Background:Data are needed to serve as evidence in planning the strengthening of pharmacovigilance in health programs administering drugs to populations. The present study was proposed to map the distribution of pharmacovigilance units in health programs, assess the availability of key resources, the implementation of key pharmacovigilance activities and identify needs of involved actors.Methods:It was a cross sectional descriptive study targeting all health programs of the Cameroon Ministry of Public Health administering drugs/vaccines to the population. Data were collected using semi structured questionnaire administered face to face to key persons in charge of drug safety monitoring or drug management in health programs.Results:Out of the 09 health programs involved in drug distribution, 07 consented to participate. Five out of them (71.4%) claimed to have existing pharmacovigilance units. Office space, computers, operating budget, data analysis software and a trained staff were available in 28.6%, 42.9%, 42.9%, 14.3%, 00.0%, and 42.9% of the health programs respectively. One of the 7 health programs (14.3%) declared conducting detection/notification of adverse events following exposure drugs, 2 (28.6%) conduct causality assessment and 3 (42.8%) conduct analysis of pharmacovigilance data. All health programs proposed to prioritize the allocation of budget and qualified personnel and the training of existing personnel as key interventions to improve drugs/vaccines safety monitoring in health programs.Conclusion:The study reports limited coverage of Cameroon health programs with activities leading to drugs and vaccine safety monitoring. Suggested actions have to be taken into account when attempting to improve the situation.
COVID-19 pandemic started in December 2019, and is a worldwide health disaster today, pulmonary fibrosis and cytokine storm are two major complications in COVID-19 patients which can decrease life quality after recovery, and cause death. Histamine effects on the immune system through 4 histamine receptors. The function pattern of histamine 4 receptor has many similarities to COVID-19 pathogenesis pattern.H4R antagonists prevent lung fibrosis in bleomycine-induced lung fibrosis murine models, it can reduce TNF-α and IL-6 secretion in several immunemediated diseases such as asthma, colitis and dermatitis.H4R stimulation also decreases IL-12 which is not detected to be high in COVID-19 patients.TH- 17 acts as an important inflammatory effector in COVID-19 pathogenesis, through IL-17 secretion which results in TNF-α and IL-6 secretion, and also IL-17 promotes tissue remodeling and fibrosis via matrix metalloproteinase induction.TH-17 expresses H4R which can be stimulated by H4R antagonist and results in IL-17 production, this process can explain the relation between H4R and COVID-19 pathogenesis. The other content supporting this theory is the compatibility of gastrointestinal, neurologic, and dermatologic signs and symptoms of COVID-19 with the H4R function pattern.in addition to the previous evidences, clusters of Kawasaki-like disease are reported recently, these patients were highly infected with SARS- COV2, and this can be explained by the important role of IL-17 in Kawasaki disease and the stimulatory effect of H4R on TH-17. According to the above content the author hypothesis that H4R stimulation by SARS-COV2 results in IL-17 expression which is associated with cytokine release, and H4R is a potential target point for COVID-19 treatment. This hypothesis can be evaluated by a clinical trial study of the therapeutic and preventive effect of H4R antagonists in COVID-19 patient’s complication, severity progression, and mortality
Background: Drugs or proper medications can be a preventive measure against several temporary or chronic human diseases and physiological conditions. But sometimes, drugs can turn out to be a bane to human life rather than becoming a boon. Administration of certain drugs may lead to several undesirable detrimental effects to human health that may even be fatal if gone unnoticed. These reactions are more commonly referred to as the Adverse drug Reactionsâ™. Aim: In the current study, our major aim is to probe the adverse drug reactions of two particular drugs Paracetamol and Cephalosporin, when administered in combination or separately in a tertiary care hospital, Kolkata, West Bengal. Material and methods: Our study involves a hospital-based observational study where the adverse drug reactions reported by medical practitioners over a period of six months were assessed in patients administered with paracetamol and cephalosporin group of drugs in combination or separately. Results: In this study, 100 patients were administered paracetamol and cephalosporin drug groups both separately or in combination. Out of them, 36 patients developed ADR like hepatotoxicity, hypotension, anemia, vomiting, skin rashes as well as Steven Johnson Syndrome. Adverse drug reaction is found to be more common in women than in men. Also, middle-aged adults (15-65 years) are more prone to adverse drug reactions on the administration of a combination of paracetamol and cephalosporin drugs. Further, when the patients were subjected to a dose of a combination of paracetamol and cephalosporin drug groups, they experienced mainly vomiting along with some minor cases of hypertension, hepatotoxicity, and skin rashes. Conclusion: Our study clearly indicates that when a patient is co-administered a combination of both paracetamol and cephalosporin drug groups, the majority of the observed adverse drug reaction symptom is vomiting which is a signature adverse drug reaction symptom of cephalosporin drug group alone, indicating a clear predominance in symptoms of adverse drug reaction exhibited by cephalosporin drug group over paracetamol.
Opioid analgesic overdose is a preventable and potentially lethal condition that outcomes from endorsing rehearses, insufficient comprehension on the patient's important for the dangers of prescription abuse, blunders in medication organization, and drug misuse. Three highlights are critical to a comprehension of narcotic pain relieving harmfulness. To begin with, narcotic pain relieving excess can have hazardous harmful impacts in numerous organ frameworks. Second, typical pharmacokinetic properties are regularly upset during an ingest too much and can draw out inebriation significantly. Third, the span of activity changes among narcotic plans, and inability to perceive such varieties can prompt unseemly treatment choices, once in a while with deadly outcomes.
