Pérez explained that the alert is issued in a preventive mode, since, in countries of the Southern Cone, such as Brazil and Paraguay, there has been an exponential increase in affected patients.

In this context, the director of Epidemiology, Ronald Skewes, indicated that by the year 2021, in the region of the Americas, 137,000 cases of chikungunya were recorded; 271 thousand cases in 2022, and 30,707 cases during the first four weeks of 2023, marking a pattern of accelerated growth. “That it arrives in the country is a matter of time,” highlighted the doctor.

Swekes indicated that the term “chikungunya” means “The bent man”, alluding to the severe pain that this disease produces throughout the body, making it difficult to walk upright and whose conditions can persist for long months. Other symptoms are fever, rash, and general malaise.

In less than 15 years, the country has gone from less than 25% of its people being overweight to more than 70%, according to the latest survey carried out by the Health authorities in 2021, and that, without the rigor of a scientific study, serves as an indicator of the need to act against a problem that is worsening and causes diabetes and hypertension. 

“31% of schoolchildren are overweight. In less than 15 years, the country has gone from less than 25% of people overweight to more than 70%.” With the causes documented in more than one report and much more consequences, even the economic cost of being overweight has been analyzed, the country has to apply measures so that the balance begins to decline.

But the recommended actions have not yet materialized and the Dominican Republic experiencing the failure of the goals set, despite the millionaire burden that being overweight implies for the State. Controlling overweight will require national policies that go beyond training and information. One first step could be to tax sugary drinks in the country.

The Sinopharm and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines will be available at the island’s polyclinics from Monday, February 27, to Friday, March 3, at the times listed below.

Monday, February 27

• Branford Taitt Polyclinic, Black Rock, St. Michael – 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
• Eunice Gibson Polyclinic, Warrens, St. Michael – 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
• Frederick “Freddie” Miller Polyclinic, The Glebe, St. George – 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Tuesday, February 28

• Branford Taitt Polyclinic, Black Rock, St. Michael – 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
• Frederick “Freddie” Miller Polyclinic, The Glebe, St. George – 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
• Eunice Gibson Polyclinic, Warrens, St. Michael – 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
• Randal Phillips Polyclinic, Oistins, Christ Church – 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Wednesday, March 1

• Branford Taitt Polyclinic, Black Rock, St. Michael – 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
• Maurice Byer Polyclinic, Station Hill, St. Peter – 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
• Winston Scott Polyclinic, Jemmotts Lane, St. Michael – 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
• St. Philip Polyclinic, Six Roads, St. Philip – 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
• Edgar Cochrane Polyclinic, Wildey, St. Michael – 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
• Eunice Gibson Polyclinic, Warrens, St. Michael – 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
• Frederick “Freddie” Miller Polyclinic, The Glebe, St. George – 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Thursday, March 2

• Branford Taitt Polyclinic, Black Rock, St. Michael – 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
• Frederick “Freddie” Miller Polyclinic, The Glebe, St. George – 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
• Randal Phillips Polyclinic, Oistins, Christ Church – 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Friday, March 3

• David Thompson Health and Social Services Complex, Glebe Land, St. John – 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
• Branford Taitt Polyclinic, Black Rock, St. Michael – 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
• Frederick “Freddie” Miller Polyclinic, The Glebe, St. George – 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

The AstraZeneca, adult Pfizer vaccine, and the paediatric Pfizer vaccine for children ages five to eleven, are currently not available.

Persons who wish to receive their first dose of any available vaccine are advised to walk with their identification card. Those eligible for second doses should also travel with their blue vaccination card.

At present, the choice for boosters is either Johnson & Johnson or Sinopharm. Persons receiving boosters may present either their blue vaccination card or vaccination certificate and valid photo identification. Those who were fully vaccinated overseas must also provide their vaccination cards and valid photo identification (passport or identification card). (MR/BGIS)

The post Vaccination schedule for February 27 to March 3, 2023 appeared first on Barbados Today.

Santo Domingo, DR.
The National Health Service (SNS) clarified yesterday that the Padre Billini Teaching Hospital, handed over in the middle of last year by President Luis Abinader, is functioning at full capacity, with its areas and services available to citizens who come to the health center in search of health care.

