#public-health

#public-health

An intense surge in flu cases driven by a newly dominant virus strain is sweeping across Europe, placing healthcare systems in several countries under severe pressure, the World Health Organization has said. The WHO said on Wednesday that at least 27 of the 38 countries in its European region were reporting high or very high influenza activity, with more than half of patients with flu-like symptoms testing positive in six countries including Ireland, Serbia, Slovenia and the UK.

Last Tuesday afternoon, Dean Andrea Baccarelli at the Harvard School of Public Health sent out a brief message announcing that one of the country's most experienced and accomplished public health leaders, Dr Mary T Bassett, would step down as director of the Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights. The email struck a polite, bureaucratic tone, thanking her for her service and offering an upbeat rationale for a new focus on children's health.

The more we dug, the more we realized there was a gap between the procedure's public perception as a routine, normal part of giving birth and what experts were saying. We set out to figure out why. We also wanted to better understand the complexity involved in a procedure that can be life-saving and is also performed around double the rate the World Health Organization says is "ideal" for maternal and infant health.

Toronto is seeing rapidly increasing flu activity particularly among children, with flu season coming early this year, Dr. Michelle Murti said in a statement Tuesday. It's being driven by influenza A, she said, which has affected children more severely. This early surge is leading to more pediatric cases requiring hospital care, underscoring the seriousness of the current season, she said, saying influenza A has also been spreading to adults and people in long-term care.

One of our mandates at Grub Street is to take an obsessive approach not only to the pleasures of restaurants but the business of building and running restaurants. The year's most popular stories demonstrate it's a topic that interests you, too: reports on a restaurant group's debt, industry memoirs, woes at the Tin Building, reservation worries, and even a look into how much salt we're all eating (spoiler: it's too much) were part of our 20 most-read articles, defined by total minutes of audience engagement.

Pregnant people who get a COVID vaccine are dramatically less likely to experience severe symptoms of the disease or to give birth prematurely, according to a comprehensive new study published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Those who got the shot during pregnancy, rather than before they were pregnant, showed even lower odds of health complications. The findings add to a growing body of evidence that COVID vaccines are safe and beneficial across different populations.

"You're standing for what's supposed to be 35 minutes, which can go on up to 45 minutes. I've had previous surgeries, so my back is just locking up from the standing - I'm hobbling on to the train at this stage,"

Smoking is one of the clearest public-health failures of our time. More than 500,000 Americans still die each year from smoking-related illnesses, and globally the picture is even more alarming. In the United States, anti-smoking campaigns have reduced the number of new cigarette users, but the effectiveness of these measures may be fading. Indeed, the headline of a widely-shared news story notes "Celebrities Are Making Smoking Cigarettes Cool Again". Yikes.

A quintessential holiday spice made by a single manufacturer has been recalled by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for possible contamination. The FDA recalled Lucky Foods brand cinnamon powder on Tuesday after an analysis conducted by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets found high levels of lead. It's unclear how the product became contaminated. Lead may be present in food products as a result of the environment in which they're grown or processed.

Ultrafine particles are impossible to see and are often missed by conventional monitoring techniques, and therefore they are not covered by air pollution laws. In 2021, the Dutch Health Council and the World Health Organization (WHO) highlighted the growing evidence that ultrafine particles are damaging our health. This includes 75 studies, mostly relating to lung inflammation, blood pressure and heart problems, along with risks to foetal growth. Technical differences between the studies, however, meant that the WHO was unable to set a standard.

The climate crisis supercharged the deadly storms that killed more than 1,750 people in Asia by making downpours more intense and flooding worse, scientists have reported. Monsoon rains often bring some flooding but the scientists were clear: this was not normal. In Sri Lanka, some floods reached the second floor of buildings, while in Sumatra, in Indonesia, the floods were worsened by the destruction of forests, which in the past slowed rainwater running off hillsides.

Scientists have issued an urgent warning that some of the synthetic chemicals that help underpin the current food system are driving increased rates of cancer, neurodevelopmental conditions and infertility, while degrading the foundations of global agriculture. The health burden from phthalates, bisphenols, pesticides and Pfas forever chemicals amounts to up to $2.2tn a year roughly as much as the profits of the world's 100 largest publicly listed companies, according to the report published on Wednesday.

