Latest news about healthcare

Since Covid restrictions eased, there are more opportunities for infections like this to spread. Cases have been increasing in recent weeks. While most people do not get extremely sick, the highly contagious bacterium that causes the infection can cause serious illness and complications.

Most often, symptoms are mild - a sore throat or a skin infection that can be easily treated with antibiotics. But strep A can cause a range of things - and some of them are more serious. One is scarlet fever, which mostly affects young children and, again, needs antibiotics...

The use of gas and air pain relief at a hospital maternity suite has been suspended after some staff were exposed to high levels of nitrous oxide. Tests carried out last year at Basildon University Hospital in Essex revealed the high levels but the installation of a new ventilation system was delayed. The mixture, Entonox, was expected to be unavailable for three weeks.

"We're very sorry that women using the service won't have access to Entonox," said acting chief executive Hannah Coffey. "While there has been no risk of harm at all to mothers and babies who have used the unit, prolonged exposure to the gas can lead to issues with vitamin B12 deficiency...

Northern Ireland is facing a "cancer epidemic" if an effective strategy is not implemented, it has been warned. A study has found that Northern Ireland is at the bottom of an international league table for cancer plans and policies.

Prof Mark Lawler said outcomes for breast cancer patients have gone from the best in the UK to the worst in the last decade. The report's authors have called for reforms of cancer services. Prof Lawler, from Queen's University, is a senior author of the report which has been published in the medical journal Lancet Oncology ...

Eating ultra-processed foods heightens your risk of developing inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). That’s the core finding from the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study published this week in The BMJTrusted Source.

An international team of researchers drew on detailed dietary information from 116,087 adults ages 35 to 70 living in 21 low, middle, and high income countries. The study took place from 2003 and 2016 with self-reported assessments being completed at least every 3 years. Over an average follow-up of nearly 10 years, 467 participants developed IBD (377 with ulcerative colitis and 90 with Crohn’s disease)...

Elective surgery hubs are to be created to ensure planned operations will continue safely through the winter, the health minister has said. Robin Swann said the sites would include Musgrave Park Hospital in Belfast and the hospital and primary care complex in Omagh. A workforce appeal will also be launched on Thursday aimed at retired staff and others who had recently left.

They will be deployed to support the continuation of surgery services. In a press conference, Mr Swann again appealed for unvaccinated people to come forward to receive a jab. Speaking directly to staff, he said he recognised they were "hurting and frustrated and exhausted" by the pandemic pressures...

• More than 4.6 million people globally have died from COVID-19.
• More than half of U.S. adults are now fully vaccinated.
• New COVID-19 cases are on the rise in virtually every U.S. state.

Update on COVID-19 numbers

• Globally, there have been more than 226.1 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and more than 4.6 million associated deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.
• The United States has reported more than 41.4 million confirmed cases and more than 665,000 associated deaths.
• Currently, more than 210.3 million people in the United States have received their first COVID-19 vaccine dose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with more than 179.6 million people fully vaccinated...

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) is recommendingTrusted Source chlamydia and gonorrhea screening for sexually active women age 24 years old and younger and women 25 years old and older who are at increased risk of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Among factors that increase the risk of STIs are having a new sex partner or more than one sex partner.

The task force concluded that current evidence is insufficient to assess the benefits and harms of screening for chlamydia and gonorrhea in men. This is consistent with their 2014 recommendations. The USPSTF does not recommend specific screening intervals, writing that “a reasonable approach would be to screen patients whose sexual history reveals new or persistent risk factors since the last negative test result.”...

For much of the pandemic, young children seemed to be unlikely to develop COVID-19 compared with adults. But now, as the Delta variant has surged, it’s affecting many unvaccinated people — including children under 12 who are too young to be vaccinated.

Since the pandemic began, children have represented nearly 15 percent of total cases, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). But for the week ending August 26, children now make up 22.4 percent of reported weekly COVID-19 cases. With school beginning, it raises more questions about how best to keep children, and those at risk, safe...

We're all trying to make healthier choices, but when it comes to fish, is one type truly better than another? Nutritionally, there's no wrong choice when it comes to seafood as a food group. "As an animal source, it has one of the lowest amounts of saturated fat in relation to protein," said Lourdes Castro, registered dietitian nutritionist and director of the NYU Food Lab. In addition to being a lean protein, seafood is high in D and B vitamins and minerals like iron, potassium and calcium.

Most crucially, seafood is high in omega-3 fatty acids, which are essential to the cellular makeup of our bodies and can help with our cardiovascular health and immune systems. Because the body can't produce its own omega-3s, all our intake must come from the food we eat...

Being fully vaccinated against Covid-19 not only cuts the risk of catching it, but also of an infection turning into long Covid, research led by King's College London suggests. It shows that in the minority of people who get Covid despite two jabs, the odds of developing symptoms lasting longer than four weeks are cut by 50%. This is compared with people who are not vaccinated. So far, 78.9% of over-16s in the UK have had two doses of a Covid vaccine.

Many people who get Covid recover within four weeks but some have symptoms that continue or develop for weeks and months after the initial infection - sometimes known as long Covid. It can happen after people experience even mild coronavirus symptoms...

New food labelling laws are to be introduced meaning businesses will be legally required to provide a full list of ingredients highlighting common allergens. The move will come as "some comfort" to Isle of Man allergy sufferers, a support group has said.

The changes are due to come in next month. It follows similar action in the UK following the death teenager Natasha Ednan-Laperouse in 2016. It is hoped the new legislation, known as Natasha's law, will help one in five people. Jules Sum from Allergy and Anaphylaxis Support welcomed the news but said there was still "significant" work to be done...