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☆ Humans can't live forever, but we haven't even come close to the limit for how long our bodies could last
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Emily Swaim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Mysteries like cellular senescence, telomere length, and DNA methylation hold the keys to our longevity. But so far, no one has figured out how to completely prevent or eliminate harmful senescent cells. DNA methylation is linked to several age-related diseasesTreating or preventing age-related diseases is one of the keys to unlocking longer, healthier lives. Similar to telomeres, DNA methylation is another way scientists can measure your biological age to help predict your life expectancy. For example, telomere shortening can lead to DNA damage, which in turn disrupts your mitochondria.

☆ EU regulator expects eventually to introduce annual COVID shots
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, Feb 15 (Reuters) - The European Medicines Agency (EMA) expects COVID vaccination campaigns to be conducted once a year, similar to the approach with flu inoculation, it said on Wednesday. In Europe, there is a marked decline in new COVID cases, hospitalisations and deaths - the lowest levels observed in the European Union in the past twelve months, he said, citing data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). Still, the virus continues to evolve, and an organised approach is needed to maintain the range of vaccines to confer an adequate breadth of protection to emerging variants, he said. The EMA is currently in discussions with the World Health Organization and other regulatory agencies about the criteria and process that will lead to the potential update of the vaccines in view of future vaccination campaigns, he added. Reporting by Natalie Grover in London Editing by David Goodman and Jane MerrimanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

HONG KONG, Feb 8 (Reuters) - The world should "calm down" about the possibility of new COVID-19 variants circulating in China, leading Chinese scientist George Gao said. "The world should completely calm down from the fear that there are new variants or special variants circulating (in China)," Gao, professor at the Institute of Microbiology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and former head of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), told Reuters. The variants causing infections in China were the same Omicron sub-variants - BA.5.2 and BF.7 - seen elsewhere in the world, he said by email. Gao said China was continuing widespread viral genomic sequencing, and would identify any new variants if they emerged. A total of 13 cases of variants were found, including 1 case of XBB.1, 5 cases of BQ.1.1, 1 case of BQ.1.1.17, 4 cases of BQ.1.2 and 2 cases of BQ.1.8.

HONG KONG, Feb 8 (Reuters) - The world should "calm down" about the possibility of new COVID-19 variants circulating in China, leading Chinese scientist George Gao said. "The world should completely calm down from the fear that there are new variants or special variants circulating [in China]," Gao, professor at the Institute of Microbiology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and former head of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), told Reuters. The variants causing infections in China were the same Omicron sub-variants - BA.5.2 and BF.7 - seen elsewhere in the world, he said by email. Gao said China was continuing widespread viral genomic sequencing, and would identify any new variants if they emerged. The authors said there were some limitations to the study, including China's decision to end large-scale mandatory testing.

☆ China's Covid wave drives up consumer interest in insurance after health system shortfalls
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

For people planning to spend more on that health category, 47% said in December they intend to spend more on health insurance. "This experience is also driving increased interest in commercial health insurance which could cover access to premium private providers," Lipson said. Anecdotes depict a public health system overwhelmed with people at the height of the wave, and long wait times for ambulances. Some of the players in China's health insurance industry include Ping An , PICC and AIA . Hospital fundingHowever, one of the barriers to improving China's public health system is its fragmented financing system, according to Qingyue Meng, executive director at Peking University's China Center for Health Development Studies.

☆ Most EU countries back COVID pre-departure testing for flights from China
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BRUSSELS, Jan 3 (Reuters) - Most European Union countries favour introducing pre-departure COVID testing for travellers from China, the European Commission said on Tuesday, as Beijing plans to lift travel restrictions on its citizens despite a wave of COVID infections. The common EU approach emerged after a meeting on Tuesday of the Health Security Committee, an EU advisory body of national health experts from the EU-s 27 countries and chaired by the Commission. "The overwhelming majority of countries are in favour of pre-departure testing," a Commission spokesman said. The spokesman said all EU countries agreed they needed a coordinated approach to the changing situation in China and to deal with implications of increased travel from China to Europe after China lifts its stringent pandemic polices on Jan 8th. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said last week it did not currently recommend measures on travellers from China.