As announced in a press release last week, the Intensive Care Unit, Operating Theatres, and Admission areas, which completed 100 percent of the iconic hospital’s services, were enabled the previous week.

It is recalled that the modern dental area of Padre Billini was put into service in January. It has two dental units, two periapical X-rays, a sterilizer, and a panoramic X-ray.

The portfolio of services of the health center, available to the public, includes Emergency, Outpatient, Laboratory, Imaging, Haemodialysis Unit, Blood Bank, Pharmacy, Tuberculosis Unit, Nutrition, Pathology, Endoscopy, High-Cost Programme (Rheumatology and Haematology) and Liver Programme. From its inauguration in August 2022 to January 2023, the Padre Billini Hospital has offered 101,174 services, such as emergencies, imaging, and laboratories.

Villa Hermosa

The SNS reported that the Villa Hermosa Hospital in La Romana has the necessary staff and equipment to offer services.

As announced during the inauguration, work is based on a schedule for opening services that begins on 13 March with outpatient consultations (six clinics), laboratory, imaging (ultrasound and X-rays), and dentistry.

On 3 April, the emergency room will come into service; on 17 April, the in-patient ward and the intensive care unit, while on 1 May, the operating theatres will be ready for use, leaving the commissioning process at 100%, just two months after its handover.

During the handover, which took place on the 24th of this month, the SNS announced that the health center has now entered the qualification stage by the Ministry of Public Hea. In this protocol phase, each process is supervised to qualify it and affiliate it to the various Health Risk Administrators (ARS) and thus guarantee the hospital’s and its structure’s sustainability.

The SNS is working on training staff in the proper handling of the advanced equipment available at the facility, and this induction began once the equipment was installed.

The National Health Service reported that as soon as other health centers intervened under the Ministry of Housing and Building (MIVED) management delivered, the commissioning process will begin, which is continuously published during inaugurations.

A simple urine test could detect pancreatic and prostate cancer with up to a 99% rate of accuracy, says a team of researchers from the Surface & Nano Materials Division of the Korea Institute of Materials Science.

Dr. Ho Sang Jung, lead author of the study, said cancer urine contains cancer metabolites and is different from normal urine. 

The study, recently published in the journal Biosensors and Bioelectronics, aimed to determine whether urine tests could detect those cancer metabolites, which are released by cancer cells to promote tumor growth.

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After the urine sample was placed on a test strip, the researchers used a special type of light scattering technique that generated a "fingerprint spectrum of chemicals," which detected the cancer metabolites.

Dr. Jung said the tests can detect cancer at various stages. 

"The purpose of developing this kind of technology is to screen the cancer patient before they go to the hospital," he told Fox News Digital in an email. 

"We are not sure that the test strip can differentiate cancer at very early stages, but at least it can suggest the possibility of cancer status — so the patient may then go to the hospital for a precise medical checkup."

PANCREATIC CANCER RATES ARE RISING FASTER AMONG WOMEN THAN MEN: NEW STUDY

Dr. James Anaissie, a urologist with Memorial Hermann in Houston, Texas, who was not involved in the study, is optimistic about the future of this technology — but he’s not jumping completely on board just yet.

"If the test is as reliable as they say it is, it may have an important role in screening, as the current PSA [prostate-specific antigen] blood test we use is notoriously unreliable," he told Fox News Digital in an email. 

"There is a big need for something like this."

Also, from a clinical perspective, urine testing is much easier than blood testing, the doctor said.

However, Anaissie remains a bit skeptical. 

"Although they report excellent sensitivity and specificity for prostate cancer, the data to support this is only available upon request of the research team, and they have almost no tables demonstrating these findings, which I would consider standard for studies of this nature," he said. 

BREAST CANCER AND MAMMOGRAMS: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE DISEASE, SCREENING AND MORE

"For example, were the patients diagnosed with prostate cancer in severe stages, where it’s obvious they have prostate cancer even without any urine tests?" said Dr. Anaissie. 

"Was it just as accurate for low-grade and high-grade cancers? Whenever I hear about exciting new technology, I’m always receptive, but with a raised eyebrow."

