Category: Health

H5N1 bird flu has infected growing numbers of people worldwide in recent years, but this week saw something new: the first recorded human case of an H5N5 avian influenza virus. What is this virus and how concerned about it should we be? What happened? In early November, a resident of Grays Harbor, a county on […]

When Cop30 convened in Belém, deep inside the Amazon, the world’s attention turned once again to negotiations, emissions pledges and political manoeuvring. The global stage was set against one of Earth’s most biodiverse landscapes and some of its most vulnerable communities, yet the conversation still leaned heavily toward geopolitics rather than people. Inside the crowded […]

Celebrity chefs Jamie Oliver, Hugh Fearnley‑Whittingstall and Tom Kerridge have backed a new campaign that is putting the spotlight on beans. The Bang In Some Beans campaign is a bid to double the UK’s intake of beans, legumes and pulses by 2028. Such a campaign is long overdue. Despite beans on toast being a British […]

You receive a phone call: the results from routine blood tests show a “low white cell count”. Your doctor explains that more investigations are necessary, perhaps a referral to the haematologists. This might represent something concerning. But what if this “low white cell count” were completely normal for you, because of a harmless genetic variant […]

Semaglutide, the drug behind the blockbuster weight-loss jabs Ozempic and Wegovy, does not slow cognitive decline in people with early-stage Alzheimer’s, according to two large new studies. The results close the door, for now, on hopes that a treatment for diabetes and obesity might also help protect the brain. The evoke and evoke+ trials tracked […]

Drug use appears to be changing in England – both in the types of drugs people take and their potency, according to our latest survey of adult mental health and wellbeing. The Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (APMS) began in 1993 and is the longest running mental health survey series in the world. This national study […]

A roster of high profile advocates, including sportsmen, actors, two previous prime ministers and over 100 MPs, have recently joined patient groups and charities in calling for a UK national prostate cancer screening programme. However, the UK National Screening Committee (UKNSC) has announced its draft decision to advise the government against routine population screening for […]

Officials said global outbreaks are accelerating as millions of children remain under-immunized following years of COVID-19 pandemic-related disruption. “Measles remains one of the most contagious respiratory viruses,” said Dr. Kate O’Brien, WHO’s Director of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals. “One person can infect up to 18 others. Many people think measles is not serious – but […]

The NHS didn’t receive a great deal of specific attention in Rachel Reeves’ budget. She mentioned it, but in fairly general terms around plans to invest and cut waiting lists. But the overall plan presented by the chancellor effectively incorporates the NHS into a high tax, high spend economic model. Those revenue-raising taxes include a […]

Bird flu viruses are a particular threat to humans because they can replicate at temperatures higher than a typical fever, one of the body’s ways of stopping viruses in their tracks. This is according to new research led by the University of Cambridge and the University of Glasgow and funded primarily by the Medical Research […]