Nelson Mandela Taken To Hospital, In ‘Serious’ Condition

South Africans on Saturday said their thoughts were with former President Nelson Mandela, who was in “serious but stable” condition after being taken to a hospital to be treated for a recurring lung infection.

Mandela, who is 94 years old, was treated in a hospital several times in recent months, with the last discharge coming on April 6 after doctors diagnosed him with pneumonia and drained fluid from his lung area. He has been particularly vulnerable to respiratory problems since contracting tuberculosis during his 27-year imprisonment under apartheid.A small girl and her father stood outside Mandela’s Johannesburg home with a stone on which was written a get-well message for Mandela, who helped end white racist rule and became the country’s first black president in all-race elections in 1994. A young boy brought a bouquet of flowers that he handed over to guards at the house.

Elsewhere in the city, some worshippers prayed for Mandela during an outdoor gathering.

“If the time comes, we wish for him a good way to go,” said Noel Ngwenya, a security officer who was in the congregation.

“During the past few days, former President Nelson Mandela has had a recurrence of lung infection,” said a statement from the office of President Jacob Zuma. “This morning at about 1:30 a.m., his condition deteriorated and he was transferred to a Pretoria hospital.”

It said Mandela was receiving expert medical care and “doctors are doing everything possible to make him better and comfortable.”

Zuma wished Mandela a quick recovery on behalf of the government and the nation and requested that the media and the public respect the privacy of the former leader and his family, the statement said.

Mandela’s wife, humanitarian activist Graca Machel, canceled an appearance at an international forum on hunger and nutrition in London on Saturday, citing “personal reasons,” said Colleen Harris, a spokeswoman for the meeting.

Presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj said Machel had canceled her attendance at the London meeting on Thursday, and had accompanied Mandela to the hospital on Saturday morning, the South African Press Association reported.

“We need to hold our thoughts and keep him in our minds,” Maharaj said. “He is a fighter, he has recovered many times from very serious conditions and he will be with us. Let’s pray for him and help him to get better.”

The African National Congress, the ruling party that has dominated politics in South Africa since the end of apartheid, said it hoped Mandela, known affectionately by his clan name Madiba, would get better soon.

“We will keep President Mandela and his family in our thoughts and prayers at this time and call upon South Africans and the peoples of the globe to do the same for our beloved statesman and icon, Madiba,” the party said in a statement.

On April 29, state television broadcast footage of a visit by Zuma and other ANC leaders to Mandela at his Johannesburg home. Zuma said at the time that Mandela was in good shape, but the footage – the first public images of Mandela in nearly a year – showed him silent and unresponsive, even when Zuma tried to hold his hand.

“Nelson Mandela is a father to South Africa and South Africans; every time he is admitted to hospital we feel saddened along with the rest of our country,” the Democratic Alliance, the main political opposition party, said in a statement.

South Africans expressed hope that Mandela would recover from his latest setback.

“He is going to survive,” said Willie Mokoena, a gardener in Johannesburg. “He’s a strong man.”

Another city resident, Martha Mawela, said she thought the former president would recover because: “Everybody loves Mandela.”

Mandela was robust during his decades as a public figure, endowed with charisma, a powerful memory and an extraordinary talent for articulating the aspirations of his people and winning over many of those who opposed him.

In recent years, however, he has become more frail and last made a public appearance at the 2010 World Cup soccer tournament, where he didn’t deliver an address and was bundled against the cold.

In another recent hospitalization, Mandela was treated for a lung infection and had a procedure to remove gallstones in December. In March, he spent a night in a hospital for what authorities said was a scheduled medical test.

HUFFPOST

Nigeria Now Has Second Highest HIV/AIDS Population In The World – NACA

The National Agency for the Control of AIDS, NACA, on Tuesday disclosed that 3.4 million Nigerians were living with HIV/AIDS, the second largest globally.

