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Writing with Lusa
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Ethiopian monk over 100 years old survives the new coronavirus.
An Ethiopian Orthodox monk, whose family says he is 114, survived the coronavirus after three weeks in hospital, having received oxygen and dexamethasone, a steroid successfully tested in the UK that should only be used in critically ill patients.
Tilahun Woldemichael was discharged from a hospital on Thursday.
The Ethiopian Health Minister said the ministry recommends using the drug for patients infected with covid-19 who need ventilation or oxygen.
Tilahun’s grandson, Biniam Leulseged, admitted he did not have a birth certificate to prove the monk’s age, but he showed a photo of the grandfather celebrating his 100th birthday. “He was still looking young at that time,” said Biniam, assuming he was thrilled when his grandfather was taken to the hospital and guaranteed to be “very happy” to be together again.
Ethiopia has more than 5,200 confirmed cases of the virus.
The use of dexamethasone in people infected with the new coronavirus was considered, last week, as a “scientific breakthrough” in the fight against the pandemic by the World Health Organization, which warned, however, that the steroid is not “a treatment or prophylaxis” for the new coronavirus and should only be used in patients with severe cases of covid-19.
The evidence that this cheap and widely available steroid has reduced deaths by up to a third in hospitalized and seriously ill patients with covid-19 was presented this month by British researchers, with British Secretary of State for Health Matt Hancock saying that The UK’s National Health Service will start using dexamethasone to fight the disease.
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