Tag: health

Germany makes measles vaccination compulsory for children

BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — Germany will make childhood measles vaccinations mandatory from March 2020, aiming to wipe out the resurgent and potentially deadly disease, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet decided Wednesday. Children will only be admitted to kindergarten or school if they have had the jabs, and vaccinations will also be compulsory for staff in day-care centres, educational institutions, medical facilities and refugee shelters. “We want to protect as many children as possible from a measles […]

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DR Congo urges calm after Ebola case in key city

by Bienvenu-Marie BAKUMANYA KINSHASA, DR Congo (AFP) — Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo have appealed for calm after an evangelical preacher fell ill with Ebola in the eastern city of Goma, the first recorded case of the disease in the key urban hub in a nearly year-old epidemic. Goma, a border city with a population of one million, lies next to the Rwandan town of Gisenyi and has transport links to other parts […]

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Scientists find earliest clues of Parkinson’s in brain

PARIS, France (AFP ) — Scientists said Thursday they had found the earliest signs of Parkinson’s disease in the brain years before patients show any symptoms, a discovery that could eventually lead to better screening for at-risk people. Parkinson’s, a neurodegenerative disorder that causes patients movement and cognitive problems, is estimated to effect up to 10 million people worldwide. It is diagnosed by a build-up in the brain of a specific protein, a-synuclein, the cause […]

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‘I feel well,’ says Merkel a day after health scare

BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel sought to assure journalists and citizens Wednesday she was well, a day after sparking concern by visibly trembling at an official ceremony. “I feel well,” she told school students during a visit to Goslar in the Harz mountains after Tuesday’s health scare blamed on dehydration on a hot summer’s day. Merkel, 64, had a glass of water nearby and said that, with scorching temperatures, one “should not […]

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Lower trust in vaccines among people in richer countries: survey

  by Issam AHMED Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — People in Europe have the lowest levels of trust in vaccines, according to a global survey of public attitudes toward health and science published Wednesday. The study found that people living in high-income countries have the lowest confidence in vaccines, a result that ties in to the rise of the anti-vaccination movement, in which people refuse to believe in the benefits of vaccinations […]

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Sanofi turns to Google in search for better treatments

PARIS, France (AFP) — French pharmaceutical firm Sanofi said Tuesday it is partnering with Google to use artificial intelligence and deep analytics tools to sift through its data to find better treatments. The titan in online search “will apply technology and analytics on Sanofi’s large real world database to better understand what treatments work for patients,” the pharmaceutical firm said in a statement. The use of Google’s tools for deep analytics — organizing large amounts […]

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Indian doctors strike over violence from patients and families

NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — Tens of thousands of Indian doctors went on strike Monday calling for more protection against violence by patients and their families, as parliament met for the first time since national elections. The nationwide strike, which will last until Tuesday morning, is in solidarity with doctors in the eastern state of West Bengal after three were viciously attacked by the relatives of a man who died. The Indian Medical Association (IMA), […]

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Encephalitis from lychees kills 31 children in India: official

PATNA, India (AFP) — At least 31 children have died in northern India in the last 10 days from a deadly brain disease believed linked to a toxic substance found in lychee fruit, health officials said Wednesday. The deaths were reported from two hospitals in Bihar state’s Muzaffarpur district, famed for it lush lychee orchards, officials said. The children all showed symptoms of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES), senior health official Ashok Kumar Singh told AFP, […]

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Number of measles cases in US this year surpasses 1,000

  WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The number of measles cases in the United States this year has reached 1,001, health officials said Wednesday, as they vowed to stop the spread of misinformation about vaccines. The announcement comes days after authorities declared the US was in danger of losing its “elimination status” on the contagious respiratory disease if the current outbreaks continue. “The 1,000th case of a preventable disease like measles is a troubling reminder […]

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New drug therapy slows spread of pancreatic cancer: study

by Issam AHMED For people diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer, the outlook is about as grim as it gets: the average patient won’t live longer than a year. But a new study involving a targeted drug therapy has demonstrated it may be possible to significantly slow its spread, with a third of patients receiving the medication still alive two years into a clinical trial, a researcher reported on Sunday. The trial specifically looked at patients […]

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World’s tiniest surviving baby born in California

by Jocelyne ZABLIT LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — A California hospital on Wednesday disclosed the birth of the world’s smallest baby ever to survive, weighing a mere 245 grams (8.6 ounces) — the same as a large apple — when she was born. The girl, nicknamed Saybie by hospital staff, was born 23 weeks and three days into her mother’s pregnancy at Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women and Newborns in San Diego. The […]

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‘Burn-out’ is an ‘occupational phenomenon’ not disease: WHO

  GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The World Health Organization said Tuesday that “burn-out” remains an “occupational phenomenon” that could lead someone to seek care but it is not considered a medical condition. The clarification came a day after the WHO mistakenly said it had listed burn-out in its International Classification of Diseases (ICD) for the first time. The World Health Assembly, WHO’s main annual meeting which wraps up on Tuesday, approved at the weekend the […]

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