COVID-19 remains the main public health problem in the world. The major objective of this review is to discuss interventions that have been employed against COVID-19. The preventive and control measures that have been employed against COVID-19 include: staying at home, social and physical distancing, quarantine, washing hand with sanitizer, using face mask, immunization, timely diagnosis and treatment of the disease. In spite of its high false negative rate, real time-PCR remains the gold standard for diagnosis of COVID-19. Antiviral drugs that have been approved for treatment of COVID-19 include remedsvier, monoclonal antibodies and convalescent plasma therapy. The vaccines that were authorized and approved for COVID-19 have shown positive outcomes. For example, a vaccine efficacy studies that done in Israel on efficacies of Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines showed that the two vaccines reduce SARS-CoV-2 infection rate by more than 90%. However, it is still possible for fully vaccinated people to contract and spread SARS-CoV-2 because of the high mutation rate of SARS-CoV-2. As the SARS-CoV-2 is constantly changing by random mutation, modification of the current vaccines is required to develop effective vaccines against all variants of the virus. In addition, as the available COVID-19 diagnosis methods have considerable limitations, a novel diagnostic approach that may overcome the limitations has to be designed.
Background:The aim of the study was to investigate the therapeutic efficacy of Coartem ® in the treatment of uncomplicated P. falciparum malaria in Woreta Town, South Gonder Zone, Ethiopia.Methods: 2240 febrile patients attending the health center were screened and capillary blood was obtained by finger prick. Giemsa stained thick and thin blood smears were prepared and used for parasite density and species identification. Of the 2240 patients tested, 88 with confirmed falciparum malaria were enrolled and treated with Coartem ® . Haemoglobin concentration of the study participants was measured on day 0, 14 and 28. Of the 88 patients enrolled, five were lost to follow and five were excluded from treatment response analysis due to protocol violation. As a result, 78 patients were evaluated for treatment outcomes. Results:The adequate clinical and parasitological response was 100% at day 28. Fever clearance was fast with only 1.7% being febrile at day three. Parasite clearance was rapid with almost all patients (98.9%) being free of parasitmia on day 2. A significant increase in haemoglobin level was observed on day 28. Coartem is safe and well tolerated for the treatment of uncomplicated P. falciparum malaria in the study area. Conclusion:Thus, these findings further support the use of Coartem as an effective and safe treatment of uncomplicated P. falciparum malaria in Woreta.
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