The agency’s Director-General, Prof. John Idoko, stated this at a Senate public hearing on a bill to prohibit discrimination against persons living with HIV/AIDS. Idoko noted that while the national prevalence stabilised at about four per cent, 13 states still carry higher burden.

He said that the country was behind target in several important indicators, affirmed that one of every three people in need was currently receiving treatment. Idoko, who said only 18 per cent of HIV positive women receive prophylaxis against mother-child transmission, noted that more than 40 per cent of HIV positive persons do not know their status.

Senate President, David Mark, who declared the hearing open, called for an end to stigmatisation and discrimination against persons living with HIV. Represented by the Deputy Senate Leader, Senator Abdul Ningi, Mark said the citizens should be educated more about HIV. He said, “It is important for all to be educated to know that HIV is just like any other disease. Once identified, all a sufferer needs to do is to access treatment and maintain a healthy lifestyle. “Infected people are hiding under common diseases like diabetes because of discrimination.

They will not tell you that they are HIV positive for fear of being discriminated against in their workplaces. “That somebody is infected does not mean he is not good or morally upright person or that he should be denied employment or barred from his social networks. “HIV is a disease that can be contracted both intentionally and accidentally.”

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Health, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, noted that the HIV pandemic poses a big challenge to health and development across the world. He said, “In the countries that are worst affected, including Nigeria, the impact of HIV/AIDS have eroded decades of developmental goals and gains, stultifying economies and destabilising societies.

“There is no doubt that HIV is expected to continue to be a leading cause of mortality and morbidity in many countries and population, including Nigeria. “We must begin to be proactive in the implementation of action plans that are workable and friendly, and advocacy must be carried out at all levels of the society. “HIV poses a serious obstacle to the attainment of decent work and sustainable development and its effects are concentrated among the most productive age group.

“HIV problem has been made worse by the violation of their fundamental rights at the work place, schools, communities and the larger society on the basis of real or perceived status, particularly, through discrimination directed at persons living with HIV and AIDS.”

- HealthButton

The Baby That Didn’t Know It Had Been Born… (Photo)

A glimpse into the womb: This astonishing photograph, taken by obstetrician Dr Aris Tsigris, shows the baby who was delivered inside an intact amniotic sac. Until the sac is punctured the baby will behave as if it is still inside its mother.

A doctor has recorded the moment he delivered a baby inside an intact amniotic sac.

Obstetrician Dr Aris Tsigris published the photo of the newborn on his Facebook page after delivering the baby via caesarean section in Amarousion, north of Athens.

Because the sac had not been punctured, Dr Tsigris said the baby did not even realise it had been born and behaved as if it was still inside the mother’s womb.The amniotic sac is a bag of fluid inside the womb where the unborn baby develops and grows. It is also referred to as the ‘membranes’, because the sac is made of two membranes called the amnion and the chorion.

The sac is filled with clear, pale fluid, in which the unborn baby floats and moves. The fluid helps to cushion the baby from bumps and injury, as well as providing them with fluids that they can breathe and swallow. The fluid also maintains a constant temperature for the baby.

The amniotic sac starts to form and fill with fluid within days of a woman conceiving. Amniotic fluid is mainly water but from about week 10 onwards, the baby passes small amounts of urine into the fluid.The amount of amniotic fluid increases gradually during pregnancy until about week 38, when it reduces slightly until the baby is born.

Typically the amniotic sac breaks on its own during birth, which is commonly referred to as a mother’s ‘water breaking’.

Dr Tsigris that the chance of the amniotic sac remaining completely intact after birth was ‘ultra rare’ and he was left ‘breathless’ by the sight of the newborn born on March 12, according to a report by Nine News.

The doctor said there was no risk to the baby as it was still feeding off the placenta and would begin to breathe as soon as the sac was broken.

an amniotic sac develops just days after a woman conceives (pictured 40 days into pregnancy). It is filled with fluid which cushions the baby from bumps and nourishes it.

