(This week on health, we read about the Kallakurichi hooch tragedy, the NEET imbroglio, Sickle Cell Disease, and more.)
There are scandals, and lies, and all kinds of wrongdoing that we report on a regular basis. This week, we have the mother of them all, a tragedy, and as it happens, it has almost nothing to do with health. There are social, economic, cultural and political aspects why the Kallakurichi hooch tragedy was allowed to happen, and took with it, at last count, 59 lives.
One of the worst hooch tragedies in Tamil Nadu and perhaps in the country, Kallakurichi marked the occasion when everything that could go wrong with the system, did go wrong. In several villages in northern Tamil Nadu, at least 59 people died last week after consuming methanol-laced local liquor, and more than 100 others have been hospitalized with classic symptoms of methanol poisoning. Post facto analysis at ground zero by The Hindu’s S. Prasad list out the sequence of events that led to the tragedy Kallakurichi hooch, fermented with methanol and apathy. This is also a classic proof of the pudding that health does not exist in a vacuum, good health is a function of many institutions, or looking for social and economic indicators in society, preventing criminal activities, if necessary, and ensuring communication of effective behavior change. The bootleggers were brewing away and selling moonshine near the local police station and behind the court, in full view, as it were, of the law, and that was not checked for months at the end is all the makings of a horror story.
The Special Prohibition Enforcement Wing of the police, to deal with the illegal brewing, either failed miserably or were complicit in the crime, by accepting bribes and turning to look the other way. With the price of alcohol in state-run TASMAC shops recently, legally packaged alcohol exceeds the budget of some daily workers. Sold as a pack for less than half of what is available in TASMAC stores, illegal moonshine is a favorite. In addition, the role of the district collector and the police to deny that the death was due to methanol poisoning, while other evidence shows that it is a crime, because other villagers continue to go ahead and drink the stolen alcohol, which cannot be identified, that is. still available.
Methyl alcohol is a powerful poison – it can cause blindness, liver failure and death when ingested by humans. Some State laws prohibit or control the distribution of methanol for other industrial purposes, but apparently the wiley bootlegger lives outside the law. It’s time to pull the explanation by Vasudevan Mukunth, from before, what is methanol poisoning and how can it be treated. Kallakurichi must be a watershed moment for Tamil Nadu, yes, but also the rest of the nation, in the countryside that is no stranger to methanol in moonshine. To be forgotten would not be a crime.
The NEET imbroglio, meanwhile, is far from over. After allegations of paper leaks, and giving grace marks, and mismanagement in exam centers, and many protests across the country, the government sent its decision to the Supreme Court that it will conduct a re-test for more than 1500 students who have received grace marks. Less than half of the students retook the test, and meanwhile, Krishnadas Rajagopal reported from the apex court that the judge said any negligence in the conduct of NEET should be dealt with thoroughly. The DMK Rajya Sabha MP asked the Center to order a CBI probe, action against the officials concerned in the case, echoing the sentiments of students and professors. When the head of the National Testing Agency conducting NEET was removed, the NEET PG exam was postponed, adding an element of confusion among those waiting for PG specialty seats. Maitri Porecha reported that a member of the committee to review the operation of the NTA said that it was impossible for the organization to conduct an online test for 23 lakh students (the number of UG students who wrote NEET. A CBI inquiry was also ordered to investigate. expenses, wrote Ashna Butani. While the courts and the government are fighting over this, the students feel victimized, and hope for a fair and reasonable solution, not biased.
There have been exciting developments in sickle cell disease lately. Let’s start with the good news: Abhinay Lakshman reports that India is moving closer to developing gene therapy for sickle cell disease. Speaking at a recent meeting, government officials said they expect “good news” in January 2025 about ongoing laboratory tests. M. Srinivas, Director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, said researchers are working on gene therapy using CRISPR-Cas9, a gene editing tool. “We want, in the next six months to a year, to make progress using this method to treat SCD – making India one of the first countries to do so,” he said.
