Health News Roundup: Tuberculosis deaths rose during pandemic, reversing years of decline – WHO; New frontline of U.S. abortion battles emerges in New Mexico and more


Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Tuberculosis deaths rose during pandemic, reversing years of decline – WHO

Global deaths from tuberculosis are estimated to have increased between 2019 and 2021, reversing years of decline as the COVID-19 pandemic severely derailed efforts to tackle the disease, the World Health Organization said on Thursday. Global efforts to tackle deadly diseases such as AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria have suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic. The health crisis has particularly hit the response to TB and led countries to fall behind in meeting targets to curb the infectious disease.

New frontline of U.S. abortion battles emerges in New Mexico

The new frontline of the U.S. abortion battle is on the remote plains of New Mexico, where two conservative towns are set to outlaw the medical procedure despite it remaining legal in the state after Roe v. Wade was struck down. The towns of Clovis and Hobbs do not even have abortion clinics but are strategic, activists and clinicians say, because they are near the border with Texas, to the east. Texas was one of the first states to impose a near-total ban on abortion and providers could face up to life in prison there.

GSK to skip regulatory submissions for experimental arthritis drug

British drugmaker GSK said on Thursday it would not be proceeding with regulatory submissions of its experimental treatment for moderate-to-severe rheumatoid arthritis (RA) after the drug failed to meet a key goal in a study. In a late-stage study, the antibody-based drug, otilimab, did not make a meaningful difference to improving swelling and tenderness in joints to aid movement in patients who had not responded to other forms of treatment before.

U.S. government to test Pfizer’s Paxlovid for long COVID

The U.S. National Institutes of Health’s $1 billion RECOVER Initiative has picked Pfizer Inc’s antiviral drug Paxlovid as the first treatment it will study in patients with long COVID, organizers of the study said on Thursday. The complex medical condition involves more than 200 symptoms ranging from exhaustion and cognitive impairment to pain, fever and heart palpitations that can last for months and even years following a COVID-19 infection.

Chinese cities double down on zero-COVID as outbreaks widen

Chinese cities from Wuhan in central China to Xining in the northwest are doubling down on COVID-19 curbs, sealing up buildings, locking down districts and throwing millions into distress in a scramble to halt widening outbreaks. China on Thursday reported a third straight day of more than 1,000 new COVID cases nationwide, a modest tally compared with the tens of thousands per day that sent Shanghai into a full-blown lockdown earlier this year but enough to trigger more restrictions across the country.

Africa CDC: Ebola outbreak in Uganda “not getting out of hand”

Africa’s top public health body said on Thursday that the Ebola outbreak in Uganda was “not getting out of hand” and that it was still under control, despite an increase in cases that have spread to the capital Kampala. “The Ebola outbreak in Uganda is not getting out of hand … it is still under control,” Ahmed Ogwell Ouma, acting director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, said at an online briefing.

Gilead profit tops expectations despite lower COVID drug sales, outlook raised

Gilead Sciences Inc on Thursday posted a higher-than-expected third-quarter profit on the back of strong demand for its HIV and cancer drugs, which helped offset lower sales of its COVID-19 antiviral drug and acquisition expenses. The U.S. biotech company also increased its forecast for full-year revenue and earnings, sending its shares up 4% to $73 in after-hours trade.

Japan reports first bird flu outbreaks of season, culling 340,000 chickens

Japan has detected its first outbreaks of bird flu for the season in 2022, with a “highly pathogenic” strain identified at a poultry farm on the main island of Honshu, while the other outbreak was found on the northern island of Hokkaido. About 170,000 egg-laying chickens are being exterminated at a farm in Kurashiki city, Okayama Prefecture, the agriculture ministry said on its website on Friday. It also established restricted zones up to 10 km (6.2 miles) from the site.

McKinsey reaches deal with U.S. local governments over opioids

Leading consulting firm McKinsey & Co has agreed to settle claims by hundreds of U.S. local governments and school districts around the country that it fueled an epidemic of opioid addiction through its work for bankrupt OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP and other drug companies. The deal was disclosed in a court filing Wednesday evening in San Francisco federal court. Its terms were not made public, and McKinsey and a lawyer for the settling plaintiffs did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Dutch cull 25,000 hens to contain bird flu

Dutch health authorities have culled around 25,000 hens on a farm in the south of the country after the detection of a highly infectious strain of bird flu, the government said on Thursday. The farm is in the town of Neerkant, 30 km southeast of Eindhoven. A transport ban has been imposed on 83 additional nearby farms, the government said in a statement.

(With inputs from agencies.)



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