The much-dreaded double mutant variant that has officially been related to the devastating Covid-19 situation in India has been discovered in the East African c
Water Supply Cut Off at State House and other Nairobi Estates
The Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company(NCWSC) has announced an interruption of water supply in some estates within Nairobi, including State House.
In a notice in the dailies, the water company said the water shortage will last 24 hours starting from 6 am on Thursday to 6 am Friday.
The shutdown will facilitate the repair of the Sasumua Treated water transmission pipeline at the Aberdare forest and the interconnection of the Kabete Reservoirs outlet pipes with the relocated distribution pipeline along Waiyaki Way at the Communication Authority Headquarters.
The latter is due to the ongoing construction of Waiyaki Way – Rironi road.
In Kisumu, health officials confirmed eight cases of Covid-19 of Indian variant from samples collected at Kibos Sugar Factory.
The gene sequencing that was carried out a week ago at Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri) detected the B.1.617 variant dubbed a ‘double mutant’, a dominant strain that is spreading quickly in India.
Kisumu Health Executive Boaz Nyunya said there were 150 samples tested three weeks ago at the factory, of which 100 tested positive while eight were confirmed to have the Indian variant.
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He revealed that most of those who tested positive were of Indian origin and had recently travelled from their home country. Health personnel placed them in isolation and they are recovering well.
Bedding of research rats cleaned like a five star hotel
HEALTH & SCIENCE
Lab mice and rats are domesticated for docility. They must be free from any disease. [Courtesy]
Before the Covid-19 vaccines were used on you, they were first tested on mice. White mice, that is. For ages, medical researchers use animals to verify safety of medicines and vaccines. Besides biomedical research, mice are also used in psychological experiments. But why mostly white mice and rats, not cats?
For starters, mice and rats used for medical research are not the kind found nibbling at overnight ugali in your house. Or wild rats roaming in sewer lines. Lab rats, also nicknamed ‘test tubes with tails’, are mostly bred in controlled environments and are of specific strain so that a researcher in Chicago, USA, gets the same results as one in Siakago, Kenya.