Health
Scientists said Monday that electrically stimulating a particular region in the brain could help people with injured spinal cords walk more easily, with one patient describing how the technique allowed him to conquer his fear of stairs. The new technique is intended for people with spinal cord injuries where the
Health
Sudanese doctor Mohamed Moussa has grown so accustomed to the constant sound of gunfire and shelling near his hospital that it no longer startles him. Instead, he simply continues attending to his patients. "The bombing has numbed us," the 30-year-old general practitioner told AFP by phone from Al-Nao
Health
President-elect Donald Trump on Monday held a wide-ranging news conference in which he said he would preserve access to the polio vaccine but equivocated on other vaccines, pledged to look at bringing down the costs of pharmaceuticals and expressed doubts that his daughter-in-law might be Florida’s next senator. Trump
Health
Ominike Marvis has lost count of the number of times her 6-year-old son has had malaria. So when Nigeria started offering a malaria vaccine, she was eager to protect her youngest child. She took the 6-month-old baby to get his first shot at a health center in hard-hit Bayelsa state,
Health
There were around 11 million more cases of malaria in 2023 than in 2022, up to an estimated 263 million, according to a new World Health Organization report, marking another year of negligible progress against the age-old killer. There were 597,000 deaths, a similar total to 2022, the vast
Health
At least 73 people have died of mysterious causes in the Sudanese town of al-Hilaliya, besieged by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, the Sudanese Doctors Union said late on Wednesday. It is one of dozens of villages that have come under attack in eastern El Jezira state since the defection
Health
The UK government warned bird keepers to remain vigilant after bird flu was detected at a commercial poultry farm in northern England, the second outbreak this year and first of the season. The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) confirmed on Tuesday the presence of the H5N5 strain
Health
More than 8 million people were diagnosed with tuberculosis last year, the World Health Organization said Tuesday, the highest number recorded since the UN health agency began keeping track. About 1.25 million people died of TB last year, the new report said, adding that TB likely returned to being
Health
Six children who died in a South African township earlier this month had ingested a chemical compound used in pesticides, the country’s health minister said on Monday, in a case that has prompted calls for tighter food safety controls. Local media have reported that the children died after eating
Health
Polio cases are rising ahead of a new vaccination campaign in Pakistan, where violence targeting health workers and the police protecting them has hampered years of efforts toward making the country polio-free. Since January, health officials have confirmed 39 new polio cases in Pakistan, compared to only six last year,
Health
The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) needs more funds and has pushed back by three years its target to officially wipe out all forms of the disease, officials said on Thursday. The coalition now hopes to declare an end to both the wild virus and the vaccine-derived variant by 2027
Health
Johnson & Johnson is discontinuing its phase 2 field study on the efficacy of a candidate drug for dengue, according to a company press release. The study was designed to evaluate the efficacy of an investigational drug known as mosnodenvir for the prevention of dengue virus in adults aged 18-65
Health
The UN health agency said on Friday that it had approved the use of the first diagnostic test for mpox, a key tool in countries battling outbreaks. More than 800 people have died across Africa from mpox, where the disease has been officially detected in 16 countries, according to the
Health
Cholera is spreading in war-torn Sudan, killing at least 388 people and sickening about 13,000 others over the past two months, health authorities said, as more than 17 months of fighting between the military and a notorious paramilitary group shows no sign of abating. The disease is spreading in
Health
Youngsters have been especially impacted by mpox outbreaks raging in Africa, with children under five accounting for nearly a third of the cases in Burundi, the UN children’s agency said Friday. Burundi is the second hardest-hit country on the continent after the Democratic Republic of Congo. “Children in Burundi
Health
Slumped on the ground over a mound of dirt, Divine Wisoba pulled weeds from her daughter’s grave. The 1-month-old died from mpox in eastern Congo in August, but Wisoba, 21, was too traumatized to attend the funeral. In her first visit to the cemetery, she wept into her shirt