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Even mild coronavirus infection leads to antibodies — Pasteur Institute
A medical study in France suggests even mild cases of coronavirus infection, not requiring hospital treatment, produce antibodies in almost all patients, with the...
Renowned microbiologist and co-discoverer of Ebola for our webinar
Professor Peter Piot, Director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, will next week join our webinar series in which local practitioners can interact...
MRC drops 'impulsive and high-handed' investigation into Prof Gray
The SA Medical Research Council (MRC) has abandoned what the Academy of Science of SA described as an “impulsive and high-handed” investigation into Prof...
Counting the cost of COVID-19 for SA medical schemes
The financial health of SA medical schemes during COVID-19 looks positive for 2020 but could deteriorate next year due to a ‘significant’ rise in costs, with...
Medical experts rebel over SA's 'nonsensical' lockdown strategy
The South African government is coming under strong criticism from medical experts on its own ministerial advisory committee (MAC), who say the present lockdown...
Former UCT doctor warns SA: Be ready for an enigmatic disease and a flood of patients
COVID-19 is not a single-specialty disease. Everyone has to collaborate, parceling out work where resources are most needed and finding the best way to...
Most critically ill COVID-19 patients survive with standard treatment
Clinicians from two US hospitals report that the majority of even the sickest patients with COVID-19 - those who require ventilators in intensive care...
Anti-coagulants may improve survival in hospitalised COVID-19 patients
Treating hospitalised COVID-19 patients with anti-coagulants may improve their chances of survival, researchers from the Mount Sinai COVID Informatics Centre report. The study could...
Webinar series spotlighting Covid-19 issues and research
Starting next week, MedicalBrief, partnering with Discovery and the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation (DTHF) in conjunction with the SA Medical Association, the SA Private Practitioners Forum and the Unity Forum for...
COVID-19 trial: Remdesivir accelerates recovery and improves survival
A clinical trial by the US National Institutes of Health found that hospitalised patients with advanced COVID-19 and lung involvement who received remdesivir recovered...
R440m fraternal Cuban Brigade 'won't take SA jobs'
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize says the deployment of Cuban doctors — apparently costing the South African government R440m — would not take jobs away from SA doctors and...
Oxford University way ahead of the pack in race for COVID-19 vaccine
In the worldwide race for a vaccine to stop the coronavirus, sprinting fastest isOxford University, with of their new coronavirus vaccine involving more than...
Safety of chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin for treating COVID-19
Physicians and patients should be aware of several rare but potentially life-threatening adverse effects of chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin, even during short courses of...
COVID-19: Intensive Care Society issues new guidelines on ‘proning’
Following a national survey, the UK's Intensive Care Society has issued guidelines on "proning", a technique usually applied to unconscious patients on ventilation, which...
Zoonotic transfer study fuels call for ban of wildlife trade, markets and medicinal use
A major study has found that the exploitation of wildlife and destruction of habitat have substantially increased the risk of transfer of dangerous viruses, including COVID-19, from...
Ethnicity as a factor in vulnerability to COVID-19
The head of the British Medical Association wants the an urgent investigation into the possible greater vulnerability of black, Asian and minority ethnic...
Infectious disease expert on the great COVID-19 mask debate — Wear them
Protection for medics must be a priority in the COVID-19 pandemic, says Professor Robin Wood, a global expert on the aerobiology of infectious disease...
SA lockdown necessary but more testing crucial — UCT's Professor Robin Wood
It is easy to throw stones at idiosyncratic bits of South Africa’s COVID-19 lockdown programme, but it was the right move, said the University...
Forced quarantine of 2 Limpopo doctors causes dismay
The forcible quarantining in a Limpopo hospital of two women doctors who had been self-isolating has caused dismay, writes MedicalBrief. Health MEC Dr Phophi...
International expert on aerial transmission for MedicalBrief webinar
A new Massachusetts Institute of Technology study concludes that health workers may be underestimating the risk of aerial transmission of COVID-19, while the head of China’s Centre for Disease...