☆ EU to discuss coordinated response to China COVID situation on Wed
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BRUSSELS, Jan 2 (Reuters) - European Union government health officials will hold talks on Wednesday on a coordinated response to the surge in COVID-19 infections in China, the Swedish EU presidency said on Monday, after December talks concluded with no decisions on the matter. At a similar meeting on Dec. 29, held online among over 100 representatives from EU governments, EU health agencies and the World Health Organisation, Italy urged the rest of the EU to follow its lead and test travellers from China for COVID, with Beijing poised to lift travel restrictions on Jan. 8. "There is a scheduled Integrated Political Crisis Response meeting on Wednesday, January 4, for an update of the COVID-19 situation in China and to discuss possible EU measures to be taken in a coordinated way," a spokeswoman for the Swedish presidency of the EU said. Kyriakides said the bloc should be "very vigilant" as reliable epidemiological and testing data for China were scarce, advising EU health ministers to assess their current practices on genomic sequencing of the coronavirus "as an immediate step". The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said last week it did not currently recommend measures on travellers from China.

☆ EU urges more checks for COVID variants given surge in China
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Philip Blenkinsop | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The commissioner's letter, dated Dec. 29, followed an online meeting of over 100 representatives from EU members, EU health agencies and the World Health Organisation to discuss how to deal with the outbreak in China. Italy has urged the rest of the European Union to follow its lead and test travellers from China, but most EU members have said they saw no need to do so. Kyriakides said some EU members had proposed measures such as the random testing of travellers. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control says it does not currently recommend measures on travellers from China. It said the variants circulating in China were already in the European Union, EU citizens had relatively high vaccination levels and the potential imported infections were low compared to the number of daily infections in the EU, with health care systems currently coping.

☆ Pandemic curbs linked to early start to Europe's winter flu season
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Natalie Grover | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

This winter, health officials have warned of what has been dubbed a tripledemic of influenza, RSV and continued COVID-19 cases, adding to the pressure on over-burdened health services. In Wales, for instance, there were 111.6 confirmed RSV cases per 100,000 in children aged under five in the week ending Nov. 27. In the week ended Dec 18, European cases rose 7% over the week prior, according to ECDC figures. But scientists are concerned that social interaction during the festive season could lead to further increases in respiratory infections, especially as people meet vulnerable elderly relatives. As an added complication, viral respiratory infections can predispose patients to bacterial infections, just when some common antibiotics that can treat them are in short supply in Europe.

☆ 3 signs the 'pandemic economy' ended in 2022—even though Covid is still around
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Kamaron Mcnair | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

After nearly two years of significant disruption — for better or worse — these are three examples of how the pandemic economy ended in 2022:1. Consumers are back to spending on things to do versus things to have2. But persistently high inflation and fears of a coming recession made it difficult for folks to keep their spending in check and maintain good saving habits. "The stimulus checks and the unemployment benefits allowed people to spend — they were spending money, because they had it," she says. Those government subsidies allowed folks to spend more, but they were also saving money not commuting to work, shopping for clothes or getting their hair done.

Experts recommend isolating first, then taking at least two rapid tests, spaced a day or two apart. But if you don't use rapid tests in the right way at the right time, they won't provide accurate results. According to early studies from the UK and the US Food and Drug Administration, rapid tests still work. If you're planning to mingle, take a rapid test just as you arrive, not hours beforeA rapid COVID-19 test, the Abbott BinaxNow, administered by a health department in Livingston, Montana. 'One layer of reducing risk'A 4-year-old gets a rapid COVID-19 test in Palos Verdes Estates, California, on August 24.

☆ Growing obesity crisis in U.S. prompts CDC to expand body mass index charts for severely overweight kids
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday released new body mass index charts for children in response to the growing obesity crisis in the U.S. More than 4.5 million children and teenagers had severe obesity in 2018, according to the CDC. The BMI charts from 2000 will still be used for children who are not obese, according to CDC. By 2018, 19.3% of kids were obese and 6.1% were severely obese, according to National Center for Health Statistics. Severe obesity is a BMI that is 120% higher than the 95th percentile.

☆ COVID hit HIV detection in Europe, threatens eradication progress
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Ajose Koilparambil | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Hendrik Schmidt/Pool via Reuters/File PhotoLONDON, Nov 30 (Reuters) - The number of people in Europe with undiagnosed HIV has risen as testing rates fell during the COVID-19 pandemic, threatening a global goal of ending the disease by 2030, a report said. This region includes Russia and Ukraine, which have the area's highest rates of HIV infection. This setback was likely because services related to HIV, including testing, were sidelined in many European countries during the two years of the pandemic, the report found. The report used modelling to predict the number of estimated infections and compared that to testing data provided by 46 of the 53 countries in the WHO's European region. An estimated one in eight people living with HIV in that region remains undiagnosed, it found.

