Health News

on March 29, 2023 at 12:25 am

The change brings England in line with Scotland and should help women with advanced disease live longer. […]

on March 28, 2023 at 11:58 pm

Just 29% of Britons say they are satisfied, citing waiting times and lack of staff as key concerns. […]

on March 28, 2023 at 3:59 pm

The review comes after a BBC investigation into claims of a climate of fear at Birmingham hospitals. […]

on March 28, 2023 at 3:58 pm

Breast augmentation remains the most popular procedure, figures from a national audit show. […]

on March 27, 2023 at 7:56 pm

Rubi-Rose, Payton Jane and Porscha-Mae are record holders born at just 22 weeks and five days. […]

on March 27, 2023 at 4:46 pm

Thousands of people call the NHS 111 phone line every month over forgotten prescriptions. […]

on March 27, 2023 at 3:43 pm

How is laughing gas used and what does it do to your body? […]

on March 27, 2023 at 3:35 pm

The WWE star, who recently had skin cancer treatment, says she should have avoided tanning beds. […]

on March 27, 2023 at 1:06 pm

A 25-year-old says she was using 240 cannisters a week before being admitted to hospital. […]

on March 27, 2023 at 11:57 am

A hospital trust has apologised to a family after mistakes left a baby with serious brain injuries. […]

on March 26, 2023 at 1:46 am

Researchers say it may help trigger calming brain pathways and are putting their theory to the test. […]

on March 24, 2023 at 7:30 am

The London Lonely Girls Club has "grown spectacularly" since pandemic restrictions were lifted. […]

on March 24, 2023 at 6:08 am

Research shows women are more likely to develop long Covid but vaccination nearly halves the risk. […]

on March 24, 2023 at 12:05 am

They have become the new frontier in the US battle over abortion access but their future is at risk. […]

on March 23, 2023 at 5:37 pm

A drug-resistant yeast fungus has been detected in more than 30 countries. What do we know about it? […]

on March 23, 2023 at 6:21 am

Brian Murphy has motor neurone disease and is stuck in hospital waiting for a care package. […]

on March 23, 2023 at 12:37 am

Speaking three years after the first Covid lockdown, Anabel Sharma looks back on her mum's last moments. […]

on March 21, 2023 at 5:51 am

Others have returned home with serious health issues following operations, BBC finds. […]

on March 21, 2023 at 1:32 am

New research shows stark North-South divide in hospital admissions for lung disease across the UK. […]

on March 20, 2023 at 11:24 am

Henry Dimbleby says the reluctance of government to intervene will cause "huge problems" for the NHS. […]

on March 19, 2023 at 1:22 am

EastEnders has shone a light on Edwards' syndrome - a rare genetic condition affecting babies. […]

on March 19, 2023 at 12:52 am

The appeal is clear - but should we be turning to appetite-suppressing injections? […]

on March 16, 2023 at 12:27 pm

George Ezra's cancelled tour dates after being diagnosed with it - so we spoke to others with it. […]

on March 11, 2023 at 9:41 am

A trial of 121 people finds they experienced, on average, a reduction in tic frequency of 25%. […]

on March 7, 2023 at 11:54 am

The ex-Leeds Rhinos star was the 2,000th recipient of the award for outstanding individual volunteers. […]

on March 2, 2023 at 8:43 pm

The ex-health secretary's pandemic text messages have been published by a newspaper - here are eight. […]

on March 2, 2023 at 3:26 pm

The move had huge costs - socially, emotionally and academically, so could schools have been kept open? […]

on March 2, 2023 at 2:16 pm

US agencies cannot agree on how the pandemic started, with the scientific community bitterly divided. […]

on March 2, 2023 at 9:24 am

The journalist released WhatsApps she obtained while working on the former health secretary's book. […]

on March 2, 2023 at 6:13 am

Philip Loveday follows in his grandmother's footsteps to snap London's famous landmarks 70 years on. […]

on March 1, 2023 at 4:57 pm

Two Conservative MPs clash in a committee debate on whether the menopause is a disability. […]

on March 1, 2023 at 2:55 pm

The claim Covid-19 leaked from a Chinese laboratory dates from early in the pandemic. Here's what we know. […]

on February 15, 2023 at 12:04 am

Teddi from Northumberland has a rare genetic condition and will be treated by the NHS with a new gene therapy. […]

on January 5, 2023 at 2:56 pm

China is ramping up its vaccination programme in response to the latest wave of Covid. […]

