Category: Health
-
Swedish data from 376,000 people links colorectal screening to a 43 per cent lower risk of dying from the disease. Why this cancer suits screening unusually well, what a relative reduction actually means, and the costs on the other side.
-
Semaglutide may activate the brain’s hunger neurons rather than suppress them, and that activation may be necessary for sustained fat loss. Why a surprising mechanism matters even when the drug already works — and why this was mice.
-
Three of twelve cats sampled near California dairy farms carried antibodies to H5N1. What that shows, why farm cats sit at an awkward junction between livestock and wildlife, and the welfare question that no framework currently owns.
-
European surveillance reports 81 locally acquired West Nile cases across six countries this season. Why “locally acquired” is the key phrase, why the counts understate infections, and what the climate link does and does not establish.
-
A study across 23 biological ageing clocks finds the lowest ageing among people sleeping 6.4 to 7.8 hours. What an ageing clock actually measures, why the long-sleep half of the curve is probably a symptom, and why the precision is misleading.
-
The DRC outbreak recorded its highest weekly toll to date — 567 cases and 296 deaths — with cumulative figures at 5,290 and 2,516. Why the weekly number matters more than the total, what one imported case in France demonstrated, and the malaria complication.
-
The US is transferring $600 million to Gavi, mostly to expand malaria vaccine access. Why Gavi is a market mechanism rather than a charity, how advance commitments cut the price per dose, and the argument over justifying aid by self-interest.
-
DR Congo has reported 5,290 Bundibugyo Ebola cases and 2,516 deaths. Contact-tracing coverage has slipped to 82.9 per cent — the figure that predicts the next fortnight — while enrolment begins in the first treatment trial for this species.
-
A US order recommends giving childhood vaccinations at separate visits and splitting the MMR vaccine. What is actually changing, the arguments on both sides, and why safety and coverage are two different questions.
-
WHO’s vaccine advisory group holds an extraordinary three-hour session today. What SAGE is, why an unscheduled meeting is itself a signal, and the hard question that outbreak immunisation keeps returning to.