Kerala doctors detect at least 7 cases of dangerous neuro disorder among Covishield recipients

News Network
June 24, 2021

At least seven cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome – a rare neurological disorder – have been detected by the doctors in Kerala within a month among 12 lakh people who received the Covishield vaccine, prompting them to alert others to watch out for GBS among the vaccine recipients.

“Overall, our experience should prompt all physicians to be vigilant in recognising GBS in patients who have received the ChAdOx1-S vaccine (Covishield in India). While the risk per patient (5.8 per million) may be relatively low, our observations suggest that this clinically distinct GBS variant is more severe than usual and may require mechanical ventilation,” they reported in the Annals of Neurology.

GBS is a rare condition in which the immune system attacks the nerves. The symptoms start as weakness and tingling in the feet and legs. The sensations can quickly spread to the upper body, leading to paralysis in the worst cases.

While the condition may be triggered by an acute bacterial or viral infection, there are treatments available to deal with such medical emergencies.

Out of the seven patients detected by the Kerala doctors, six are women and all of them are 50-70 years of age. They are from Ernakulam, Kottayam and Kannur districts of Kerala where approximately 1.2 million individuals had received the Covishield vaccine as of April 22.

“GBS following vaccination is a rare adverse effect that is likely to be causal. All the seven patients are alive and getting better with treatment,” Boby V Maramattom, the corresponding author of the study and a senior doctor at the department of neurology, Aster Medcity at Kochi said.

The incidence of GBS in India is approximately 6–40 cases per million per year, with a seasonal variation, peaking in the rainy season.

With a denominator of 1.2 million people, the expected cases of GBS per year are approximately seven to 48 annually or between 0.58 to four cases in every four weeks. The reporting of seven GBS cases in 1.2 million people within four weeks (mid March to mid April) marks a 1.4-to-10 fold rise in the incidence of GBS.

“Although the (causative) factors are not completely established, molecular mimicry between viral proteins and human nerve proteins are likely to be a reason,” he said. “It is not completely unexpected with a vaccination but the risk is approximately less than five per million doses.”

A separate team of researchers also reported four such cases from Nottingham in England, an area in which approximately 7,00,000 people received the same vaccine. The frequency of GBS in both the areas was estimated to be up to 10 times greater than expected.

"If the link is causal it could be due to a cross-reactive immune response to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and components of the peripheral immune system. The clinicians should be vigilant in looking for this rare neurological syndrome following the administration of Covid-19 vaccines," wrote the authors of the UK report.

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News Network
March 28,2024

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Russia says it is "extremely hard to believe" that Daesh could have staged the recent hugely deadly attack on a Moscow concert hall that the country's intelligence and security officials have blamed on Ukraine and its Western backers.

Four gunmen burst into the Russian capital's Crocus City Hall on Friday and began shooting at the people, who were attending an event. The Takfiri terrorist group has allegedly claimed responsibility for the massacre that killed at least 143.

Speaking on Wednesday, however, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova cast that claim into serious doubt.

"In order to ward off suspicions from the collective West, they urgently needed to come up with something, so they resorted to ISIS (Daesh), pulled an ace out of their sleeve, and literally a few hours after the terrorist attack, the Anglo-Saxon media began disseminating precisely these versions," she said.

The chief of the Russian internal intelligence (FSB), Alexander Bortnikov has suggested that not only Ukraine, but also the United States and Britain might have been behind the shooting.

The Russian Federal Security Service has also said the gunmen planned to travel to Ukraine, where they were to be welcomed as "heroes." The FSB said Western intelligence services aided the attackers.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has also suggested that Ukraine stood to derive benefit from the attack and that Kiev might have played a role.

He has said that someone on the Ukrainian side had prepared a "window" for the gunmen to escape across the border before they were captured in western Russia on Friday night.

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News Network
March 27,2024

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New Delhi, Mar 27: The government has objected strongly to remarks by a US State Department spokesperson on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's arrest last week in connection with the alleged liquor policy scam.

The External Affairs Ministry summoned Gloria Berbena, the US' Acting Deputy Chief of Mission, to a 40-minute meet at its office in Delhi on Wednesday afternoon. In a brief statement released shortly afterwards, the MEA warned of "unhealthy precedents and against "unwarranted aspersions".

"States are expected to be respectful of the sovereignty and internal affairs of others, and this responsibility is even more so in case of fellow democracies. It could otherwise end up setting unhealthy precedents," the External Affairs Ministry said.

"India's legal processes are based on an independent judiciary which is committed to objective and timely outcomes. Casting aspersions on that is unwarranted," the statement stressed.

On Tuesday the US State Department said it is monitoring reports of Mr Kejriwal's arrest, and called on New Delhi to ensure "a fair and timely legal process" for the jailed Aam Aadmi Party leader.

The US State Department's comments came, in turn, days after Germany's Foreign Office stressed that Mr Kejriwal, like any other Indian citizen facing charges, is entitled to a fair and impartial trial.

The Indian government reacted strongly to the comment, summoning the German envoy and labelling the Foreign Office spokesperson's remark "blatant interference in internal matters".

"We see such remarks as interfering in our judicial process and undermining the independence of our judiciary," the External Affairs Ministry said, "Biased assumptions are most unwarranted."

Asked about India's protest to Germany, the State Department spokesperson told Reuters, "We refer you to the German Foreign Ministry for comment on their discussions with the Indian government."

Earlier this month the Modi government also took exception to comments by its counterpart on the changes to the citizenship law, calling them out as "misplaced, misinformed, and unwarranted".

Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate last week in connection with the alleged liquor policy scam that has roiled his AAP and provoked furious protests from the opposition ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha election. Mr Kejriwal was this week sent to jail till March 28.

The Enforcement Directorate believes the now-scrapped liquor policy provided an impossibly high profit margin of 185 per cent for retailers and 12 per cent for wholesalers. Of the latter, six per cent - over ₹ 600 crore - were bribes and the money was allegedly used to fund the AAP's poll campaigns.

The ED has labelled the Chief Minister as a key conspirator in this case, but Mr Kejriwal and party colleagues arrested in this matter - ex-Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, and former Health Minister Satyendar Jain - have all denied the charges.

The AAP and the opposition have hit out at the BJP-led central government for using central agencies, like the ED, to target rivals and critics before the general election. The AAP has criticised Mr Kejriwal's arrest on grounds it was timed to interfere with his plans to campaign for the party.

The BJP has dismissed claims it uses central agencies as described by the opposition.

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News Network
March 16,2024

Mangaluru: In the wake of complaints regarding middlemen menace, sleuths of Lokayukta on Friday, March 15, conducted a raid at the Mangaluru Urban Development Authority. 

The Lokayukta team found unaccounted money and several files, which were not disposed of for a long period.

Lokayukta SP CA Simon said that the Lokayukta has received complaints that middlemen have been interfering in the MUDA office, and files pertaining to the public are not being cleared on time.

A raid that commenced in the evening on March 13, lasted for 18 hours. During the raid, Lokayukta officials found cash in a bag in MUDA office, and also with officials and others. MUDA officials could not inform the source of money found in their office, the SP said.

Further, he said that many people gathered at the MUDA office during the Lokayukta raid, and have raised complaints about the harassment at the urban development authority. “We have gathered evidence for MUDA officials carrying out file disposal processes through brokers on phone calls. The investigation on the MUDA network will be continued,” he said.

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