 

Source: dailymail.co.uk

 

It’s a threat to the entire world”: Deadly new virus kills 24 people as death toll rises [DETAILS]

AP/JEAN-CHRISTOPHE BOTT

Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization, described the MERS virus as a “threat to the entire world” during a speech in Geneva.

Calling it a “threat to the entire world,” the head of the World Health Organization sounded the alarm over the Middle Eastern virus that has so far killed 24 people.

Speaking on Monday in Geneva at the global health monitor’s annual conference, Dr. Margaret Chan did not mince words about the SARS-like novel coronavirus that researchers call MERS.

“Looking at the overall global situation, my greatest concern right now is the novel coronavirus. We understand too little about this virus when viewed against the magnitude of its potential threat. Any new disease that is emerging faster than our understanding is never under control,” Dr Chan said. “These are alarm bells and we must respond. The novel coronavirus is not a problem that any single affected country can keep to itself or manage all by itself. The novel coronavirus is a threat to the entire world.”

One day after Chan’s speech, health officials in France announced the death of a 65-year-old man who had apparently contracted the MERS virus after traveling to Dubai.

So far, the WHO says that more than half of the people who have been diagnosed with MERS have died. The organization said that 24 of 44 confirmed MERS cases have ended in death.

In a move that might complicate finding a vaccine, Dutch scientists have taken the unusual step of patenting the killer virus.

Erasmus Medical Center researchers Albert Osterhaus and Ron Fouchier received a sample of the virus from a Saudi doctor who was stumped by the first known case. The virologists then patented it, angering the World Health Organization and Saudi officials, who say that doing so is impeding the search for treatment.

 

AP PHOTO/HEALTH PROTECTION AGENCY

While the cronovirus causes the common cold, the novel conovirus, or MERS, has killed more than half of those who have been diagnosed with it.

“Making deals between scientists because they want to take out IP and be the first to publish in scientific journals, we cannot allow that. No intellectual property should stand in the way of you protecting your people,” Chan said during her speech on Monday.

The Dutch researchers said that they patented the virus in order to spark drug companies’ interest in developing a vaccine and denied that they had kept the virus from anyone.

“We’re still sharing this virus with everyone who wants to do public health research,” Osterhaus told Bloomberg.

Cases have so far been confirmed in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Tunisia, Germany, France and the United Kingdom. The hospital roommate of the French man who died Tuesday has now also been diagnosed with the virus.

“A novel coronavirus was identified in 2012 as the cause of respiratory illness in people,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says on its website. “Their symptoms included fever, cough, and shortness of breath.”

Still, there is much that the medical community has yet to discover about MERS.

“We do not know where the virus hides in nature,” Chan said in Geneva. We do not know how people are getting infected. Until we answer these questions, we are empty-handed when it comes to prevention.”

 

Read more: DailyNews

Vast of Bracket diagnosed with cancer of the blood

Such a sad story to report but it will definitely end well in Jesus name…Amen. Nwanchukwu Ozioko, popularly known as Vast from the popular singing group, Bracket, has been diagnosed with Lymphoma, a type of cancer of the blood. (Please Google it)

The singer was diagnosed in February this year after suffering serious body pains, headaches, non stop coughing, loss of weight and weakness while in Paris for a show. He flew to London where a test conducted determined he had cancer. Vast has been receiving treatment at the Wellington Hospital in the UK since February and I hear he’s responding very well to treatment. He has undergone 4 circles of chemotherapy with each circle costing about N1.4million. He will do a few more before returning to Nigeria next month.

The sad part I hear from sources close to the singer is that he actually went to a hospital in Nigeria late last year when he started losing weight and feeling weak. They conducted a test on him but it took them forever to come back with the test result. Over three months actually. By then the cancer had spread to his liver. But thankfully he’s getting better and will return home soon. Please say a prayer for him.

 

 

 

 

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