East Bay parks officials say hikers should beware of an unusually large number of toxic and potentially deadly mushrooms sprouting across the region. The East Bay Regional Parks District issued an advisory Tuesday warning park visitors about the fast-growing fungi, which include the death cap and western destroying angel varieties. Both species benefitted from a spate of early-season rain storms that allowed them to appear in greater volume than usual for this time of the year.

Over the past year, I've noticed a pattern among some of my colleagues in public health, biomedical research, and the university settings in which I work. It's a strange, reflexive tic: Faced with bad-faith criticism from malign actors, we shrink back, saying, "Oh, it's not you. It's me," and walk onto their terrain with accommodation in our hearts. Some may think that, faced with the full fury of the far right, some kind of retreat is the only option.

More than 50 groups connected to transport and public health have urged the transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, to set specific targets for levels of walking and cycling in England, warning that plans as they stand are too vague. A letter from groups including British Cycling, Cycling UK, the National Trust and the British Medical Association says the government's proposals for active travel must move from good intentions to a clear, long-term, fully deliverable national plan comparable to other strategic transport programmes.

The state poison control system has identified 21 cases of amatoxin poisoning, likely caused by death cap mushrooms, the health department said Friday. The toxic wild mushrooms are often mistaken for edible ones because of their appearance and taste. Death cap mushrooms contain potentially deadly toxins that can lead to liver failure, Erica Pan, director of the California department of public health, said in a statement.

"For too long, our Department has been bogged down by bureaucracy and busy-work; even the most productive public servants are mired in paperwork and process. Across our mission space - from research, to health care delivery, to public health - we've layered administrative red tape on innovators," HHS Deputy Secretary Jim O'Neill wrote in an introductory letter for the strategy. "We will harness AI technologies to streamline operations and enhance support for care delivery throughout the entire health care industry. We call it OneHHS."

We are used to being concerned about air pollution outdoors, but we aren't used to thinking about air pollution when we're inside our homes," Rob Jackson, the study's senior author and an earth system science professor at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, told SFGATE. "For the average American, one quarter of all the asthma-triggering nitrogen dioxide that they breathe comes from their stove indoors. That's not something most people are aware of.

Next time you chow down on your morning cereal, you could be consuming dangerous 'forever chemicals', scientists have warned. A new study from Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Europe has detected a toxic 'forever chemical' in cereal products sold across the continent. The synthetic substance, trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), comes from pesticides sprayed over crops like wheat and corn. Worryingly, TFA is known to have several adverse effects on human health. This includes disruptions to breathing pathways, liver function and the development of babies in the womb.

If the mosquito population increases, like you feel that, you feel that in your own comfort in your own home, you feel that in your backyard, you feel that at the park,

Yes. Lead is toxic for humans, and even low levels can cause serious health problems. Children, women of childbearing age, and those who are breastfeeding could be at higher risk after eating food from cookware that leaches lead. Babies and kids are more susceptible to lead toxicity due to their smaller size, metabolism, and rapidly developing bodies, according to the FDA.

Scores of Britons are being struck down with 'super flu' this winter amid fears the country may be face its 'worse flu season on record'. A troublesome mutant strain of the flu is believed to be more infectious and leading to more severe illness and hospital admissions than last year. Leading virologists also fear the flu outbreak may be leaving people vulnerable to other catching other seasonal illnesses at the same time, such as norovirus and cold-like respiratory syncytial virus ( RSV), in the run up to Christmas worsening symptoms.

Record-breaking heat is now routine. The devastating heatwave that wracked southwestern Europe in 2003 and claimed more than 70,000 lives produced temperatures not experienced in the region since the sixteenth century. Subsequent summers have extended this trend. In 2024, the continent recorded its hottest summer on record. In urban environments, where most of the world's population lives, the problem is especially acute. "If you build a city, inevitably it will be hotter," says Edward Ng, an architect at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

When Brooklyn metal band Contract performs around New York, they expect a mosh pit: thrashing bodies shoving and jumping along to the music. They also want to make sure the amped-up, usually drunk crowd stays hydrated. Without water, a mosher might feel sick, faint or pass out. You don't want anyone to get injured or hurt, frontman Pele Uriel said.