Health News Digest: China Reports 1,062 New Mainland Coronavirus Cases on Sept. 13; Cholera outbreak in Syria poses serious threat – UN & more

Here is a summary of health news briefs.

China reports 1,062 new mainland coronavirus cases on September 13

China reported 1,062 new COVID-19 infections on September 13, of which 237 were symptomatic and 825 asymptomatic, the National Health Commission said on Wednesday. That compares with 1,048 new cases a day earlier, 242 symptomatic infections and 806 asymptomatic infections, which China counts separately.

Cholera outbreak in Syria poses serious threat – UN

A cholera outbreak in several parts of Syria poses “a grave threat to people in Syria and the region”, the UN representative in the country said, calling for an urgent response to contain its spread. The outbreak is believed to be linked to irrigating crops using contaminated water and people drinking unsafe water from the Euphrates River which crosses Syria from north to east, said Imran Riza, coordinator United Nations Resident and Humanitarian, in a statement.

Half a million Somali children face hunger in this century’s worst global famine

More than 500,000 Somali children under the age of five are expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition and risk starvation this year, a number not seen in any country this century, the UN agency said on Tuesday. ‘childhood. “More than half a million children are at risk of preventable death. It’s a looming nightmare,” James Elder, spokesperson for UNICEF, the United Nations children’s agency, said during a briefing. a press briefing in Geneva.

Evidence Lacks for Diabetes Screening in Youth – US Panel

A US panel tasked with weighing the pros and cons of regular screening for diabetes in children and adolescents found a lack of evidence for the test, even as the proportion of young Americans with type 2 diabetes has doubled since 2001 This increase follows the increase in obesity. – the main risk factor for the most common form of diabetes linked to poor diet and lack of exercise.

Explainer-How the US Drug Pricing Act Affects Medicare and its Members

Last month, US President Joe Biden signed the $430 billion Inflation Cut Act, authorizing the federal government to negotiate the prices of certain prescription drugs and cap the costs of the government health program Medicare. . Here’s how the law may affect some of the 63 million Americans age 65 or older or disabled who receive Medicare health benefits:

‘Challenge’ to keep the world’s attention on global health after COVID-19: Bill Gates

Bill Gates says asking the world to prioritize saving lives in the world’s poorest countries is increasingly difficult in a world still rocked by the COVID-19 pandemic, the threat of climate change, the rising energy costs and the war in Ukraine. The Microsoft co-founder turned philanthropist said it was a ‘paradox’ that in the wake of a huge global health threat, funding to fight diseases like malaria and AIDS could actually drop this year.

UK long-term sickness rate hits highest level since 2005

The proportion of the UK workforce too sick to work has risen to its highest level since 2005, which economists say is likely due to a mix of long COVID and greater difficulty accessing care health since the start of the pandemic. A record 2.464 million people aged 16 to 64 said long-term illness was the reason they were neither working nor looking for work in the three months to July, figures from Tuesday showed. Office for National Statistics.

Novartis escapes claim it paid bribes to promote MS drug

A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed, for the second time, a whistleblower lawsuit accusing drugmaker Novartis AG of bribing doctors through a bogus speaker program to promote its multiple sclerosis drug Gilenya. U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood in Manhattan said former Novartis sales representative Stephen Camburn did not provide enough details to support his claims.

Exclusive-Medical Journals Expand Investigation into Potential Cardiac Research Misconduct

Three medical journals recently launched independent investigations into possible data manipulation in cardiac studies by Temple University researchers, Reuters has learned, adding new scrutiny to an investigation into university misconduct and of the US government. The Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology and the Journal of Biological Chemistry are investigating five papers written by Temple scientists, the papers told Reuters.

Dozen child deaths prompt Gambia to halt paracetamol syrup sales

The Gambia on Tuesday ordered importers and stores to suspend sales of all brands of paracetamol syrup while the government investigates a suspected link between the drug and the deaths of dozens of young children. Last Thursday, the West African country’s health chief said he had launched the investigation after a spike in cases of acute kidney failure in children under five was detected at the end of July.

(With agency contributions.)