Lassa fever- Death toll hits 43

As panic continues to spread across the country over Lassa fever, the federal government has disclosed that one Lassa fever patient died yesterday in Abuja.

The Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole, in a statement signed by the Director of Press of the Federal Ministry of Health, Mrs. Boade Akinola, announced  that the death of the confirmed Lassa fever patient happened at the National Hospital, Abuja.

According to the statement, the minister confirmed the death at the National Hospital, Abuja wednesday evening also called on health workers at all levels to be more vigilant and look out for patients with symptoms of Lassa fever.

The minister also: “directed that all primary and secondary contacts of the victim should be tracked including the staff of the private hospital in Kubwa where the deceased was first managed for one week and subsequently became unconscious before referral to National Hospital.”

He also advised that family members should report at the nearest hospital if anyone has fever for more than two days.
The minister, however, called on the residents of Abuja not to panic but to maintain high level vigilance and present themselves for test if they feel unhealthy or feel symptoms of Lassa fever which include high fever, stooling, tiredness, vomiting, etc., adding that self-medication should be avoided at this period.

The Medical Director of the hospital, Dr. Jack Momoh, who briefed the minister during his visit to National Hospital, explained that the patient was brought in unconscious from a Private Hospital in Kubwa where he was admitted for eight days.

The 33 year old newly married lived in Jos Plateau State, but came to see a family member in Kubwa because of his illness. He however died within 24hours of presentation at the National Hospital.

The latest death from Lassa fever brings the total number of deaths to 43 in the country (from 10 states).

This story first appeard on www.thisdaylive.com and was written by 

Paul Obi in Abuja

How to gain weight- They Healthy way

Dear Readers,

Are you underweight, too skinny and tired of it. There's a way out but first, you need to be sure that you are indeed underweight and that weight gain would be a healthy choice for you.

In order to determine that, you should check your Body Mass Index(BMI). This can be calculated by dividing your weight in kilograms by your height in meters twice. You can get this done at a pharmacy near you if they have the weight and height measures.

The chart below should help you determine what category you fall into.

10 tips to help you gain weight

1.    Eat more frequently. When you're underweight, you may feel full faster. So eating something every hour might be helpful

2.    Choose nutrient-rich foods. Choose foods high in calories and nutrients.

-Eat Eba and vegetable soup and don’t go easy on the oil. The definition of a Rich Nigerian meal. -Fried Yam, Plantain, Irish potatoes should be part of your diet

3.    Try smoothies and shakes

-       Smoothies and shakes made with Bananas and full cream milk

4.    Watch when you drink. If you drink when you haven’t had enough food you blood sugar is lowered and that can trigger weight loss

5.    Make every bite count- Eat ample quantities

6.    Have an occasional treat. ... Red Velvet cake, Ice cream (Coldstones Founders Favourite will definitely make gain weight

7.    Exercise- Yes! you should exercise. Weight bearing exercise help increase muscle mass so you do not just gain fat but a healthy and natural amount of muscle

8.    Sleep at least 8hrs a day

9.    Drink at least adequate amounts of water daily

1. Find an app to help you track your calories. You need to take in more calories than you’re using. The Fitbit is a good tool to help you with this.

Folic Acid in Pregnancy- How much is too much?

Dear Readers,

Folic acid is one of the routine supplements given to pregnant women at hospitals as part of their routine medications at antenatal clinics. But what if pregnant women take more than the recommended amounts? A new study published in the Journal of Endocrinology explored this question by conducting a rat study.

The animals were given 20 times their recommended daily amount of the vitamin throughout their mating, pregnancy, and lactation(breastfeeding) periods. At the end of the study, the researchers found that the babies of rat moms who received the excessive amount of folic acid developed into adults who were:

• Overweight and insulin resistant
• Deficient in a hormone called adiponectin, which protects against diabetes and obesity
• Exhibiting abnormal feeding behavior

My pack of folic acid

These symptoms were more striking in females than in males. In contrast, mother rats given the recommended amount of folic acid during mating, pregnancy, and lactation had babies that developed into healthy adults.

Although women around the world are urged to take folic acid, little research has been done to determine the safe upper limit. This is especially important since women may take supplements and also eat foods that are fortified with the vitamin, so the combination may boost their levels of folic acid into an unsafe category.

