Health

Chronic and mental conditions are having a growing impact on the health of Australians, according to a government report published on Thursday.  The comprehensive biennial report on Australia's health for 2026 from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) found that 61 per cent of Australians, or 15.4 million people, were living with at least one chronic long-term health condition in 2022 and 38 per cent were living with two or more. It said that Australians lost an estimated 4.9 million years of healthy life due to chronic conditions in 2024, accounting for 84 per cent of the total national disease burden. The top five leading causes of disease burden in 2024 were all chronic conditions, including dementia, which became Australia's leading cause of death for the first time...

A 57-year-old woman suffering from Pulmonary Alveolar Proteinosis (PAP), a rare and potentially life-threatening lung disorder, has been successfully treated at a Delhi hospital through a complex Whole Lung Lavage procedure, doctors said on Wednesday. The woman was treated at Fortis Hospital, Shalimar Bagh, where doctors washed both lungs using more than 30 litres of saline in a two-stage procedure to remove the abnormal accumulation of proteinaceous material from the air sacs. She recovered well and was discharged in a stable condition two days after the completion of the procedure. According to the hospital, PAP is an extremely rare lung disease, with fewer than 100 reported cases in India. The condition leads to the build-up of protein and fat-like substances in the lungs, severely af...

Doctors at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Hospital in Thane district of Maharashtra have successfully removed natal teeth from a premature newborn weighing only 1.196 kg, preventing potentially serious health complications, an official statement issued by the Thane Municipal Corporation said. The delicate procedure was carried out on July 10 in the hospital's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), where the baby was receiving specialised care. The infant, born prematurely, was found to have natal teeth – a rare condition in which one or more teeth are present at birth, it said. Medical experts say natal teeth occur in approximately one out of every 2,000 to 3,500 births and it is a rare situation. Around 85 per cent of cases involve the lower front central teeth. Why the surgery was needed ...

Two toddler twin brothers from the Philippines have successfully undergone living donor liver transplants at a Delhi hospital after a rare congenital disorder led to liver failure in both children, according to a statement issued by the hospital on Wednesday. Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals said the procedures were the first twin liver transplants among the 645 paediatric liver transplants performed at the hospital and involved back-to-back surgeries led by paediatric gastroenterologist Dr Anupam Sibal and liver transplant surgeon Dr Neerav Goyal. The 23-month-old twins, Tyler and Kelly, were born prematurely, weighing 2 kg and 2.4 kg, respectively. Within two weeks of birth, both developed persistent jaundice and pale-coloured stools. They were diagnosed with Choledochal Cyst Type IVA, a ...

Leafy greens have long enjoyed a reputation as nutritional powerhouses. Rich in vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fibre, vegetables like spinach are considered staples of a healthy diet. But during the scorching summer months, nutritionists say it may be worth diversifying your vegetable basket—not because leafy greens are unhealthy, but because seasonal produce can better support hydration, digestion, and overall comfort in hot weather. Experts emphasise that while there is no need for healthy individuals to stop eating spinach or other leafy vegetables, summer is the perfect time to embrace water-rich vegetables such as cucumber, bottle gourd, ridge gourd, pumpkin, and ash gourd. These vegetables not only replenish fluids lost through sweating but are also easier on the digestive sy...

The Centre on Friday tightened regulations governing medicinal formulations containing high levels of ethyl alcohol by making them subject to licensing requirements and prescription-only sale, a move aimed at preventing misuse while ensuring their availability for legitimate therapeutic purposes.  The ministry said that several medicinal preparations, including tinctures of cardamom, ginger and other aromatic formulations, were previously exempt from licensing requirements under Schedule K. However, some of these products contain ethyl alcohol in concentrations as high as 80–90 per cent v/v, making them vulnerable to misuse for intoxication. The Centre also noted that it had received references from some state governments highlighting concerns over such misuse. To address the issue, the...

A study that looked at two major categories of conditions mental health and cardiometabolic disease among South Asian volunteers in the UK has revealed that women and younger people are more likely to experience multimorbidity. The order in which one developed health conditions also appeared to matter. For example, developing a cardiometabolic condition before a mental health one was related with a higher likelihood of a more serious health event, like a heart attack or kidney failure, findings published in the journal PLOS Medicine show. Co-occurrence of multiple long-term mental or physical health condition in one''s lifetime is called ''multimorbidity'', the combined effects of which can greatly impact a person''s quality of life. Researchers at the Queen Mary University of London sa...

While June remained dry, the first few days of July witnessed extremely heavy showers, bringing normal life to a halt in the Mumbai and Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). Several areas in Mumbai, Thane, Vasai-Virar, Nalasopara experience torrential rains, leading to flooding and waterlogging. With the streets and even the railway lines submerged under water, residents – especially office goers trying to reach back home – walked in waterlogged streets.  Following the heavy showers, Mumbai doctors say there is also a rise in the cases of monsoon sicknesses, more particularly leptospirosis, as people can get infected by it due to flood water. mid-day spoke to Dr Amit Saraf, director, department of internal medicine, Jupiter Hospital in Thane, and Dr Manjusha Agarwal, senior consultant, inter...

Following her headline-grabbing Met Gala appearance earlier this year, the Hyderabad-based billionaire philanthropist Sudha Reddy orchestrated a haute couture trifecta that proved, definitively, that true luxury is not a whisper it's a carefully orchestrated symphony. At Giorgio Armani Prive, she embodied Italian minimalism in Look 74, an iridescent blue jacket of liquid fluidity that rippled with deep violets and forest greens. The deceptively simple silhouette, defined at the waist with decades of Armani's architectural expertise, became a meditation on what happens when technical brilliance meets restraint. An ultra-exclusive Louis Vuitton Capucines handbag, custom-embedded with shimmering Swarovski crystals, provided a whisper of opulence, but it was the jewelry that made the statemen...

Researchers at the University of Sheffield have discovered that a fungus deadly to people with weakened immune systems can disable a critical defence used by neutrophils, the body's front-line infection-fighting white blood cells. An estimated 40 to 60 per cent of healthy people carry Candida albicans harmlessly as part of the body's normal microbial community. But in people with weakened immune systems, it can enter the bloodstream and trigger invasive candidiasis, a condition with mortality rates approaching 50 per cent. The research conducted using zebrafish models and human immune cells showed that restoring this suppressed immune response dramatically improved survival from infection, particularly when combined with existing antifungal drugs. The findings, from scientists at Sheff...