Health

The World Health Organization on Thursday declared an end to the deadly hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship which sparked international alarm, after the last person left quarantine. There were 12 confirmed and one probable case stemming from the MV Hondius, including three deaths. But while the outbreak is now over, for scientists and experts, the work is only in its early stages, as they try to learn lessons from the episode that triggered a global health alert. "Today, the final contact of a person exposed to hantavirus on the cruise ship MV Hondius completed their quarantine period, tested negative and returned home," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press conference. "No further cases have been reported since May 25. "We are therefore very pleased to say that WHO consi...

The Rajasthan Drug Control Department has imposed a statewide ban on the sale and use of a specific batch of Bupivacaine injection following reports of serious adverse reactions among patients at a hospital in Hyderabad.   Bupivacaine is widely used to administer spinal anaesthesia during various surgical procedures, including Caesarean deliveries. "Instructions have been issued to immediately stop the use of this injection until the investigation is completed. This decision has been taken on the advice of anesthesiologists," said Dr Deepak Maheshwari, Principal, SMS Medical College. The precautionary action comes after 16 patients reportedly developed adverse reactions after receiving the injection in Hyderabad. The Indian Society of Anesthesiologists (ISA) and the Anaesthesia Patient ...

NITI Aayog on Thursday suggested that the government should create a global Ayurveda register (GAR) and adopt a strategic approach towards the recognition of the traditional medicine system in India. The Aayog, in a report titled ''Strategic Roadmap for Making Ayurveda Global'', further said that the government should establish a world federation for Ayurveda and yoga. It also recommended that the government should formulate an ayurvedic pharmacopoeia-export edition. "The government should create a real-time Ayurveda trade dashboard," the Aayog said. The Aayog also pitched for increasing coordination between industry and academia for the promotion of Ayurveda. Ayurveda is a well-recognised and regulated system of traditional medicine in India. India maintains a strong domestic ecosyste...

A new analysis of dementia public health campaigns in eight countries, including Australia, the US, and China, has suggested that engaging, personalised, and community-driven approaches are needed to genuinely influence behaviour change and reduce dementia risk. The neurodegenerative condition affects 57 million people globally and the figure is forecast to triple by 2050, substantially burdening families, health systems and economies, researchers from Australia's Curtin University said. Nearly half of global dementia cases are preventable, simply by tackling modifiable risk factors, including physical inactivity, smoking, high LDL cholesterol and depression, a study published in The Lancet journal in August 2024 said. However, public health approaches are falling short of driving real ...

India needs a coordinated national strategy to bridge the gap between breakthrough cancer treatments and patient access, ensuring that scientific advances benefit every eligible patient, leading oncologists, cancer survivors and public health experts said on Wednesday. Speaking at a media roundtable on "Bridging Innovation and Affordability in Cancer Care", organised by the Indian Cancer Society (ICS), the experts said that although cancer treatment has advanced significantly, access remains limited due to high costs, inadequate insurance coverage, limited diagnostic facilities and unequal healthcare infrastructure. The roundtable, held during Cancer Survivor Month, brought together oncologists and cancer survivors to discuss ways to make innovations in cancer care more affordable and ac...

A new review has analysed billions of administered doses of messenger RNA, or mRNA, vaccines and confirmed that they protect against infectious diseases, including severe COVID-19, across diverse populations, including children, pregnant women and immunocompromised people. mRNA vaccines act by delivering genetic instructions to human cells to manufacture harmless viral proteins which train the immune system to recognise and fight the real virus. Researchers, including those from the University of British Columbia in Canada and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said existing evidence reinforces that mRNA vaccines are safe. They noted that serious adverse events, including myocarditis, are rare, with protection against severe disease, hospitalisation, and death substanti...

A 70-year-old man suffering from complete heart block and a life-threatening pacemaker infection has successfully received a new lease of life by doctors at a hospital in Kolkata through an advanced dual-chamber leadless pacemaker implantation.  The complex procedure was performed by (Prof.) Dr. Rabindra Nath Chakraborty, Senior Consultant – Interventional Cardiology and Head – Department of Cardiovascular Services at Manipal Hospitals Kolkata. The man, a resident of Bihar, was initially diagnosed with complete heart block after experiencing repeated episodes of unconsciousness and a dangerously slow heart rate. Considering the severity of his heart condition, doctors implanted a dual-chamber MRI-compatible pacemaker. Following the procedure, it was discovered that the patient was comple...

Researchers have developed a blood-based indicator of age of an organ that can be used to assess its current age and predict the risk of a disease that might affect it 10 years later. One's biological age measures how well the body functions, compared to the chronological age.  However, the organs inside the body are all said to be ageing at different speeds.  The researchers, including those from the US' Stanford University, looked at 11 separate organ systems -- brain, muscle, heart, lung, arteries, liver, kidneys, pancreas, immune system, intestine and fat.  "We've developed a blood-based indicator of the age of your organs. With this indicator, we can assess the age of an organ today and predict the odds of your getting a disease associated with that organ 10 years later," senior au...

Improving sleep by reinforcing the body's natural daily rhythms could help the brain recover after a stroke, potentially providing a new strategy to enhance the brain's waste clearance and outcomes, according to a new study.  The findings, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, show that interventions designed to reinforce the body's natural circadian rhythms, such as timed light exposure, melatonin or a body clock-targeting drug, improved recovery in mouse models of stroke.  Researchers from the University of Rochester Medical Center also found improvements in the glymphatic system -- the brain's waste-clearing network -- and reduced levels of inflammatory molecules that can linger in the brain after a stroke.  The system moves cerebrospinal fluid along blood vessels and t...

Doctors across India are witnessing a growing number of patients developing cataracts in their 40s and 50s, with diabetes increasingly emerging as a major contributing factor. As the burden of diabetes rises in the country, ophthalmologists say persistently high blood sugar levels are accelerating changes in the eye’s natural lens, leading to earlier onset and faster progression of cataracts. India is currently home to over 101 million adults living with diabetes and 136 million with prediabetes, according to the International Diabetes Federation, and this number is expected to rise significantly in the coming years. While diabetic retinopathy is among the better-known eye complications associated with the condition, experts note that cataract is also becoming a significant concern, parti...