Latest news with #Lahariya
New Indian Express
4 days ago
- Health
- New Indian Express
Covid infections growing milder, occasional surges expected but don't worry: experts
The death toll is 55 in the current surge which started January this year, primarily among individuals with pre-existing illnesses, according to the Union Health ministry. "People with pre-existing illnesses and those older than 65 should follow standard precautions, as they would against any other respiratory infection -- not just for COVID-19," explained Lahariya, a consultant physician and former staff member of WHO. Kerala is the most affected with over 1,600 cases, followed by Gujarat, West Bengal, Delhi and Maharashtra, ministry data shows. The case surge in India is part of a wider wave impacting parts of Southeast Asia, including Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Hong Kong, which have been seeing a rise in infections over the past months. Wastewater surveillance by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-National Chemical Laboratory (NCL) has detected presence of SARS-CoV-2 -- which causes COVID-19 -- in samples from 10 sewage treatment plants in Pune, the Times of India reported. Patterns are similar to those seen in the weeks preceding earlier surges, NCL scientists were quoted as saying. Genome sequencing of samples from India's west and south have shown links to the subvariants of Omicron -- LF.7, XFG, JN.1 and NB.1.8.1. The cases are not severe and there is no need to worry, Director General of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Rajiv Behl said earlier this week. LF.7 and been classified as 'variants under monitoring' (VUM) by the WHO to alert public health authorities that a variant of SARS-CoV-2 requires prioritised attention and monitoring. JN.1 has been circulating in India since November 2023. The current situation, Behl stressed, is being monitored. Immunologist Satyajit Rath explained that the subvariants driving up case numbers indicate that they are probably better at binding themselves to human cells, despite pre-existing antibodies created in response to a prior infection or vaccination -- or 'infectivity'. "However, the important issue here is not their infectivity, but their tendency to cause severe disease, or 'virulence'," Rath, former scientist at New Delhi's National Institute of Immunology, told PTI. "Since selection pressure among the virus strains depends on infectivity and transmissibility -- and not on virulence -- there is no reason to expect a steady increase in the virulence of the emerging virus strains, which, in fact, has not at all been seen either," he added. Moreover, given that the COVID-19-causing virus is now endemic and constantly 'mutating' or evolving, ups and downs in infections in the population are expected, the health experts said. "People need not worry themselves until they are informed of a new 'variant of concern'. VUM is not relevant to the public, but only to public health authorities," Agarwal said. Lahariya advised the public to gather information from reliable sources and not to forward unverified messages, while Rath suggested that citizens keep a watch for the virulence of newly emerging strains. The experts also stressed on the role of authorities. "National and state governments in India should keep a watch on cases, monitor the trends in new cases and share data widely. The linkage between infections and clinical outcomes should be explored to understand the clinical features of the variants in circulation," Lahariya said. Rath drew attention to systemic issues that remain regarding preparedness of public health systems and availability of healthcare facilities across sections of the society should a virulent variant emerge. "The catch is, how efficiently, systematically and rigorously are our public health systems tracking virus strains, their infectivity and their virulence, not only for SARS-CoV-2 but for any other infection?" he asked. "Are we making next generation Covid vaccines at all? Are we making them available widely and affordably? Are we even carefully tracking evidence to see how well or poorly the current vaccine-induced immunity functions against emerging strains?" he added. The poor and vulnerable would need special protection "but are masks being made widely and freely available? And if not, we are throwing poor communities onto their own resources even for taking such simple precautions, and that is a systemic problem," Rath said.
The Hindu
10-05-2025
- Health
- The Hindu
The Hindu Huddle 2025: ‘Ozempic will not solve India's obesity problem'
The explosive popularity of GLP-1 (Glucagon-Like Peptide-1) drugs for addressing weight loss, diabetes and obesity, such as Ozempic and Munjaro are useful for a limited number of people and will not solve the obesity or diabetes crisis that India is battling, said Dr Anoop Misra, Chairman, Fortis Centre of Diabetes, at The Huddle by The Hindu on Saturday. These drugs weren't new drugs, he explained and had been around for nearly two decades. However earlier versions of these drugs had limited 'weight-loss' benefits. Some of these drugs were effective at aiding weight-loss upto 20% but were still only suitable for a limted segment of people who were 'terribly obese' and resistant to diet and exercise-based regimen, cautioned Dr Misra, an acclaimed diabetologist with decades of research experience under his belt. At the panel convened to discuss the challenges from non-communicable diseases in India, labelled as the 'Trojan Horse' of India healthcare, the discussants – Dr Preetha Reddy, Executive Vice Chairperson, Apollo Hospitals; Dr Chandrakant Lahariya, Health and Social Sector Policy Adviser and Dr Misra – agreed that sedentary lifestyles, excessive consumption of high-fat and sweetened foods were they causes of this Trojan Horse incursion. The prevalence of obesity was rising among youngsters and there was concern that were these trends to continue, the much-vaunted 'demographic dividend,' or the surplus of youth, who would power India's economic future, would become a liability, said Dr Reddy. 'We want to keep people out of hospital beds,' she underlined. Governments and public health bodies could play a role in discouraging the 'two whites'- salt and sugar – whose excessive consumption was a problem but Dr Lahariya cautioned that sugar was a source of 'inexpensive calories' for a vast number of India's poor who often could not meet their daily caloric needs. Salt, he informed, was an integral part of the staple Indian diet and Indians on average consume twice the World Heath Organisation recommendations. That said, he suggested, imposing heavy taxes may not be advisable and instead there ought be better more visible warnings on detrimental health effects in packaged food. Advising against mindlessly following health fads, Dr. Misra said that ketogenic diets' (low carbohydrate-high fat diets) ought not to be followed beyond three months. It was instead healthier to tweak regular diets to cut calories and increase protein content, he opined. 'So called gluten-free diets that cost thrice as much had no benefit. I'd always recommend low-cost diets,' Dr Misra advised. 'There is well-founded research that cutting 15kgs can in several cases reverse diabetes.' While the challenges from diabetes were significant, Dr Lahariya said that India was also grappling a 'mental health' crisis. The prevalence of some form of mental health challenge was around 12% (nearly almost as diabetes), and severe mental illness around 2%. 'It is high time that public health institutions evolved a systematic response.' he added. While India was a developing country, it had managed to evolve a system of health screening that was 'comparable' to developed countries. 'It can certainly be improved and there is a range of options available that are a 10th of what it costs in the West,' reckoned Dr Reddy. The Hindu Huddle 2025 is presented by Sami-Sabinsa Group Co-powered by: Government of Karnataka, Government of Telangana Associate Partners: ONGC, Presidency University, TAFE, Akshayakalpa Organic Energy Partner : Indian Oil Corporation Limited Realty partner: Casagrand Knowledge partner: Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham State partner: Meghalaya tourism and Haryana government Luxury car partner: Toyota Radio partner: Radio City Gift partner: Anand Prakash Broadcast partner: Times Now Outdoor media partner: Signpost India