Usually, pregnant women get folic acid from the hospital as part of the antenatal clinic. The most popular brand of Folic Acid in Nigeria  is Dr. Meyers which contains 5mg, more than 10 times more than the WHO recommended amount. See photo.

As there are no studies or data to show what amount is safe, your best bet would be to stick with the WHO guidelines and speak your OB on your next antenatal visit or walk into a pharmacy near you to get the 0.4mg tablets.

Aunty Nurse Cares 

Do you have a health question?

Dear Readers,

I'm giving you an opportunity today to ask what you want to know and you'll get an answer.

Are you unsure about anything to do with your body?

Ask now and get a response today.

Please note that only questions asked in the comments section will get a response. DO NOT EMAIL YOUR QUESTIONS
You may remain anonymous if you so choose.

Aunty Nurse: Skin Lightening

Aunty Nurse: Skin Lightening: Dear Readers, By popular demand, I'm doing a post on skin lightening. I have drawn out the following questions from previous posts...

Skin Lightening

Dear Readers,

By popular demand, I'm doing a post on skin lightening. I have drawn out the following questions from previous posts.

1. Can you do a post on bleaching? Now you have it!

2. I have heard skin lightening is dangerous, are there safe creams/products/procedures for this?

  Yes it could be dangerous if you use the wrong product or the right product wrongly.

    

Sometime ago, there was a buzz about Whitenicious a product by Dencia, and how its supposedly some magic skin lightening formula that better than all the rest and produces no side effects and would transform a Kanye West into a Scott Disick or a AY to his wife in a a matter of days.

So I did a little digging to see what the company and its owner are really saying about their product versus what people really think and what they're really doing with it.

Here's what I found on consumer health digest!

"Whitenicious claims to be a high-end cosmetic line produced by pop singer Dencia. The skin care products are meant for all skin types and they’re skin brighteners. Suitable for hyper pigmentation, dark spots, dark knees and knuckles, and acne, Whitenicious looks like a dream cream for women looking for a more luminous, even complexion. The never-ending marginalization of African women in the cosmetics marketplace was the key point that made Dencia start her own line of brighteners. To ensure the effectiveness of her products, she partnered with a renowned chemist, and thus she managed to sell all of her Whitenicious brighteners in less than 2 weeks.

Now, as far as the effectiveness of the line is concerned, there have been some rumours claiming Dencia’s skincare products might trigger cancer. Let’s analyse the facts a bit more in-depth."

I am not going to dwell on this product or the line at the end about cancer because I really do not know where they got that from.

The bottom line is, in all my googling and offline studying. I have not been able to find a product that can safely bleach your skin. If you find one, please let us know.

Photo Source:

According to Dencia her product is not intended for use as a total body bleaching product but she also cannot be bothered if you use it that way. She stated that her products are actually intended for dark spot (Hyperpigmentation) removal.

She also claims that she has always been light-skinned and the picture above is not a true reflection of her transition. She claims she has an artificial tan in the photo on the left and of course the photo on the right was edited to look that way.

I am therefore so sorry that I cannot offer you any information at this time on an absolutely safe magic whitening cream. 

If you want to avoid getting darker, using sunscreen and avoiding periods of long exposure to the sun might be helpful.

Feel free to share your own skin lightening solutions if you have found any.

Have a great week ahead!!

Herbal Viagra: Lamar Odom

Dear Readers,

For the past two days, it's been all over the news that Lamar Odom is fighting for his life and has been said to have overdosed on "Herbal Viagra". My heart goes out to his family in this difficult time. I honestly wish he recovers from the coma and can return to a full functional life.

Being a pharmacist, I was curious about the "Herbal Viagra" and googled it to try to figure out what it is. I did not find much. I found this photo online and was totally shocked to find that the medicine is actually labelled as "Herbal Viagra". (I wonder what Pfizer has done about this)

In Nigeria there are a lot of Herbal medications with claims to provide the same effect as Viagra or other prescription medications for erectile dysfunction. It is important to ensure that we avoid  medicines unless prescribed by a person licensed to give prescriptions or recommend medications.

Source: www.lakersnation.com

Here's a short word of advice from the Mayo Clinic."Be wary of any product that claims to be a natural form of Viagra. Herbal supplements aren't held to the same standards as prescription and over-the-counter medications — so it can be difficult to know which ones are safe or effective."