☆ ‘Living in despair and hopelessness’: A lack of affordable housing can put people’s health at risk
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Renuka Rayasam Fred Clasen-Kelly Kaiser Health News | Renuka Rayasam | Fred Clasen-Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

She suspected the gray and brown splotches spreading through the apartment were mold and had caused her son’s illness. A nationwide affordable housing crisis has wreaked havoc on the lives of low-income families, like Joseph’s, who are close to the brink. Housing instability — such as having trouble paying rent, living in crowded conditions, or moving frequently — can have negative consequences on health, according to the federal Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. And there is no county in the country where a minimum-wage worker could afford a two-bedroom rental home, according to an August report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition. A few months after leaving the apartment, Joseph and her two children moved in with her sister in Orlando, Florida, with their remaining possessions — a car and some clothes.

☆ Community health groups that played crucial role during Covid-19 pandemic say they’re being left out of government funding
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Elizabeth Cohen Lauren Mascarenhas | Elizabeth Cohen | Lauren Mascarenhas | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

“A lot of times, the funding streams have names that say ‘community,’ ‘community-based organizations’ or ‘community health workers,’ but the funding often goes to states and doesn’t end up helping at a grass-roots level,” said Denise Smith, executive director of the National Association of Community Health Workers. “HRSA strongly values the critical role that community health workers play – and can increasingly play – in supporting the health and well-being of communities. “Community health workers are frontline public health workers who are trusted members of the community they serve. The group’s promotores de salud, or community health workers, encouraged vaccination and set up a hotline to distribute accurate information about the virus. “Grantees will be able to hire community health workers, as needed and appropriate,” said Nordlund, the CDC spokesperson.

☆ Study suggests that HDL or ‘good’ cholesterol is less beneficial than previously thought, especially for Black adults
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Deidre Mcphillips | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Also, higher levels of HDL cholesterol were not found to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease for either group. “It’s been well accepted that low HDL cholesterol levels are detrimental, regardless of race. The researchers found that high levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and triglycerides “modestly” predicted heart disease risk among both Black and White adults. But they suggest that more work is needed to understand what’s driving the racial differences in the link between HDL and heart disease risk. And in the meantime, current clinical assessments for heart disease risk “may misclassify risk in Black adults, potentially hindering optimal cardiovascular disease prevention and management programs for this group,” they wrote.

☆ COVID pandemic led to surge in superbug infections, EU agency says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Data showed that in Europe last year, reported cases of the Acinetobacter bacteria group more than doubled compared with pre-pandemic annual numbers. Some scientists link the rise in hospital-acquired superbug infections during the pandemic to wider antibiotic prescriptions to treat COVID-19 and other bacterial infections during long hospital stays. He also said the data showed decreases in cases of some other common superbugs in European hospitals. The European report is consistent with a trend noted last year in the United States, where government data showed that U.S. deaths from drug-resistant infections jumped 15% in 2020. Experts call superbug infections, including fungal pathogens, a silent pandemic that causes more than a million deaths annually but does not draw attendant focus or funding for research.

☆ COVID variants BQ.1/BQ.1.1 make up 35% of U.S. cases
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The subvariants made up nearly 9% of total cases in the week of Oct. 15 and their proportion has been rising steadily among circulating cases since then. New variants are monitored closely by regulators and vaccine manufacturers in case they start to evade protection offered by current shots. BQ.1.1 made up nearly 19% of circulating variants and BQ.1 was estimated to make up 16.5% of circulating cases in the week of Nov. 5, the U.S. CDC said on Friday. The BA.5 subvariant, which drove up cases earlier this year, is estimated to make up about 39% of cases, compared with nearly 51% in the week ended Oct. 29. Coronavirus cases saw a small uptick for the week ended Nov. 2, data from CDC showed.

