Coronavirus in Nigeria and Coronavirus Vaccine in Nigeria are currently the interest of many Nigerians today and for the past two months. The entire story about the novel coronavirus and the journey to finding the vaccine begun on in late December 2019. According to a published report, public health workers in China had informed the World Health Organization about the unknown virus causing pneumonia like kind of ailment in the city of Wuhan, China. At the time, the virus, source and symptoms were not clear.
Gradually, the World Health Organization got involved and after identifying the virus named it COVID- 19. This was in reference to the type of virus and the year it emerged.
With the increasing rate in the number of persons infected across a number of countries, WHO declared the coronavirus a Pandemic. At the moment, the virus has spread to all continents with Europe suffering the most with reference to mortality rate.
There are about 254 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Nigeria with only six deaths and 44 complete recoveries.
Coronavirus treatment has been an issue of global discuss since the first quarter of 2020. At the wake of the outbreak in China, patients were reported to have a varied degree of symptoms due to the virus. The symptoms for coronavirus includes fever, cough, shortness of breath for mild cases. For some severe cases mostly as a result of weak immune system, the symptoms may include pneumonia and bronchitis. For some people, the symptoms were similar to that of common flu with a little bit of extra intensity. Most Coronavirus patients in Nigeria are mild especially for patients with no underlying health issues.
It will be important to note that the corona infection is a viral infection. This means that no form of antibiotics can be used in the treatment as that will not be effective. So far, many of the cases reported in Nigeria has been mild and no patient has had need for ventilators yet.
However, it will be great to examine the various drugs Doctors are using to manage the coronavirus in Nigeria at the moment as we await the coronavirus vaccine in Nigeria.
According to Dr. Zev Zelenko, a prominent New York doctor, this treatment formula came into play while he treated over 75% of the population at Kiryas Joel community. Dr. Zev said that at the time, over 20,000 people were infected from the virus in a community of about 35,000 people. Having a part of the population on the high-risk category, (immunocompromised, comorbidities), the community resorted to treating everyone with certain symptoms with priority to the high-risk population. Everyone who presented with symptoms such as shortness of breath regardless of the age group, risk category or degree of symptoms should be treated.
Dr. Zev went ahead to give out the combination of the drugs used which resulted in almost zero casualty. According to him, the formulation was gotten from research and monitoring the pattern of treatment in China, France and South Korea.
Here is what he says,
“My out-patient treatment regimen is as follows:
While explaining the reason for the above drug combination he said,
“The rationale for my treatment plan is as follows. I combined the data available from China and South Korea with the recent study from France. We know that hydroxychloroquine helps zinc enter the cells. We know that Zinc slows viral replication within the cell. Regarding the use if azithromycin, I postulate it prevents secondary bacterial infections. These three drugs are well known and usually well-tolerated, hence the risk to the patient is low.”
Dr. Zev Zelenko
He continues to say,
“Since last Thursday, my team has treated approximately 350 patients in Kiryas Joel and another 150 patients in other areas of New York with the above regimen.
Dr. Zev Zelenko
Of this group and the information provided to me by affiliated medical teams, we have had zero deaths, zero hospitalizations, and zero intubations. In addition, I have not heard of any negative side effects other than approximately 10% of patients with temporary nausea and diarrhoea.
Dr. Zev Zelenko
In sum, my urgent recommendation is to initiate treatment in the outpatient. setting as soon as possible in accordance with the above. Based on my direct experience, it prevents acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), prevents the need for hospitalization and save lives.”
Dr. Zev Zelenko
Also, going over some of the prescriptions used by the Nigerian doctors in managing and treating coronavirus in Nigeria, they still rally around the drugs put out by Dr. Zev with little or no modifications to the brands and dosages.
According to a news article published by the Guardian, about 35 companies and academic institutions are racing to create a vaccine for coronavirus. It also claimed that about four of the products have been successfully tested in animals and will soon begin testing it on humans soon. It attributed the speedy success to the contributions of Chinese researches sharing their sequence in early January 2020. According to them, it helped the research groups around the world to grow the live virus and study how it invades human cells and makes people sick.
Coronavirus in Nigeria: Possibilities for Coronavirus Vaccine in Nigeria
Additionally, another report from Independent news says that a study on mice offers hope for a vaccine against coronavirus. It says, “The latest research successfully protected mice against a lethal dose of Mers, a very close relative of the new coronavirus that causes COVID- 19. Find full details here.
However, with the much being said and reports released, there is yet to be a certified vaccine released and certified by the WHO.
At the moment, there is no known company or institution working on a coronavirus vaccine in Nigeria.
Generally, it should be known that the situation of coronavirus in Nigeria and its management in relation to stakeholders’ efforts is far from being impressive. So far, not all states have created suitable isolation centers with resources to manage positive cases. The effort of government, corporate organizations and individuals as it is, is localized to the highbrow and “developed states”. Although this might be justifiable considering the higher rate of confirmed cases in these states in comparison with other states, it is noteworthy that the country is not prepared for a community outbreak of coronavirus in Nigeria.
So far, there are 254 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Nigeria with 44 recoveries and six deaths. With no coronavirus vaccine in Nigeria in sight and just sample prescriptions to manage the symptoms, Nigerians are still being encouraged to stay home while maintaining all the precautionary guidelines issued by the authorities.
Find more Updates on coronavirus in Nigeria here.