The above quote actually sums it all up. There really is no such thing as a Herbal Viagra. In fact, these dangerous supplement manufacturers have been said to some time mix a cocktail of the real drug with alcohol and some herbal supplements that mimic the effects the actual viagra.

Be safe and do not take medicines without first consulting your Pharmacist or Doctor. 

Researchers turn to sea weed to develop new antibiotics

News from: ngguardiannews.com

A research team from the University of Exeter, Exeter, South West England, are trying to use the antimicrobial properties of seaweeds from the country’s coastline to develop a new generation of antibiotics in a bid to fight the growing threat of resistant super-bugs.

A report released on Monday in London by the researchers noted that as the number of multidrug-resistant bacteria, also known as superbug, rises, there is an urgent need for new drugs that can be used to treat infections when others fail.

Michiel Vos, who led the study, said antibiotic resistance is a serious and growing global problem.

He said a previous World Health Organisation (WHO) report stated that it is “now a major threat to public health”.

Vos said findings have revealed that natural environments can be a rich source of antibiotics.

He said as a result of this scientists are trying to uncover properties that could form the basis for a new generation of antibiotics that can curb infections caused by superbugs, such as MRSA.

“Our early experiments have confirmed that seaweeds hold a diverse array of antimicrobial properties.

“Excitingly, some of these extracts are most effective against some of the more resistant and problematic bacteria and we are hoping our work will help to make the discovery of new drugs quicker and cheaper,” he said.

Vos noted that with its rich abundance of coastline and seaweed species, Cornwall, a coastal area in southwest Britain, is the perfect place for such research.

He said taking the ideas further the team would create a dedicated research project that can really shed light on the potential they were seeing.

Drug Mis-use:Chlorhexidine digluconate and corneal ulceration in chuldren in Yobe, Nigeria

NOTES TO PHARMACISTS- THE IMPORTANCE OF PATIENT COUNSELLING

When events like these take place, the following questions come to mind.

1. Was there a pharmacist involved in this transaction?

or

2. Or did the  medicine  just move from the Nurse, Doctor, Shelf, Healthcare assistant to a patient without counselling.

For the benefit of those who may not know what I'm referring to, there was a story out a few days ago regarding an unfortunate incident in Yobe State where three mothers received health kits with tubes resembling eye drops.

Naturally the mothers instilled drops of the product, chlorhexidine digluconate 7.1% which is actually intended for use as an umbilical cord antiseptic and this led to corneal ulceration( injury to the cornea)-- permanent blindness.

Every tried googling Yobe? If you do, all you'll find in the image section are photos of death and war. So don't be so quick to judge the mothers. There's a high level of illiteracy in Yobe and that one more reason why Pharmacists and Healthcare professionals must adopt creative techniques of communicating with our patients and ensuring that they are well counseled before handing over medicines. 

I once practiced in Ghana as part of my and has to learn a little "Twi" in order to properly counsel patients on medication use. It is our duty as healthcare professionals to protect the public ensuring that they are adequately educated.

Truvada: HIV prevention pill records 100% success rate

Dear Readers,

Information from The Guardian Nigeria's online page suggest that there has been some success with blue HIV prevention pill. A new study found that 100 per cent of the participants taking HIV/AIDS prevention pill remained infection free.

According to the Guardian, the study was conducted at Kaiser Permananete in San Fransisco, United States(U.S). involved more than 600 high-risk individuals , most of who were men who have sex with men.  These individuals were healthy at the time of enrollment and were put on a daily regimen pill.

The study spanned two years and a half years of observation and in this time, there wasn't a single infection among these subjects.

According to the Guardian

"Nigeria to begin study on pre-exposure prophylaxis( Prevention before you're even at risk). In Nnewi, Calabar , Jos .NACA roundtable calls for Nationwide introduction of novel drug."

Not long after the USFDA first approved this drug for HIV preventive use in 2012, the Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation derided it as a "party drug" and warned that high risk individuals would use it instead of condoms-- raising the risk of transmission of other sexually transmitted diseases. #Tuvadawhore went viral.



In my opinion, I'd have to say that a lot drugs are abused and therefore the fact that some people might abuse it our overexpose themselves to infection is not enough reason to keep away from working on it and getting out.


What I wonder is, what proportion of the exposed population is actually willing to take a medication on a daily basis for the purpose of HIV prevention?

So what do you think?