Urine screenings can be used by anyone, said Dr. Jung. The end goal is for this type of technology to be available for at-home testing.

He foresees several possible practical uses, including screening for cancer before going to the hospital, monitoring for cancer recurrence after treatment, or supplementary testing in addition to blood work.

The study authors recognize some limitations of the research.

"It was hard to get enough urine samples from cancer patients," said Dr. Jung. 

His team used 100 samples in the study and is continuously collecting more from hospitals throughout Korea.

Also, because this is a new technology, it still has not been approved by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in Korea for commercial use.

Anaissie also points out that more studies are needed to see if the test works when there is a urinary tract infection or blood in the urine, which is not uncommon in patients with prostate cancer.

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"Technology like this takes a long time to go from the lab’s proof of concept to everyday use, and a lot of people are going to try to pick it apart to make sure it’s safe and reliable," Anaissie said.

"The last thing you want is a screening test that ends up having a lot of false negatives. If it can survive the scrutiny, then it has the potential to revolutionize prostate cancer screening."

The researchers’ ultimate goal is for the urine screenings to extend eventually to other types of cancers, such as lung cancer and colorectal cancer. 

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"We are currently developing a system that can classify four cancer types — pancreatic cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer and colorectal cancer — simultaneously," Jung told Fox News Digital. 

He expects the follow-up study to be published sometime this year. 

Pancreatic cancer makes up around 3% of cancer diagnoses in the U.S. and 7% of deaths, per the American Cancer Society (ACS). 

Men are slightly more susceptible than women.

Prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer among American men, with about one in 41 dying of the disease (via the ACS).

In recent years there has been an improvement in the application of diagnostic techniques and the use of precision medicine to enhace the efficiency of treatments and patient care and the best strategy in the fight against cancer is multi-disciplinary management: prevention controls, early detection, and equal access.

The topic was exposed by patients and oncology specialists during the discussion “Comprehensive Vision and Cancer Challenges in the Dominican Republic”, held at the Santo Domingo Technological Institute (INTEC). The president of Fundación Un Amigo Como Tú, Juan Manuel Pérez, shared his experience as a survivor of non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. He said that these limitations are compounded by the emotional impact of receiving the diagnosis and the lack of information about the causes of the disease.

He added that cancer patients face late diagnoses and insufficient coverage for drugs and services. In turn, Dr. Mariel Pacheco del Castillo, pathologist and master’s degree in Molecular Oncology, said that today the objective of cancer treatment must be to restore a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being in patients and not only eradicate the tumor burden.

CMO Dr Shawn Charles said that Grenada is currently monitoring the situation

View the full post Swine Flu and Human Metapneumovirus in circulation on NOW Grenada.

S.M.L., who supports himself by selling bottles of water and soft drinks in the vicinity of Parque Enriquillo, assured that since last Friday the 17th he has suffered constant diarrhea, although he has not undergone laboratory tests to identify its origin. His neighbors, a family of three made up of a grandfather, his daughter, and his adolescent grandson were on their way to the Félix María Goico Hospital at the time for the same reason: acute diarrhea for several days.

In Villa Francisca, they receive two types of water in the pipeline, one fresh and the other brackish. “Today fresh water came to the tap,” said the lady. Upon noticing the presence of reporters in the area, Ana, another community member, commented that some people do not have bathrooms in their homes, and they throw fecal matter and garbage out into the open, contaminating the environment. The fetid smell corroborated the affirmations of the young mother, who asserted that she could not open the windows to ventilate her home.

A few meters away was Cirilo, a vendor of yaniqueques and boiled eggs, who assured that he had adopted very hygienic-sanitary measures, although “sales are not very good.” “Very clean hands,” he said as he showed them as a sign that they were clean. “Look at the showcase, not a fly gets in there,” he added.

Doctors from the United States (US) Southern Command on Monday began performing surgeries, providing dental services and conducting professional knowledge exchanges at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) and the West Demerara Regional Hospital, the American embassy here said. The doctors are drawn from the US’ Lesser Antilles Medical Assistance Team (LAMAT) and are part ...

View the full post Bursaries for 2023 European Drugs Summer School, Portugal on NOW Grenada.