A development that would be particularly important for India, as the prevalence of sickle cell anemia is high among tribes.B. Madhu Gopal write. On the occasion of Sickle Cell Disease Day, observed on June 19, here is a news report on its prevalence: Sickle Cell Disease: 192 cases, more than 2,000 people with the trait identified in Karnataka in last one year
Radhika Peddinti , a practitioner based in the US, stressed that the need of the hour is for Sickle cell patients to have better access to modern medicine. There are many developments in treating the disease, but the question is one of patient access to the treatment, especially since these people are part of the lower economic strata or disadvantaged communities. Here’s an old explanation of Sickle Cell Disease, pulled to give some context.
R. Sujatha report on HelpAge India’s report calling for action on the welfare of senior citizens in the country. Elders are sick, alone and without the means to support themselves, the study found. But another example of health should be seen as a multidisciplinary unit, involving several sectors of government, the community and the voluntary sector. Hit the link for study details.
Leave it out here, even as evidence. Jacob Koshy writes that patent filings credit Bharat Biotech as the ‘inventor’ of Covaxin, dismissing ICMR. In particular, the two are working together on Covaxin and its safety and efficacy trials. Recently the ICMR discredited a study on the side effects of Covaxin by researchers at Benares Hindu University, you may remember reading about it here. Turns out, it was ‘negligence’. Bharat Biotech said it was wrong not to credit ICMR as the co-inventor of Covaxin, and promised to make an amendment to correct it.
A few weeks ago, we wrote about the possibility of easier liquid biopsies for cancer patients, and this was an enthusiastic follow-up. V Geetanath reports that the diagnosis of breast cancer can be made with just a drop of blood. CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) scientists in association with doctors from the Regional Cancer Center (RCC) in Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) have identified a potentially cost-effective and non-invasive method to detect various types of breast cancer from just a drop of blood. How does it work? Cancer cells release DNA / RNA in the blood called ‘Circulating Nucleic Acids (CNAs) and tumor-specific genetic changes, including DNA, RNA, and proteins, which can be detected in plasma or other body fluids of cancer patients to identify early stages. from the development of cancer. Based on this principle, identified biomarkers can be made into liquid biopsy systems.
At the tailthis time, genetics trumps, maybe not again. Jenny Graves write an interesting story the mysterious fate of the Neanderthal Y chromosome. The current Homo sapiens genome contains very little Neanderthal DNA. These genetic traces come from almost every part of the Neanderthal genome – except for the Y sex chromosome, which is responsible for making them male. So what happened to the Neanderthal Y chromosome? It may be lost by accident, or due to mating patterns or poor function. However, the answer may lie in a centuries-old theory about the health of interspecies hybrids, the story says. Click on the link to read more.
Sridhar Sivasubbu and Vinod Scaria also go back in time to talk about how ancient genomes reveal the legacy of human sacrifice and medieval epidemics. By comparing the ancient remains of the Mayans, and modern genomes from Mexico, the researchers found evidence of positive selection in genes related to immunity, especially those related to resistance to enteric fever caused by Salmonella enterica Paratyphi C, a pathogenic serotype previously identified with Epidemic 16th century cocoliztli in Mexico.
While we do a good job of explaining, here are some, which give context to what makes the news:
C. Maya report on whether H5N1 poses a threat to humans
Zubeda Hamid The Focus Podcast asks: Is India equipped to deal with the rise in the elderly population?
R. Prasad explains the controversy behind the Rotavirus vaccine: analysis of tortured data raises false safety alarms
If you have some more time, read also:
Karthik Vinod at: Complex PTSD: When the trauma continues…
Avian flu was confirmed at nine other places in Alappuzha
Kerala draws up new guidelines to regulate ‘altruistic’ organ donation
Air pollution to cause 8.1 million deaths by 2021 globally, 2.1 million in India: Report
2,000 TB survivors helped more than four lakh patients in India
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