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HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE

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Written by Pharm. Peter Gbuchie High blood pressure which can also be called hypertension is an important health issue we all need to pay attention to, which includes everyone. It is encouraged for people to know their pressure numbers as early diagnosis is important in hypertension management to prevent complications. Hypertension is a silent killer because in the early stage of the disease the patient does not feel any discomfort unlike diseases like malaria which usually presents with fever, headache, nausea and vomiting. Bringing it down to the level of a lay man to understand this concept, imagine you connecting a pipe to a tank to let water flow into a bucket, for water to flow through the pipe a pumping machine will be introduced, now looking at this scenario you can liken the pumping machine to your heart, while the pipe are your blood vessels, then the water flowing through is the blood. You will agree with me that if the pumping machine pumps water with a high pressure, overt
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MEDICAL OUTREACH IN EKET

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 Written by Pharm Peter Gbuchie. History was made in Eket LGA in Akwa Ibom state as Members of the Association of Community Pharmacists, Nigeria (ACPN) in Eket zone under the umbrella body of Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) made a visit to Qua Iboe Church Secondary School, Eket on Friday, 22nd of October, 2021. The Principal, Mr Evans Ekpedeme welcomed the Pharmacists and gave the go ahead for the senior class students to assemble in the school chapel to kick start the event by 11am. The events started with an opening prayer after which Pharm Nkori kept the students active. Pharm Donatus  Adigom who moderated the events gave an outline of the the activities to be conducted. The first talk was given by Pharm Rita Elijah, she intimated the students on Career paths in the Pharmacy Profession, she highlighted the meaning of a Pharmacist,the duties of a pharmacist and the different areas one can practice in the profession. This was indeed an insightful lecture. The next lecture was
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CAN DIABETICS EAT SUGAR?

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  Written by: Pharm. Peter Gbuchie This question seems tricky; the answer to it will not be a direct one. Thus people who ask this question may not fully understand what diabetes means but may know a little about it. That is why half knowledge seems dangerous. So on whether diabetics can eat sugar is an answer that should be given with caution to prevent people from abusing it, it is important to state here that every human being needs sugar to perform his or her normal basic duties, even the diabetics too needs sugars. Sugars should not be seen as something evil or dangerous since it is useful to the body. It provides the body with energy, do you know that without sugars (glucose) you will be finding it difficult to read this article talk less of comprehending it. So the right question should be: What type of sugars and how much quantity of it should diabetics take?   It is highly recommended for them to take natural sugars and avoid synthetic ones like the fruit juices and sw
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Antibiotic Resistance; A Threat to Public Health in Nigeria.

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 By  Pharm Chiamaka Jibuaku "Abeg give me ampiclox I want to wash my system, I had unprotected sex with that girl, I no trust these girls, I take am every time I have unprotected sex". He continues..."Maybe like three capsules or two capsules will be fine, u na they cut ba?”... Errhmm, well I just want to let you know Oga and madam that overuse and misuse of antibiotics can cause antibiotics resistance. In fact, the overuse and misuse of antimicrobials such as antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals, antiprotozoal drugs especially antimalarial agents can cause what we generally call -  Antimicrobial resistance. Many times we use antibiotics unnecessarily, we use it for infections not caused by bacteria. Some even use it as a contraceptive, I have no idea where they got the information from. The issue of self-medication is also on the increase, these habits generally increase the ability of causative microbes to develop resistance to the antimicrobials that were once used to
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TYPHOID FEVER

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Written by Pharm Rose George INTRODUCTION: Typhoid fever, also commonly referred to as just typhoid, is an enteric fever which is common in the tropics among underdeveloped countries but may be contracted anywhere. It is an enteric fever which implies that it originates in the alimentary canal. It is a potentially fatal disease especially when it’s spread becomes systemic. CAUSATIVE ORGANISM. Typhoid fever is caused by microorganisms of either the Salmonella species or Paratyphi species. It is important to note that there are no known animal or insect vectors of the disease and hence all transmission is considered human-to-human. MODE OF TRANSMISSION. The causative organisms may be spread by any of the following means: ● Oral transmission (direct contact with an infected persons stool or urine) ● Hand to mouth transmission ● Drinking water contaminated by sewage RISK FACTORS Risk factors for typhoid include but are not limited to: ● Age(younger children and older adults are most at ris
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ANTIMALARIAL SUSPENSIONS

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Written by : Pharm. Peter Gbuchie. For a layman, A  suspension  is a liquid with small pieces of  drug . The  drug  is not complete dissolved in the solution. Sometimes people get carried away by the name or the price of the drug,instead of focusing on how best the drug will be administered to achieve its therapeutic effect. When you buy any drug suspension, e.g. popular antimalarial suspensions like Lonart suspension in the pharmacy, it is important to ask your pharmacist how best to use it to benefit from the product and get value for your money. Buying a good drug and administering it wrongly can be similar to buying a fake product, if the suspension comes in a powdered form, in this case you will need to reconstitute it with purified water using the right volume of water, the product should have a mark on it where the water should be added up to, you need to add the water in parts and shake vigorously and then rinse the bottle sides to get to the required marked volume. After
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HEPATITIS...

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Written by Pharm. Peter Gbuchie Find The Missing Millions... The world celebrates World Hepatitis Day on the 28th of July every year, this year 2020 it was celebrated with the theme find the missing millions. Hepatitis is simply the inflammation of the liver. If you wrote an Examination, you are graded with A,B, C,D or E. This makes you remember the five types of Hepatitis. Very easy right. The liver is a very vital organ of the body, it helps to take away the "yama yama" from your body. So when next you are passing on the road and you hear that herbal drug seller saying: "buy this body cleanser, e dey comot all the dirty for your body", just sing for him " egugu be kiaful,na express you dey go", it does not make sense taking those preparations which even add to the yama in your system, giving much work to our lovely liver. The Liver also breakdowns the carbohydrates,proteins and fats. It helps to excrete waste products from the body. For the Hepa
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