India Narrative

The World Health Organization (WHO) has sounded an alert about a mysterious liver disease outbreak affecting children in Europe and the United States as it said at least one death has been reported due to the ailment. The WHO said that it has so far received reports of at least 169 cases of “acute hepatitis of unknown origin” from a dozen countries. The cases were reported in children ranging from one month to 16 years of age, and 17 of those who fell ill required liver transplants. The UN health agency did not mention in which country the death occurred. The first cases were recorded in the UK, where 114 children were infected. “It is not yet clear if there has been an increase in hepatitis cases, or an increase in awareness of hepatitis cases that occur at the expected rate but go undetected,” WHO said in a statement. Experts say the cases may be linked to a virus commonly associated with colds, but further research is still going on. “While adenovirus is a possible hypothesis, inve

  The World Health Organization approved two new treatments for curing Covid-19 patients on Friday as Omicron cases continued to surge worldwide. WHO experts said arthritis drug baricitinib used with corticosteroids to treat severe or critical Covid patients led to better survival rates and reduced need for ventilators. Experts also recommended synthetic antibody treatment drug Sotrovimab for people with non-serious Covid at highest risk of hospitalization, such as the elderly, people with immunodeficiencies, or chronic diseases such as diabetes. Sotrovimab's benefits for people not at risk of hospitalization were deemed insignificant and the WHO said its effectiveness against new variants like Omicron was still uncertain. The recommendations have been published in British Medical Journal  BMJ. Only three other treatments for Covid-19 have received WHO approval, starting with corticosteroids for severely ill patients in September 2020. Read More