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Oct 26 (Reuters) - GSK Plc (GSK.L) came closer to securing its first drug approval since its consumer health spin-off in July as an expert panel of the U.S. health regulator backed an approval for its drug to treat anemia in some patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). The advisers to the Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday voted 13-3 in favor of the oral drug for patients on dialysis, although GSK was expecting approval for a broader CKD population. The panel, hesitant about backing the drug for patients not on dialysis, voted 11-5 against it for that group, citing increased safety risks such as heart failure. read moreGSK's drug, daprodustat, is the first from the HIF-PH inhibitor class to win U.S. FDA panel's endorsement. The FDA, which usually follows the recommendations of its expert panel, is expected to make its final decision on the drug by Feb. 1.

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File PhotoOct 21 (Reuters) - U.S. health regulators on Friday estimated that BQ.1 and closely related BQ.1.1 accounted for 16.6% of coronavirus variants in the country, nearly doubling from last week, while Europe expects them to become the dominant variants in a month. The two variants are descendants of Omicron's BA.5 subvariant, which is the dominant form of the coronavirus in the United States. New variants are monitored closely by regulators and vaccine manufacturers in case they start to evade protection offered by current shots. The World Health Organization this week said BQ.1.1 is circulating in at least 29 countries. The U.S. CDC said on Friday BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 last week were estimated to make up 9.4% of circulating variants.

☆ Zero-Covid: China needs to balance the need for disease prevention and attracting FDI, says analyst
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailZero-Covid: China needs to balance the need for disease prevention and attracting FDI, says analystZhouchen Mao, head of research and advisory at Asia House, discusses Chinese President Xi Jinping's speech at the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

☆ Europe likely entering another COVID wave, says WHO and ECDC
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Oct 12 (Reuters) - Another wave of COVID-19 infections may have begun in Europe as cases begin to tick up across the region, the World Health Organization and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said on Wednesday. "We are unfortunately seeing indicators rising again in Europe, suggesting that another wave of infections has begun." Public health experts have warned that vaccine fatigue and confusion over available vaccines will likely limit booster uptake in the region. read moreMillions of people across Europe remain unvaccinated against COVID-19, the WHO and ECDC noted. They urged European countries to administer both flu and COVID-19 vaccines ahead of an expected surge in cases of seasonal influenza.

☆ Anxiety: Influential task force recommends screening kids 8 and older
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Naomi Thomas | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —For the first time, the US Preventive Services Task Force has recommended screening for anxiety in children 8 and older. In its final recommendations, published Tuesday in the medical journal JAMA, the task force also urged screening for depression in children 12 and older, consistent with recommendations from 2016. The members considered recommendations on screening for suicide risk in children and adolescents but said there’s not enough evidence on its harms and benefits. Last month, the task force posted draft recommendations that for the first time said adults under 65 be screened for anxiety. “It is not coincidental that the USPSTF considered evidence for suicide and depression screening in the same updated Evidence Report and Systematic Review,” he wrote.

☆ Fact Check-European mortality data do not support link between higher COVID-19 vaccination rates and excess deaths
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-07 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Social media users are sharing a 45-second clip from a British news channel’s report which juxtaposes European COVID-19 vaccination rates and a single month of mortality rates to imply that countries with higher COVID-19 vaccination will have greater “excess mortality”. However, no “study” has reached the conclusion that European national vaccination rates correlate with mortality, as suggested in some social media posts. The map depicts so-called excess mortality rates across Europe in June 2022, which is the excess of deaths that month as compared to the average rate in the same month during the baseline period 2016-2019. “You really can’t draw valid conclusions on a single factor, like vaccination rates from country-level aggregated data, since countries differ in many ways other than vaccination. The clip selectively compares unrelated European datasets to suggest that high national rates of COVID-19 vaccination led to high excess mortality.

Workers sit outside of D.C. Health's first monkeypox vaccination clinic, which is administering the first Jynneos vaccine doses distributed in the U.S. capital, in Washington, U.S., June 28, 2022. REUTERS/Gavino GarayWASHINGTON, Sept 28 (Reuters) - At risk people nationwide will now be able to get Bavarian Nordic's (BAVA.CO) Jynneos monkeypox vaccine before being exposed to the disease, U.S. Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky said on Wednesday. At risk individuals will now be eligible to receive the vaccine before exposure as the CDC shifts to a Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) strategy, Wallensky said. Monkeypox is transmitted through close contact with an infected person, such as via sexual activity, or with the skin blisters associated with the disease. People with jobs that put them at risk of exposure, such as healthcare workers, were already eligible for vaccination against monkeypox.

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