Misperception About Epilepsy Among Common Public in Balochistan

ABSTRACT Background and Objective: Epilepsy is a treatable chronic neurological illness that is frequently associated with supernatural activity. The objectives of this study were to determine common myths and misperception about epilepsy by analysing a comprehensive panel of variables in our local population. Methods: We conducted a face-to-face questionnaire interview survey in three different shopping malls. One thousand people were randomly enrolled in this cross-sectional study at Quetta, Baluchistan, during the period of 21 august 2021 to 30 august 2021. Results: A total of 1000 people were interviewed; among them 220(22%) were male and 780(78%) were female. Individuals between the age of 20 years and above were included in the study. Nine-hundred-eighty (98%) respondents had heard about epilepsy. Out of thousand people 419 (41.9%) thought that epilepsy was a brain disease, 488 (48.8%) responded that it was a ghost attack. Twenty-three (2.3%) believed it to be psychosis. The aspects of knowledge tested were on causes, types, and management of epilepsy. Forty-nine (4.9%) people believed that epilepsy was due to head trauma, 488 (48.8%) said it’s ghost attack, 67 (6.7%) said it’s because of evil eye, and 293 (29.3%) peoples believed that epilepsy was caused by black magic. Nine-hundred-twenty-eight (92.8%) people believed that home remedies such as sniffing shoes were effective in epilepsy. Conclusion: This study revealed a lack of awareness about epilepsy in Balochistan, as well as the prevalence of both negative and favourable attitudes about epilepsy. This result was much surprising because in this era of modern medicine and technology, still superstitious beliefs prevail among large population. The study also emphasized to increase public awareness and epilepsy education initiatives to change public opinions and promote the use of standard epileptic treatment

Convalescent plasma in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised controlled, open-label, platform trial

SummaryBackground Azithromycin has been proposed as a treatment for COVID-19 on the basis of its immunomodulatoryactions. We aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of azithromycin in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19.Methods In this randomised, controlled, open-label, adaptive platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19Therapy [RECOVERY]), several possible treatments were compared with usual care in patients admitted to hospitalwith COVID-19 in the UK. The trial is underway at 176 hospitals in the UK. Eligible and consenting patients wererandomly allocated to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus azithromycin 500 mg once perday by mouth or intravenously for 10 days or until discharge (or allocation to one of the other RECOVERY treatmentgroups). Patients were assigned via web-based simple (unstratified) randomisation with allocation concealment andwere twice as likely to be randomly assigned to usual care than to any of the active treatment groups. Participants andlocal study staff were not masked to the allocated treatment, but all others involved in the trial were masked to theoutcome data during the trial. The primary outcome was 28-day all-cause mortality, assessed in the intention-to-treatpopulation. The trial is registered with ISRCTN, 50189673, and ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04381936.Findings Between April 7 and Nov 27, 2020, of 16 442 patients enrolled in the RECOVERY trial, 9433 (57%) wereeligible and 7763 were included in the assessment of azithromycin. The mean age of these study participants was65·3 years (SD 15·7) and approximately a third were women (2944 [38%] of 7763). 2582 patients were randomlyallocated to receive azithromycin and 5181 patients were randomly allocated to usual care alone. Overall,561 (22%) patients allocated to azithromycin and 1162 (22%) patients allocated to usual care died within 28 days(rate ratio 0·97, 95% CI 0·87–1·07; p=0·50). No significant difference was seen in duration of hospital stay (median10 days [IQR 5 to >28] vs 11 days [5 to >28]) or the proportion of patients discharged from hospital alive within 28 days(rate ratio 1·04, 95% CI 0·98–1·10; p=0·19). Among those not on invasive mechanical ventilation at baseline, nosignificant difference was seen in the proportion meeting the composite endpoint of invasive mechanical ventilationor death (risk ratio 0·95, 95% CI 0·87–1·03; p=0·24).Interpretation In patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19, azithromycin did not improve survival or otherprespecified clinical outcomes. Azithromycin use in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 should be restrictedto patients in whom there is a clear antimicrobial indication

A Clinical, Pathological, Epidemiological and Molecular Investigation of Recent Outbreaks of Peste des Petits Ruminants Virus in Domestic and Wild Small Ruminants in the Abu Dhabi Emirate, United Arab Emirates

(1) Background: Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is a highly contagious animal disease affecting small ruminants, leading to significant economic losses. There has been little published data on PPR virus (PPRV) infection in the United Arab Emirates (UAE); (2) Methods: four outbreaks reported in goats and Dama gazelle in 2021 were investigated using pathological and molecular testing; (3) Results: The infected animals showed symptoms of dyspnea, oculo-nasal secretions, cough, and diarrhea. Necropsy findings were almost similar in all examined animals and compliant to the classical forms of the disease. Phylogenetic analysis based on N gene and F gene partial sequences revealed a circulation of PPRV Asian lineage IV in the UAE, and these sequences clustered close to the sequences of PPRV from United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Iran; (4) Conclusions: PPRV Asian lineage IV is currently circulating in the UAE. To the best of our knowledge, this is a first study describing PPRV in domestic small ruminant in the UAE