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According to a new research, ancestral rodents possibly have been infected with SARS-like coronaviruses repeatedly, which has made them form a resistance towards the pathogens. This means that they are likely to be asymptomatic carriers of SARS-like coronaviruses. Conducted by Sean King and Mona Singh of Princeton University, this research was published in ‘PLoS Computational Biology Journal’. SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 infection, is of zoonotic origin–it jumped from a non-human animal to humans. Previous research has shown that Chinese Horseshoe bats are a host of numerous SARS-like viruses and tolerate these viruses without extreme symptoms. Identifying other animals that have adapted tolerance mechanisms to coronaviruses is important for awareness of potential viral reservoirs that can spread new pathogens to humans. In the new research, King and Singh performed an evolutionary analysis, across mammalian species, of the ACE2 receptors, used by SARS viruses to gain entry into mammalian cells. Primates had highly conserved sequences of amino acids in the sites of the ACE2 receptor known to bind SARS viruses. Rodents, however, had a greater diversity — and an accelerated rate of evolution — in these spots. Overall, the results indicated that SARS-like infections have not been evolutionary drivers in primate history, but that some rodent species have likely been exposed to repeated SARS-like coronavirus infections for a considerable evolutionary period. “Our study suggests that ancestral rodents may have had repeated infections with SARS-like coronaviruses and have acquired some form of tolerance or resistance to SARS-like coronaviruses as a result of these infections,” the authors said. “This raises the tantalizing possibility that some modern rodent species may be asymptomatic carriers of SARS-like coronaviruses, including those that may not have been discovered yet,” the authors added. Source: This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.

Scientists all over the globe are working to understand malaria parasite infections to fight them. Researchers from the University of Copenhagen have come to a significant closer step, as they have found an important difference between naturally acquired immunity and immunity following vaccination. The findings of the study were published in the journal ‘Nature Communications’. “The antibodies which the body produces when you have been infected with malaria look different from those produced by the body when you have been vaccinated. And that probably means that our immune system has a more efficient response when we have been naturally infected than when we are vaccinated against malaria,” said Lars Hviid, Professor at the Department of Immunology and Microbiology. The immune system can trigger various mechanisms in order to defend the body. The usual defence against infections with parasites, viruses and bacteria consists of so-called macrophages. “When we are exposed to an attack from the outside, the immune system can produce antibodies that attach to the foreign body that needs to be fought. They are then recognised by some small cells called macrophages, which are attracted to the antibody and eat the bacterium or virus. This is basically how immunity to most infectious diseases works,” explained Lars Hviid. But, now, researchers have discovered that immunity to malaria seems to work differently. Here, the body’s immune system uses some other types of cells to fight infection with the malaria parasite. “We have found that the antibodies look different, depending on whether you have been vaccinated or infected. And that means that the body launches some other defence mechanism as, instead, it uses what we call natural killer cells,” said Lars Hviid. Natural killer cells are usually known to researchers as one of the body’s best weapons to fight cancer cells. But, now, it seems that the defence against malaria has features in common with the immune system against cancer. “In popular terms, you could say that the immune system has a more tailored defence against malaria than against other typical infections. Maybe we have evolved in this way because it is such a contagious and deadly disease — that is difficult to guess,” said Lars Hviid. The researchers made the findings by comparing blood samples from Ghanaian people who had been infected with malaria with blood samples from people who participated in Phase 1 clinical trials of an experimental malaria vaccine. He explained that the new knowledge may be used to develop new and improved malaria vaccines. “Our study points to a new strategy for developing even better malaria vaccines in the future. Because, now, we know how the body mobilises the defence with natural killer cells, and we can imitate that with vaccines,” he said. He looks forward to being able to test — together with other researchers — whether a future malaria vaccine will be able to utilise natural killer cells instead of the macrophages that the current vaccines use. Source: This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text, with slight changes in the headline.

The cumulative COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country crossed 111 crores on Friday, the Union Health Ministry said. Over 52 lakh vaccine doses were administered on Friday till 7 pm. The tally is expected to increase with the compilation of the final reports for the day by late in the night, it said. The vaccination exercise as a tool to protect the most vulnerable population groups in the country from COVID-19 continues to be regularly reviewed and monitored at the highest level, the ministry underlined. The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 with healthcare workers getting inoculated in the first phase. The vaccination of frontline workers started from February 2. The next phase of the COVID-19 vaccination commenced from March 1 for people over 60 years of age and those aged 45 and above with specified co-morbid conditions. The country launched vaccination for all people aged more than 45 years from April 1. The government then decided to expand its vaccination drive by allowing everyone above 18 to be vaccinated from May 1. Source: PTI