Age-based triage looms in Italy and UK for allocation of ventilators and ICU beds
Italy's pressured health services has issued guidelines on the rationing of ventilators and intensive care beds, as patient demand escalates, while in the former...
SA doctors at the sharp end over COVID-19 treatment protocols
COVID-19 has barely hit South Africa and already our over-extended healthcare professionals are coming under enormous pressure from fearful and abusive patients, as well...
Consumers stockpile unproven drugs to self-medicate against COVID-19
Consumers worldwide are stockpiling and self medicating on drugs — chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, ritonavir and umifenovir — that have been hyped as cures on social...
Most cases 'mild’ and lockdown will flatten the curve — Mkhize
Despite exponential daily increases in coronavirus infections over the past few day, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize is confident that the national lockdown will see...
Supreme Court of Appeal's split decision over surgical negligence
In a split decision by the Supreme Court of Appeal, a Port Elizabeth woman has won a 10-year negligence action over two small nicks to her bile...
World in lockdown as global infections exceed 200,000
Emergencies were declared in SA and Australia while the EU sealed its borders and infections surfaced in every state in the USA, writes MedicalBrief. In the UK, a chilling modelling...
Medical cannabis in SA: Weighing the evidence
Current limited evidence of the benefits of medical cannabis may be outweighed by the lack of consistent efficacy and risk of adverse effects, since...
COVID-19 pandemic: Treatment and management options for SA practitioners
South Africa, with 13 imported coronavirus cases, currently fits the World Health Organisation's Transmission Scenario Two. Dr Richard Kaplan, writing for MedicalBrief, outlines decision-making...
Precedent-setting UK ruling extends legal duty of care to associated third parties
A UK High Court has ruled that doctors treating individuals with serious ailments owe a legal duty of care not just to their patients...
Electrolyte supplements don't prevent illness and may cause harm — Ultramarathon study
Electrolyte supplements are promoted as preventing nausea and cramping caused by low salt levels, but a Stanford study based on 266 ultramarathoners found that...
US and Europe may act too slowly in introducing robust anti-COVID-19 measures
The World Health Organisation has praised the "early and robust" control measures that appear to have curbed COVID-19 in China, writes MedicalBrief. But some...
Commission's report implicates the State in forced sterilisation of HIV+ women
A report by the Gender Equality Commission implicates the State in forced sterilisation of HIV positive women, writes MedicalBrief. The Health Professions Council...
Africa holds its breath as coronavirus hits Europe and Middle East
Despite only two diagnosed African cases of coronavirus so far, a Lancet study says South Africa, along with Algeria and Egypt, are at greatest risk on the continent, while a Bloomberg report warns that sub-Saharan Africa may...
CMS’ precedent setting ruling against Discovery's 'irrational decision-making'
In "a scathing and precedent-setting ruling" against Discovery Health Medical Scheme, the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) may open the door to force schemes...
COVID-19: SA 'would struggle' because of specialist shortage
Despite only one person in Africa so far diagnosed with Covid-19, experts warn of the potential for imminent havoc on an under-prepared, under-resourced continent,...
Coronavirus: 'Promising new treatments must be explored immediately'
The major effort in coping with the new coronavirus has been around isolation etc (short-term) and finding a vaccine (long-term), but international experts argue...
Western Cape Health gets its nose bloodied over 'stolen' broken armchairs
A vindictive, protracted and costly campaign by Western Cape Health against three young doctors for “unlawfully removing two blue chairs with the intent to...
When a sick note leads to an arrest warrant
The Pietermaritzburg High Court this week issued a stayed arrest warrant for former president Jacob Zuma, after rejecting a One Military Hospital “sick note” as inadequate, because of...
Africa becomes WHO priority in fight against fast-spreading coronavirus
The likelihood of a coronavirus outbreak in Africa was “very, very high”, the World Health Organisation warns, as cases of the respiratory illness...
Risk factors for suicide over a lifetime — systematic review
A review of previous studies into suicide worldwide by Oxford University and the Karolinska Institutet identifies the effects of individual and environmental risk factors,...