Health
Inside a lab in the picturesque Swiss town of Vevey, a scientist gives tiny clumps of human brain cells the nutrient-rich fluid they need to stay alive. It is vital these mini-brains remain healthy, because they are serving as rudimentary computer processors — and unlike your laptop, once they die, they
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The number of reported cholera cases is increasing in Darfur and more than 3,000 people across all of Sudan have died from the illness over the last 14 months of civil war, the UN health agency said Tuesday. The current outbreak of the bacterial infection caused by contaminated food
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Joy Falatiya said her husband kicked her and five children out of their home in March 2024 and that she fell apart after that. Homeless and penniless, the 35-year-old South Sudanese mother said she thought of ending her life. “I wanted to take my children and jump in the river,
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Vietnam has been hit by an increasing number of outbreaks of African swine fever, with the number of infected pigs more than tripling in just two weeks, state media said on Tuesday. The country has detected 972 African swine fever outbreaks so far this year, up from 514 reported in
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Iraq said Thursday it has recorded 19 deaths from Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever already this year and urged farmers and abattoir workers to step up precautions when handling livestock. A total of 123 cases have been recorded nationwide, health ministry spokesman Saif Al-Badr said in a statement, adding that 36 of
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Indonesia’s government has urged healthcare facilities to step up COVID-19 surveillance, as a more transmissible omicron subvariant drives a surge in cases across Asia. Parts of Asia have been reporting a new wave of infections since last month, especially Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. The new spread of
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The US Food and Drug Administration has approved Moderna’s next-generation COVID-19 vaccine for everyone aged 65 and above, the company said on Saturday, the first endorsement since the regulator tightened requirements. The vaccine has also been approved for people aged 12 to 64 with at least one or more
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A cholera outbreak in Sudan’s capital has killed 70 people in two days, health officials said, as Khartoum battles a fast-spreading epidemic amid a collapse of basic services. The health ministry for Khartoum State said it had recorded 942 new infections and 25 deaths on Wednesday, following 1,177
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Thailand has reported its first anthrax-related death with two infections nationwide, prompting a public health alert after authorities identified hundreds potentially exposed to the deadly bacteria, officials said on Thursday. A 53-year-old man in Mukdahan province, in northeastern Thailand near the border with Laos, died on Wednesday after contracting anthrax,
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Global aid funding cuts, led by the United States, are disrupting efforts to vaccinate children against deadly diseases almost as much as the COVID-19 pandemic did, the United Nations said on Thursday. Outbreaks of infectious diseases, including measles, meningitis and yellow fever, have been increasing globally. Emergency and routine vaccinations
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The European Commission said Wednesday that it had given formal approval for Leqembi, a long-awaited new treatment for early-stage Alzheimer’s disease, to be sold in the EU under strict conditions. The authorization was granted Tuesday based on a favorable decision by Europe’s medicines watchdog, which after initial misgivings
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The World Health Organization has raised serious concerns over a sharp global rise in cholera infections and deaths, warning that the disease is spreading to new regions and threatening vulnerable populations already burdened by conflict and climate-related crises. Speaking in Geneva on Friday, Dr. Philippe Barboza, cholera team lead at
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Tuberculosis (TB) infections among children in the European region rose 10 percent in 2023, indicating ongoing transmission and the need for immediate public health measures to control the spread, the World Health Organization said on Monday. WHO’s European region, which comprises 53 countries in Europe and Central Asia, reported
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Five-year-old Shado is one of dozens of children being rushed to a health center in the US state of Texas to get the measles vaccine, after the recent death in the area of a child who was not immunized against the highly contagious virus. “Look at you, you’re so
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A suspected outbreak of the Marburg virus in northwest Tanzania has infected nine people, killing eight of them, the World Health Organization has said, weeks after an outbreak of the disease was declared over in neighboring Rwanda. The viral hemorrhagic fever has a fatality rate as high as 88 percent,
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An outbreak of Human Metapneumovirus (HMPV) in China has raised alarm globally. Several countries, including India, are monitoring the virus and its spread closely. But should one worry about it? How is this virus similar to the COVID-19 virus? What are its symptoms, and what have experts said so far?