Ebola Stays Put in Uganda

My September 28 post “Crashing Ringgit And Rising Inflation” had mentioned about an Ebola outbreak in Uganda. Regrettably, it has become a really serious problem. 

And to make matters worse, the current epidemic in Uganda is of the Sudan strain of the virus, for which there is no approved vaccine, unlike the more common Zaire strain. 

[Note: Merck’s Ervebo vaccine (rVSV-ZEBOV), which WHO said had limited infections and saved lives, was developed rapidly during the 2014-16 epidemic but came too late to have a significant impact at the time. Still, it was used during an outbreak in the west of the Democratic Republic of Congo. There’s also a second vaccine by Johnson & Johnson and which has been approved for use by the European Medicines Agency. But neither of these vaccines has been tested against the Sudan strain]. 

The CDC’s outbreak update as at October 12, 2022: 

• Total cases: 74 (54 confirmed, 20 probable) 
• Total deaths: 39 (19 confirmed, 20 probable) 
• Case-Fatality Proportion: 52.7% 
• Total recoveries: 14 
• Districts affected: 5 (Bunyangabu, Kagadi, Kassanda, Kyegegwa, Mubende) 

Already, a three-week lockdown is in place in two districts of Uganda, i.e. Mubende and neighboring Kassanda as the country battles the Ebola outbreak. 

The country's president Yoweri Museveni has already ordered police to arrest anyone suspected of having the virus who refused to isolate. 

And he has forbidden traditional healers from trying to handle cases. In previous outbreaks, healers have been associated with hotspots for spread of the virus. 

Liverpool picked up a mouth-watering and much-needed 1-0 victory over Manchester City in a pulsating Premier League clash at Anfield on Sunday. 

A magnificent win! I readily admit I didn’t see this result coming! That's why I'm a fan. Despite being critical, we gotta love our boys! YNWA! 

All because of a sensational goal from Mohamed Salah in the seventy-sixth minute! Alisson sent a long ball forward, a Citizens’ defender tried to kill the ball and failed and which allowed Salah to race through on goal and lifting an ice-cool finish over the goalkeeper. Cue bedlam.

👇 Every angle of Salah's strike from Alisson's pinpoint pass – what a gem!

Anfield predictably erupted as if it was a title-deciding goal – but for Liverpool's season, it might just be as massive. The Egyptian king has breathed new life into Liverpool's season. 

And I must add that everybody who started this match played really well. 

The win over the reigning champions moves Liverpool up to eighth place in the Premier League table. They’re still 10 points behind Man City and 14 adrift of Premier League leaders Arsenal – but now, Liverpool’s challenge is sputtering to life!

Realistically, I don't think it changes much for them in the title race. But there’s nothing wrong to dream, right?

Covid is Still a Big Threat

Even as the Omicron variant sweeps around the world, it can be pointed out that in most cases, the number of Covid patients in hospitals remains significantly lower than during previous pandemic surges. 

That's not the case in North America, however, where the number of patients with the coronavirus currently in hospital has reached record numbers. 

According to data from the US Department of Health and Human Services, 145,982 people were in hospital with the virus on January 11, surpassing a previous record set in January 2021. 

Similarly, hospitals in large parts of neighboring Canada have also seen surges, with Quebec reporting a pandemic high last weekend. 

Looking at the above chart, 411 US Covid-19 patients per million people were in hospital as of January 09 – surpassing a previous peak of 400 per million set on January 14, 2021. In Canada, 206 people were in hospital per million as of January 11, compared to previous peaks of 118 in April and 128 in January 2021. 

South Africa, where the Omicron variant was first detected in November, tells a vastly different story. There, researchers found that those infected with Omicron are less likely to be sent to hospital and more likely to recover quickly. 

While up-to-date data regarding the rate of Covid patients in hospital per capita is not available, many South African hospitals reported that the number was significantly less than during previous surges. The Steve Biko Academic Hospital in the City of Tshwane, for example, reported to the International Journal of Infectious Diseases that the number of infected patients was about half of that recorded before mid-November. 

Researchers believe that South Africa's previous Covid-19 waves and relatively low vaccination rate meant that many residents had already likely been exposed and had built up some level of immunity. 

By now, the world already knows that Merck’s Molnupiravir has faced setbacks after disappointing trial data. 

But Pfizer stand tall. Their antiviral Paxlovid treatment pills for Covid-19 is said to be nearly 90% effective in preventing hospitalisations and deaths, and data suggested it retains its effectiveness against Omicron, the pharmaceutical company said. 

In fact, South Korea began treating Covid patients with Paxlovid yesterday – the first Asian country to do so. 

