What clinicians need to know when treating polio survivors

16/02/2023 0 Comments read Health & Science, Poliomyelitis

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 16.02.2023 (The Medical Republic): While Australia was declared polio-free in 2000, there is a major need to invest in medical care of many of the tens of thousands of people, who contracted poliomyelitis (polio) during the 20^th century polio epidemics and are now experiencing what is known as the “late effects of polio” (LEoP) and its subset, the post-polio syndrome (PPS).

“Late effects of polio” is an umbrella term which includes the onset or worsening of residual muscle weakness, joint and muscle pain, severe fatigue, intolerance to cold temperatures and a range of biomechanical symptoms, such as osteoporosis and scoliosis, that occur usually 15 to 40 years after a person contracted the disease. Its subset, the post-polio syndrome, is a diagnosable neurological condition. Its symptoms cross over with late effects of polio and may also include loss of function and difficulties with sleeping, breathing and swallowing.

Most survivors of paralytic polio, and many of those who had non-paralytic polio and people who were never diagnosed with polio, are at risk of experiencing the late effects of polio or post-polio syndrome. Continue reading →

Indian PhD students say long Australian visa delays have put their lives on hold

13/01/2023 1 Comment read Education

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 12.01.2023 (IPS): When Megha Jacob, who had been applying for a doctoral degree at various overseas universities, received an offer from the Australian National University’s Department of Chemistry to do a fully funded PhD, she was thrilled and immediately accepted the position. It was January 2022. She submitted her visa application and resigned from her job at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras. One year later, she is still waiting for her visa to be processed.

Several international Indian students enrolled in doctoral degree courses in Australia’s leading universities have been waiting for their visas to be approved for months, some for up to two years. “The protracted delays have put our lives on hold. We seek clarity and a definitive timeline so we can plan our future,” say students from one of the WhatsApp groups formed by Indian doctoral students facing Australian visa processing delays.

Since the easing of Australia’s stringent COVID-19 restrictions, these students allege, the visa processing time for doctoral degree students has increased. “The median processing time for offshore student visa application was 18 days for the Postgraduate Research Sector in November 2022,” an Australian Department of Home Affairs (DHA) spokesperson tells IPS. However, the most recent processing time on the DHA website for 500 – Student visa (subclass 500) Postgraduate Research Sector shows 90 percent of applications are processed in 10 months.

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Smartphone operated tool uses light beam to detect malaria

16/12/2022 0 Comments read Health & Science

The malaria detection tool collects an infrared signature for a mobile phone to process. Photo Credit: ©The University of Queensland.

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 16.12.2022 (SciDev.Net): A quick, affordable, non-invasive detection tool could help accelerate progress in meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals’ target to eliminate malaria, say researchers who developed it.

The WHO’s global technical strategy for malaria 2016–2030 aims to reduce malaria incidence and mortality rates by at least 75 per cent by 2025 and at least 90 per cent by 2030 against a 2015 baseline. But by 2021, malaria case incidence and deaths are both off track by 48 per cent. Based on the current trajectories, the world will be off track in reaching the malaria targets by 88 per cent, according to Abdisalan Noor, head of the Strategic Information for Response Unit, WHO Global Malaria Programme.

To help get back on track, researchers from Australia and Brazil have come up with a handheld, smartphone-operated, near-infrared spectrometer that shines infrared light for about five seconds on a person’s ears, arms, or fingers to detect changes in the blood caused by malaria.

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