Cambodia - 1
Cambodia confirmed its first case of coronavirus on January 27.
Minister of Health Mam Bunheng said the patient was a 60-year-old Chinese national in the coastal city of Sihanoukville.

Canada - 4
Canada has confirmed four cases of the coronavirus as of February 5. 

China - 20,438
As of February 5, the number of people infected was confirmed at 24,324 in mainland China, most of them in and around Wuhan.
At least 490 people have died, nearly all of them in Hubei Province, but officials have confirmed a number of deaths elsewhere, including in the capital, Beijing
The city of Macau, a gambling hub hugely popular with mainland tourists, has confirmed 10 cases.
Hong Kong reported its first death from the disease on February 4 of a man who had travelled from Wuhan. At least 21 people, including the deceased man, were confirmed to have been infected.

Finland - 1 
A Chinese tourist who was admitted to hospital for tests was confirmed on January 29 as having been infected with the coronavirus.
The patient is said to be a 32-year-old woman from Wuhan.

France - 6
There are six confirmed cases of the coronavirus in France, the first European country to be affected. The most recent was a doctor who contracted the virus after treating patients. 

France's health minister has said it is likely that there will be more cases and that authorities are surveying everyone the patients have come into contact with since arriving in France.

Germany - 12
Germany has registered 12 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, with a majority of the patients in the southern state of Bavaria.

India - 3
On February 3, a third positive case of the coronavirus was reported in India's southern state of Kerala, the country's health ministry said.

All three are students who returned from Wuhan, according to local media. 

Italy - 2 
Doctors confirmed on January 30 that two Chinese tourists had tested positive for the coronavirus in Italy.
The tourists, reportedly a husband and wife, were being held in isolation in the Spallanzani Infectious Diseases Institute in Rome.

Japan - 33
On February 5, 10 new cases were confirmed in Japan, raising the country's total to 33.

Malaysia - 12
Malaysia on February 5 said two of its nationals who were flown back from Wuhan tested positive for the coronavirus, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 12.

Singapore - 28
Singapore on February 5 announced four more cases, including in a six-month-old baby, taking its tally to 28. 
Both parents of the infant, a Singaporean citizen, have also been infected, the health ministry said. 
Several of the cases in Singapore have involved human-to-human transmission.

South Korea - 19
On February 5, South Korea raised its total number of infections to 19.
The latest cases involved two men who had tested positive for the virus after attending a business conference in Singapore

Nepal - 1
Nepal said on January 24 that a 32-year-old man arriving from Wuhan had tested positive for coronavirus.
The patient, who was initially quarantined, recovered and was discharged. The government said surveillance has been increased at the airport "and suspicious patients entering Nepal are being monitored".

The Philippines - 3
Philippine health officials confirmed a third case of coronavirus on February 5, including the first death from coronavirus outside China, which was announced on February 2.

Russia - 2
Russia reported its first two cases of coronavirus on January 31.
Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova said the infected patients were Chinese nationals who had now been isolated in the Zabaikalsky region, which borders China, and in the Tyumen region, bordering Kazakhstan.

Spain - 1
Spain reported its first case on January 31 in a man on the island of La Gomera in the Canary Islands. He was one of five people isolated after coming into contact with an infected German man.

Sri Lanka - 1
Sri Lanka confirmed its first case of coronavirus on January 27.
The patient was identified as a 43-year-old Chinese woman from Hubei Province who had arrived in Sri Lanka as a tourist. She was admitted to the Infectious Diseases Hospital.

Sweden - 1
On January 31, Sweden's Public Health Agency said a woman had tested positive for coronavirus and was being kept isolated at a hospital in southern Sweden.
The woman had visited the Wuhan area in China and began coughing after she arrived in Sweden. She contacted a hospital in southern Sweden, where she is being treated. She is not gravely ill, the agency said.

Taiwan - 11
Taiwan has confirmed 11 cases, including two Chinese women in their 70s who arrived in the country as part of a tour group.

Thailand - 25
Thailand confirmed six new cases on February 4, four of them Thai nationals and two Chinese, bringing the total number of coronavirus patients in the country to 25.

United Arab Emirates - 5
The UAE confirmed its fifth case on February 1 in a Chinese national who came from Wuhan. UAE authorities previously said at least four Chinese nationals from one family had been confirmed to have coronavirus.
They were the first cases reported in the Middle East.

United Kingdom - 2
The UK confirmed its first two cases of coronavirus on January 31 in two patients from the same family in England. 
"The patients are receiving specialist NHS care, and we are using tried and tested infection control procedures to prevent further spread of the virus," said Chris Whitty, England's chief medical officer.

United States - 12
The US confirmed 12 cases of the virus on February 5. There are six in California, two in Illinois, one each in Arizona, Massachusetts, Wisconsin and Washington state.

Vietnam - 10
A 30-year-old Vietnamese man, who returned from Wuhan, and one more unidentified person tested positive for coronavirus on February 4, bringing the number of infected people to 10.

Monday, June 5, 2017

Prostate Cancer Trial Stuns Researchers






'It's a once in a career feeling'

Study with ‘powerful results’ finds that combining two existing therapies could extend the life of men with advanced, high-risk prostate cancer by 37%

Combining two existing prostate cancer therapies could extend the life of men with advanced, high-risk prostate cancer by 37%, according to a study presented at the world’s largest cancer conference. The new findings could change how doctors first approach treatment of prostate cancer.

“These are the most powerful results I’ve seen from a prostate cancer trial,” said Nicholas James, the lead author of the abstract presented as the American Society of Clinical Oncology. “It’s a once in a career feeling. This is one of the biggest reductions in death I’ve seen in any clinical trial for adult cancers.”

Researchers combined standard hormone therapy with a drug called abiraterone , which is typically used only for cancer patients whose disease has stopped responding to standard hormone therapy. The research was conducted as part of the Stampede trial, an ongoing randomized trial conducted in the UK and Switzerland.

“Abiraterone not only prolonged life, but also lowered the chance of relapse by 70% and reduced the chance of serious bone complications by 50%,” James said. “Based on the magnitude of clinical benefit, we believe the upfront care for patients newly diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer should change.”

The study looked at a group of 2,000 men. Patients who received both abiraterone and normal hormone therapy were significantly less likely to die, compared to patients who received only hormone therapy.

Comparatively, 83% of men assigned abiraterone therapy survived versus 76% of men on standard hormone therapy. Researchers also found that patients who received both medications had slightly stronger side effects, especially cardiovascular and liver problems.

One patient who participated in the trial, Alfred Samuels, 59, was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer in January 2012. “It felt like my world fell apart overnight,” Samuels said. “The doctors explained that surgery wasn’t an option for me because the cancer had spread beyond my prostate.”

“As part of the trial, I started taking abiraterone four times a day and had a hormone injection every eight weeks,” he said. “During the first six months, tests showed that the treatment was working. I’m still on the trial, which I find reassuring and, fortunately, my cancer is being managed well.”

More than 27,000 men in the US and 11,000 men in the UK die of prostate cancer each year, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prostate Cancer UK. In the US, aside from skin cancer, it is the most common cancer in men.

“The potential benefits of giving some men abiraterone alongside hormone therapy are clearly impressive and we will be working with all relevant bodies to make sure this treatment becomes an option available for these men via the NHS,” said Dr Iain Frame, director of research at Prostate Cancer UK.

Source:      The Guardian