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FORT MCMURRAY, Canada, May 15, 2024 (AFP) – Thousands of residents of Fort McMurray, a city in Canada’s major oil-producing region, fled as an out-of-control wildfire drew near and thick smoke filled the skies. Shifting winds gusting to 40 kilometers per hour (25 miles per hour) fanned the flames, scorching 9,600 hectares of surrounding forests as it advanced to within 13 kilometers of the city in the western province of Alberta that had been gutted […]
WASHINGTON, May 12, 2024 (AFP) – The first living patient to receive a genetically modified pig kidney transplant has died two months after the procedure, the US hospital that carried it out said. “Mass General is deeply saddened at the sudden passing of Mr. Rick Slayman. We have no indication that it was the result of his recent transplant,” the Boston hospital said in a statement issued late Saturday. In a world first, surgeons at […]
ABIDJAN, May 6, 2024 (AFP) – The number of people suffering from “severe” food insecurity in the military-ruled Sahel nations of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger has jumped to 7.5 million people, the US International Rescue Committee (IRC) warned on Monday. “The magnitude of severe food insecurity and related malnutrition continues to intensify in the region,” said the group that helps those facing conflict and disaster. “In the Central Sahel alone (Burkina Faso, Mali […]
GENEVA, April 19, 2024 (AFP) – The H5N1 bird flu virus strain has been detected in very high concentrations in raw milk from infected animals, the WHO said Friday, though how long the virus can survive in milk is unknown. Avian influenza A(H5N1) first emerged in 1996 but since 2020, the number of outbreaks in birds has grown exponentially, alongside an increase in the number of infected mammals. The strain has led to the deaths […]
TOKYO, March 29, 2024 (AFP) – A Japanese drugmaker said on Friday it is investigating five deaths potentially linked to dietary supplements meant to lower cholesterol and apologised for the “anxiety and fear” it had caused. Kobayashi Pharmaceutical has recalled three brands of over-the-counter tablets after customers reported kidney problems. The firm said it was trying to establish if the products containing red yeast rice, or “beni koji”, had caused five deaths and 114 hospitalisations. […]
By Robin MILLARD GENEVA, March 28, 2024 (AFP) – Two years of talks aimed at striking a landmark global agreement on handling future pandemics failed to seal a deal in time on Thursday, and will restart next month for one final push. Scarred by Covid-19, which shredded economies, overturned societies, crippled health systems and killed millions, countries are trying to craft an international accord on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response. But while they largely agree […]
A Japanese drugmaker whose dietary supplements are at the centre of a growing health scare reported on Thursday two more deaths potentially related to its tablets. Last week, Kobayashi Pharmaceutical recalled three supplement brands — “Beni Koji Choleste Help” and two others — after customer complaints of kidney problems. The over-the-counter products contain an ingredient called red yeast rice, or “beni koji”, which is supposed to help lower cholesterol. Thursday’s announcement brings the total number […]
WASHINGTON, March 29, 2024 (AFP) – Latin America and the Caribbean should prepare for their worst dengue season ever, as global warming and the El Nino climate phenomenon fuel the mosquito-borne epidemic, a UN health agency warned Thursday. In less than three months in 2024, regional health authorities have already tallied more than 3.5 million cases and a thousand deaths due to the virus, which is spread by the bite of an infected mosquito. “Probably […]
TOKYO, March 26, 2024 (AFP) – A Japanese drugmaker said Tuesday it is investigating one death from kidney dysfunction potentially linked to health supplements recalled last week by the firm. It comes a day after the company said it was aware of 26 cases of people being hospitalised in relation to the prescription-free tablets. Kobayashi Pharmaceutical, which sells over-the-counter drugs and dietary supplements, has received an additional 50 unconfirmed reports of hospitalisations as of Tuesday […]
Conditions affecting the nervous system — such as strokes, migraines and dementia — have surged past heart disease to become the leading cause of ill health worldwide, a major new analysis said on Friday. More than 3.4 billion people — 43 percent of the global population — experienced a neurological condition in 2021, far more than had previously been thought, the analysis found. The study was carried out by hundreds of researchers led by […]
A polio survivor known as the “man in the iron lung” has died aged 78, according to his family and a fundraising website. Paul Alexander of Dallas, Texas contracted polio at the age of six, leaving him paralyzed from the neck down and reliant on a mechanical respirator to breathe for much of the time. Though often confined to his submarine-like cylinder, he excelled in his studies, earned a law degree, worked in the legal […]
By Daniel Lawler PARIS, March 11, 2024 (AFP) – Covid-19 caused the average life expectancy of people worldwide to fall by 1.6 years during the first two years of the pandemic, a more dramatic decline than previously thought, a major study said Tuesday. This marked a sharp reversal during a decades-long rise in global life expectancy, according to hundreds of researchers sifting through data for the US-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). “For […]