on December 29, 2022 at 10:42 pm

Beijing is finally opening its borders - but some countries are wary of a Covid threat. […]

on December 26, 2022 at 5:26 am

The UK Health Security Agency says it will halt publishing the figures from early January. […]

on July 14, 2022 at 11:54 am

That is according to UK data from 17,500 people this week who say they have Covid. […]

on July 5, 2022 at 4:53 pm

Key maps and charts explaining how the virus has spread around the world. […]

on July 1, 2022 at 8:57 am

Surges of Covid are happening again around the world, driven by some new subvariants of Omicron. […]

on March 5, 2022 at 3:02 am

Almost a third of people report at least one ongoing symptom between six and 12 months after their coronavirus infection, a survey of 152,000 people in Denmark has found. The study includes one of the largest groups yet of people who were not hospitalised with Covid, and followed them for longer than other major studies, the researchers from Denmark's State Serum Institute (SSI) said. The questionnaire-based study suggested that the most commonly reported long-term symptoms were changes in sense of smell and taste, as well as fatigue. Conducted between September 2020 and April 2021, well before the recent Omicron variant surge, the survey compared the responses of 61,002 people who had tested positive for the coronavirus six, nine or 12 months before with those of 91,878 people who had tested negative. In total, 29.6 per cent of the respondents who had tested positive reported at least one ongoing physical symptom six to 12 months after infection, compared to 13 per cent in the control group. […]

on March 4, 2022 at 9:55 am

A look at progress made in vaccinating the country, as more than 52 million people have received at least one dose and 38 million have had a booster or third dose. […]

by Joanne Poh on January 11, 2022 at 5:10 am

Just about every Singaporean knows about the importance of health screenings. After all, catching a serious ailment too late could mean death or huge medical bills. But how much do you really know about health screenings and how much they cost in Singapore? Here’s the low down. Price list: Health screening packages in Singapore As it turns out, the cost of health screenings in Singapore can vary… quite wildly, actually. Here are some health screening prices compiled from a mix of public hospitals, private hospitals and private clinics. […]

by Grace Koh on December 31, 2021 at 4:50 am

In the past two years living with Covid-19, numerous measures have been taken to defend against the virus, and the Covid-19 vaccines are one of them. The Singapore government has been rolling out its vaccination campaign, providing free vaccination shots to residents. Locally, the vaccines available under the national programme are Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty, Moderna and Sinovac-CoronaVac Covid-19 vaccines. Now, the vaccination programme includes the addition of a booster shot. Now that booster shots are available, some of you may be considering whether to take the plunge and take the shot — but questions abound. Who is suitable? Should I take the shot? And more importantly, can I mix and match my vaccines? We find out more about booster shots and see which combinations are the most helpful, especially for those who have taken their primary vaccination shots from the national programme. […]

on October 7, 2021 at 6:27 am

The following is a summary of some recent studies on Covid-19. They include research that warrants further study to corroborate the findings and that have yet to be certified by peer review. Chemo patients' response to vaccine improves with booster A new study helps quantify the improved protection against Covid-19 achieved with a third booster dose of the vaccine from Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE in cancer patients who are undergoing chemotherapy. "Chemotherapy can weaken the ability of cancer patients to fight off infections and to respond appropriately to vaccines," said Deepta Bhattacharya of the University of Arizona College of Medicine, co-author of the study reported in Nature Medicine. Her team studied 53 patients receiving chemotherapy for solid-tumour cancers who received two shots of the vaccine. Almost all of the subjects had an immune response after vaccination. […]

on September 29, 2021 at 6:12 am

As Merck & Co and Pfizer Inc prepare to report clinical trial results for experimental Covid-19 antiviral pills, rivals are lining up with what they hope will prove to be more potent and convenient oral treatments of their own. Enanta Pharmaceuticals, Pardes Biosciences, Japan's Shionogi & Co Ltd and Novartis AG said they have designed antivirals that specifically target the coronavirus while aiming to avoid potential shortcomings such as the need for multiple pills per day or known safety issues. Infectious disease experts stressed that preventing Covid-19 through wide use of vaccines remains the best way to control the pandemic. But they said the disease is here to stay and more convenient treatments are needed . "We need to have oral alternatives for suppression of this virus. We have people who aren't vaccinated getting sick, people whose vaccine protection is waning, and people who can't get vaccinated," said Dr Robert Schooley, an infectious diseases professor at UC San Diego School of Medicine. […]