Covaxin, the first COVID-19 vaccine developed in India, is “highly efficacious” and presents no safety concerns, as per a study published in the medical journal Lancet. Covaxin gained emergency approval from the World Health Organization last week, the eighth jab to be given the green light by the health body. The vaccine has already been cleared to be used in 17 countries. Known by the code BBV152, Covaxin is an inactivated virus-based COVID-19 vaccine developed by Bharat Biotech together with the Indian Council of Medical Research and also the National Institute of Virology. The WHO has described it as “extremely suitable for low- and middle-income countries because of easy storage requirements”. a number of the other approved vaccines must be stored at very low temperatures, which gives logistical and price problems. Covaxin “was highly efficacious against laboratory-confirmed symptomatic COVID-19 disease in adults”, the Lancet study said. The jab was also “well tolerated with no safety concerns raised in this interim analysis”, it added. The Indian-developed vaccine features a 78 percent efficacy rate after two doses over a month, according to the WHO. It has joined the COVID vaccines produced by Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Johnson&Johnson, Sinopharm and Sinovac on the WHO-approved list. The rollout of Covaxin can “increase the finite global manufacturing capacity, and improve insufficient supply of vaccines, which disproportionately affects low-income and middle-income countries,” said Chinese researchers Li Jingxin Li and Zhu Fengcai, who didn’t participate in the study. They did however mention certain limits to the study, saying that because the trials had been conducted solely in India, there was a less ethnically diverse study group. The studies were also administered between November 2020 and January 2021, before the more contagious Delta variant of the virus became widespread. Despite the trial dates, the researchers involved were able to identify which of the patients were infected with the Delta variant. For this sub-group, the study found that Covaxin still provided protection against COVID-19, but was slightly less effective. Source: Aljazeera

As per recent data released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, India has recorded 11,466 new cases of COVID-19 and 460 deaths in the last 24 hours. Out of the total cases reported today, Kerala alone is responsible for 6409 new cases and 47 deaths today. Under the Nationwide Vaccination Drive in India, 109.63 crore doses of vaccine have been administered across the country. The active cases of the virus stand at 1,39,683 which is the lowest in 264 days. As of November 9, Delhi had recorded 33 new cases of Covid-19 and zero deaths. The national capital had recorded four COVID-19 deaths in October and five deaths in September. So far in November, no deaths have been recorded in the city. Haryana too reported no new death due to the virus but did report 15 fresh cases on Tuesday, taking the tally up to 7,71,355, as per health department’s daily bulletin. Maharashtra on the other hand reported a total of 982 fresh cases and 27 fatalities on Tuesday. West Bengal too, reported a spike with a total of 788 new cases. The Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare, Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya has revealed that at present, 96 countries have agreed to mutual acceptance of vaccination certificates. The 96 countries include US, UK, Australia, Canada, Spain, France, Germany, Belgium, Russia, and Switzerland. Consecutively, people who are travelling from these countries have a few relaxations as is mentioned in the Union Health Ministry’s Guidelines on International Arrivals issued on 20th October. Source: The news has been published by the Financial Express with a few edits from the ArdorComm news network team.

India could resume deliveries of COVID-19 shots to global vaccine-sharing platform COVAX in a few weeks for the first time since April, said two health industry sources, ending a suspension of supplies that has hurt poor countries. The World Health Organization (WHO), which co-leads COVAX, has been urging India to restart supplies for the programme, especially after it sent about 4 million doses to its neighbours and partners in October. Based on an off-the-cuff approval from India, COVAX officials have started planning allocations of the Covishield shot for various countries, said one among the sources, both of whom declining to be identified pending a final agreement. Covishield is a licensed version of the AstraZeneca (AZN.L) shot made by the Serum Institute of India (SII), the world’s biggest vaccine maker. SII has nearly quadrupled its output of Covishield to up to 240 million doses a month since April, when India stopped all exports so as to inoculate its own people during a surge of cases. “There will need to be purchase orders confirmed to SII, labelling and packing, export authorisation granted for each of these shipments,” said the source. “So, the first deliveries, assuming the Indian government grants export authorisation, won’t happen until a few weeks from now.” SII, the health ministry and also the WHO didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment. Earlier in the day, the Ministry has said in a statement that Indian states had over 159 million unutilised doses of varied vaccines, as inoculations have slowed after 79% of the country’s 944 million adults got one dose and 37% got two doses. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday that COVAX had the money and the contracts to buy vaccines for low-income countries but “manufacturers have not played their part”. COVAX in September cut its 2021 delivery target by nearly 30% to 1.425 billion doses. Source: Reuters