I sure hope Pfizer didn’t cheat again!

Omicron Shows Itself

In my post published November 01, I had highlighted a subvariant of Delta labelled AY.4.2 that has been detected in the UK and a few other countries. The good news is that despite its spread, it is not labelled a “variant of concern”. 

But now, another coronavirus variant has emerged.

It was first reported to the WHO from South Africa on November 24, and has already been identified in Botswana, Belgium, China Hong Kong and Israel. 

On Friday, the WHO declared the variant to be "of concern" and named it Omicron. They said the number of cases of this variant, initially named B.1.1.529, appeared to be increasing in almost all of South Africa's provinces. 

The first known confirmed B.1.1.529 infection had been from a specimen collected on November 09 – and the WHO revealed it would take a couple of weeks to understand the impact of Omicron, as scientists worked to determine how transmissible it was. 

Not a few countries are already getting jittery. The European Union and other major destinations, including the United States and Canada, have moved to block flights from southern African countries – Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe – following the discovery of the said variant. 

Believe me, Covid is just a never-ending story.

I also read news that Merck’s experimental Covid pill has shown lower efficacy in an updated study. 

Following the release of a full analysis of trial results, the pharmaceutical company said on Friday the oral drug, molnupiravir, showed a 30 percent reduction in hospitalizations and deaths when compared with a placebo, based on data from more than 1,400 patients. 

Last month, the company said data from 775 patients had showed that reduction was “approximately” 50 percent. I had reported this in my post that was dated October 03, 2021. 

I don't believe Big Pharma. They are not exactly trustworthy. 

Remember how Pfizer brought out its Covid vaccine “at the speed of science”? Now a whistleblower has told the world that speed may have come at the cost of data integrity and patient safety. 

As was reported, Brook Jackson, a regional director employed at the research organization Ventavia Research Group had told The BMJ that the company falsified data, unblinded patients, employed inadequately trained vaccinators, and was slow to follow up on adverse events reported in Pfizer’s pivotal Phase III trial. Not to mention that staff who conducted quality control checks were overwhelmed by the sheer volume of problems they were finding. 

Pfizer's data fraud aside, Merck have speedily filed for a US authorization of the oral antiviral Covid treatment on October 11, following the interim data.

[Interestingly, Pfizer are already developing an oral antiviral drug Paxlovid for Covid-19, which requires patients to take three pills twice a day for five days]. 

Ever the follower, Malaysia has put in an order for molnupiravir that is said to force the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus to mutate itself to death. 

I venture a guess that even with our “high” vaccination rates, it is not giving us the results we are anticipating. Our infections are stubbornly clinging on to four digits – yesterday, that number was 5,501 cases and 45 deaths.

Covid Deaths Surpass 700K in the US

The United States reached its latest heartbreaking pandemic milestone when it surpassed 700,000 deaths from Covid-19 on Friday. 

On that same day too, Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics report that their experimental antiviral pill molnupravir (MK-4482, EIDD-2801) may be a big help protecting patients infected with Covid-19. 

Clinical trial data from an interim analysis 29 days after the study began showed that 7.3% of 385 patients who received the antiviral were either hospitalized or died from Covid-19, compared with 14.1% of the 377 patients who received a placebo. Meaning, the drug "reduced the risk of hospitalization or death by approximately 50%" for people with mild to moderate Covid-19. 

Molnupravir is an investigational, orally administered form of a potent ribonucleoside analog that inhibits the replication of SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of Covid-19. The drug which was originally developed for the treatment of influenza at Emory University was quickly licensed by the two drug companies. 

"This is the most impactful result that I remember seeing of an orally available drug in the treatment of a respiratory pathogen, perhaps ever", Dr. Scott Gottlieb (right), former commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration, told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Friday. "I think getting an oral pill that can inhibit viral replication – that can inhibit this virus – is going to be a real game changer".

According to Dr. Daria Hazuda (left), chief science officer with MSD, Merck's label operating outside of the US and Canada, molnupiravir “actually gets incorporated into the genetic material of the virus and introduces errors”. 

I am taking all of the above with more than a pinch of salt. I have this impression that Big Pharma are rushing to bring out new drugs to make quick profits.

And in football, there’s wonderful news coming in from Madrid, Spain. I'm reporting this only because it involves Luis Suarez. 

Reigning champions Atletico Madrid went level with Real Madrid at the top of La Liga and inflicted further damage on Ronald Koeman's struggling Barcelona with a deserved 2-0 win yesterday. 

Suarez played a part in the opener in the twenty-third minute and then he slotted in against his former club in the forty-fourth minute to give Atletico the three points.