on September 24, 2021 at 6:30 am

BEIJING - CanSino Biologics' (CanSinoBIO) single-dose Covid-19 vaccine, given at a lower dosage than that for adults, is safe and triggers an immune response in children aged six to 17, results from a small trial showed. Researchers decided to lower the dosage after a few participants developed fever and headaches graded at level two severity - the second-lowest of four levels. In children, the lower dose triggered higher antibody levels than the dosage approved for use in adults in China, according to the peer-reviewed finding from a mid-stage trial. The trial recruited 150 children and around 300 adults.   The results also showed that children given one lower dose had a stronger antibody response than adults who were given a booster shot 56 days after the first dose. […]

on September 23, 2021 at 2:04 am

The following is a summary of some recent studies on Covid-19. They include research that warrants further study to corroborate the findings and that have yet to be certified by peer review. Severe Covid-19 may "trip off" immune self-attacks Severe Covid-19 may trick the immune system into producing so-called autoantibodies that have the potential to eventually attack healthy tissue and cause inflammatory diseases, researchers warned in a paper published in Nature Communications. They found autoantibodies in blood samples from roughly 50 per cent of 147 Covid-19 patients they studied but in fewer than 15 per cent of 41 healthy volunteers. For 48 Covid-19 patients, the researchers had blood samples taken over different days, including the day of hospital admission, allowing them to track the development of the autoantibodies. "Within a week... about 20 per cent of these patients had developed new antibodies to their own tissues that weren't there the day they were admitted," study leader Dr Paul Utz of Stanford University said in a news release. […]

by Grace Koh on September 13, 2021 at 9:08 am

Learn all about transient ischemic attack (TIA), also known as mini-stroke, mild stroke or minor stroke. Find out its signs and symptoms, causes, treatment, and prevention. What is a Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA) or mini-stroke?  Otherwise known as a "mini-stroke", a Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA) happens when blood supply to part of the brain is temporarily disrupted, by a blood clot or blockage in the brain. This results in a lack of oxygen supply to the brain and causes symptoms similar to a stroke. A TIA does not last as long as a stroke. The effects of a TIA last from a few minutes up to a few hours and usually resolves within 24 hours. The clot or blockage usually dissolves or gets dislodged, clearing up the blockage. Though a mini-stroke does not usually cause permanent disabilities, it often precedes a full-blown stroke. About one in three people who experience a mini-stroke later experience a stroke. Find out more about strokes here. […]

on September 10, 2021 at 4:14 am

SYDNEY – Australia's Covid-19 daily cases topped 1,900 for the first time in the pandemic on Friday (Sept 10) as an outbreak fuelled by the highly infectious Delta variant continued to gain ground in locked-down Sydney and Melbourne, its largest cities. Australia is in the grip of a third wave of infections with the Delta outbreak forcing officials to ditch their Covid-zero strategy in favour of suppressing the virus. They now aim to begin easing tough restrictions after reaching a higher proportion of the population with double-dose vaccinations. New South Wales (NSW), the epicentre of the country's worst outbreak, reported 1,542 new daily local cases, topping the previous high of 1,533 hits last week. Nine new deaths were registered. "So far this trajectory is what has been predicted," NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian told a media briefing in Sydney, the state capital, where cases are expected to hit a peak in the next week. Berejiklian said the daily Covid-19 media briefing would be scrapped from Monday and updates would be detailed in an online video, an approach previously used when case numbers were low. […]

on August 19, 2021 at 3:11 am

TEL AVIV - Researchers have used brain cancer patients' own cells in a form of 3D printing material to make a model of their tumour to test the efficacy of potential treatments before using them for real inside the body. The scientists extract 'a chunk' of the tumour from the brain of a patient with glioblastoma - an aggressive cancer with a very poor prognosis - and use it to print a model matching their MRI scans, said Professor Ronit Satchi-Fainaro, who led the research at Tel Aviv University. The patient's blood is then pumped through the printed tumour, made with a compound that mimics the brain, followed by a drug or therapeutic treatment. While previous research has used such 'bioprinting' to simulate cancer environments, the Tel Aviv University researchers say they are the first to print a 'viable' tumour. "We have about two weeks [to] test all the different therapies that we would like to evaluate [on] that specific tumour, and get back with an answer - which treatment is predicted to be the best fit," Satchi-Fainaro said. […]