The Indian government and the World Bank have signed a $40 million project to improve the quality of health services in Meghalaya and strengthen the state’s capacity to handle future health emergencies, including the covid-19 pandemic. The Meghalaya Health Systems Strengthening Project will enhance the management and governance capabilities of the state and its health facilities; expand the design and coverage of the state’s health insurance program; improve the quality of health services through certification and better human resource systems; and enable efficient access to medicines and diagnostics. The finance ministry in a statement said, “All 11 districts of the state will benefit from the project. It will also benefit health sector staff at the primary and secondary levels by strengthening their planning and management capabilities and building their clinical skills. The project will enable women to better utilize healthcare services at the community level,” The finance ministry further said strengthening and expanding health care systems is a priority for the government and the project will enhance the management and quality of health services in the state. “It will also help expand the coverage of health services and make it accessible and affordable to the poor and vulnerable in the state,” it added. The agreement was signed by Rajat Kumar Mishra, additional secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs on behalf of the government of India, Ramkumar S, Joint Secretary, Department of Health and Family Welfare on behalf of the Government of Meghalaya; and Junaid Ahmad, Country Director, India on behalf of the World Bank. The project will help strengthen the effectiveness of Meghalaya’s health insurance program known as the Megha Health Insurance Scheme (MHIS) – which currently covers 56% of the households. With its merger into the national Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna (PMJAY), MHIS now plans to offer a more comprehensive package and cover 100% of the households. “This will reduce barriers to accessing hospital services and preventing catastrophic out-of-pocket costs for poor families,” the finance ministry said. Improved health services may also lead to an incremental increase in bio-medical waste. Any improper management of wastes including bio-medical waste and other hazardous wastes such as plastic waste and e-waste poses environmental risks. The project will invest in improving the overall ecosystem for bio-medical waste management (both solid and liquid waste). It will include segregation, disinfection, and collection while safeguarding the environment and improving the quality of health service and patient safety. Source: Mint

Uttar Pradesh: PM Modi reached his parliamentary constituency Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh (UP) on Monday to launch the Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission – one of the largest pan-India schemes for strengthening the existing healthcare infrastructure. Along with initiating the start of the healthcare scheme, he also inaugurated multiple developmental projects worth Rs 5,200 for his constituency. The Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission has been launched with the aim to redefine, automate and strengthen existing healthcare policies in the country. It falls under the umbrella of the National Health Mission. After the pandemic, the country and its governments realised the shortcomings of the healthcare system and processes. Hence, to fill the gaps in the public healthcare infrastructure, with the main focus on primary and critical care facilities in both – rural and urban areas, the policy has been devised and launched pan-India. According to the current plan, the policy aims to provide support for 17,788 rural health and wellness centres in 10 high focus states. In addition, 11,024 urban health and wellness centres will be established in all the states. During his stay in UP, he also inaugurated nine medical colleges to boost the city’s healthcare scenario. The inauguration took place in a virtual ceremony from Siddharthnagar. The medical colleges built for Rs 2,329 crores are located in Siddharthnagar, Etah, Hardoi, Pratapgarh, Fatehpur, Deoria, Ghazipur, Mirzapur and Jaunpur districts. Out of all the nine colleges, eight are sanctioned under a centrally sponsored scheme, while one has entirely been made functional through the state government’s resources. Source: India TV

BATM is a leading provider of real-time-based technologies to provide networking solutions and medical laboratory systems. It has recently been announced that it has developed a new method for rapid and comprehensive diagnosis of tuberculosis. This new technology’s testing and validation phase will be commenced in the second half of this year. The process will be funded under a program of Stop TB Partnership, an international alliance comprising various government and non-government organizations. The new method consists of one step PCR test developed by the group Adaltis subsidiary, with testing on the NATlab instrument by using the new isothermal RCA process developed by the Group Ador Diagnostics Associate company. This PCR test will diagnose if someone is infected with TB and if the test is positive. This NATlab system will be used to identify the strain of TB and its resistance to antibiotics. The process is expected to give results within two hours by testing the samples in both phases. This new process is far less than several days required in the current and commonly used test, which usually depends on incubation to check the antibody resistance once a patient is infected with TB. This new method which is being developed, is presented with the cooperation of leading universities in Italy. The testing and validation of the solution will take place at the University of Heidelberg. Source: healthtechdigital.com

WHO called the world’s twenty wealthiest nations, holding a summit next week, to come ahead and make donations of COVID-19 vaccines doses to the global south, which is going through a vaccine lag in terms of the required number of vaccines. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a news briefing that the G20 countries must fulfill their dose-sharing commitments immediately. For global health financing, Gordon Brown said, “If the world’s wealthiest nations cannot mobilize for the vaccine to the impoverished countries. An epidemiological and economic dereliction of duty will shame us all”. WHO’s 40% vaccination target in all countries by mid-2022 is still short of 500 million vaccine doses, whereas almost 240 million vaccines are unused in the west. Source:Healthworld.com