Author: Dmedia

NEW DELHI — As India gears up for Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, people are divided over whether they should celebrate by setting off firecrackers, which worsen the country's chronic air pollution. Diwali, which will be celebrated Thursday, is marked by socializing and exchanging gifts with family and friends. Many Indians light earthen oil lamps or candles. But every year the festivities are tinged with worries over air pollution, as smoke-emitting firecrackers cause toxic smog that can take days to clear. The capital, New Delhi, which is among India's worst cities for air quality, is particularly impacted by the problem and is usually shrouded in toxic gray smog a day after Diwali. Authorities there and in some other states have banned the use and sale of firecrackers since 2017, asking…

taipei, taiwan — China and Russia are deepening cooperation in Antarctica in a trend that analysts say could undermine marine conservation efforts and disrupt the long-standing status quo in the resource-rich region. China and Russia were accused of collaborating to block key proposals that would establish new marine protected areas and revise the krill fishery management plan in the Southern Ocean, during the annual conference of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) in Australia last week. The commission was established in 1982 and is a part of the Antarctic Treaty System, which establishes the legal status of Antarctica and comprises four different treaties. CCAMLR focuses on preserving marine life and other resources in the Antarctic. The commission has 26 members, including China, Russia, the United States,…

washington — Militant groups have intensified attacks against polio vaccination teams and their police escorts in Pakistan amid a dramatic resurgence of polio cases in the country. Officials say because of the deteriorating security situation, polio vaccination teams cannot reach communities in high-risk areas where polio is endemic. On Tuesday, militants attacked two health centers in the tribal districts of Orakzai and Waziristan that are being used in the polio vaccination campaign. Two police officials were killed in the attack in the restive region along the Afghan border. According to local officials in North Waziristan, militants took guns from the police officers guarding the polio team and warned the health workers not to take part in the anti-polio campaign. Pakistan Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, in reaction to the latest violence, said…

LONDON — Britain has detected its first case of new mpox variant clade Ib, the country's health security agency (UKHSA) said Wednesday, adding that the risk to the population remained low.   The clade Ib variant is a new form of the virus that was declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organization (WHO) in August after an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo spread to neighboring countries in Africa.   The case, in a patient who had recently traveled to affected countries in Africa, was detected in London and the individual has been transferred to a specialist hospital, the UKHSA said.   Close contacts of the case are being followed up by UKHSA and partner organizations, the UKHSA added.   There have been cases of mpox clade Ib reported in Burundi,…

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS — H5N1 bird flu had been confirmed in a pig in a backyard farm in Oregon, the first detection of the virus in swine in the country, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Wednesday. Pigs represent a particular concern for the spread of bird flu because they can become co-infected with bird and human viruses, which could swap genes to form a new, more dangerous virus that can more easily infect humans. The USDA said there is no risk to the nation's pork supply from the Oregon case and that the risk to the public from bird flu remains low. Pigs were the source of the H1N1 flu pandemic in 2009-2010, and have been implicated as the source of others, said Richard Webby, a St. Jude Children's Research…

london — More than 8 million people were diagnosed with tuberculosis last year, the World Health Organization said Tuesday, the highest number recorded since the U.N. health agency began keeping track. About 1.25 million people died of TB last year, the new report said, adding that TB likely returned to being the world's top infectious disease killer after being replaced by COVID-19 during the pandemic. The deaths are almost double the number of people killed by HIV in 2023. WHO said TB continues to mostly affect people in Southeast Asia, Africa and the Western Pacific; India, Indonesia, China, the Philippines and Pakistan account for more than half of the world's cases. "The fact that TB still kills and sickens so many people is an outrage, when we have the tools to…

The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services on Monday confirmed the death of a middle-aged eastern Iowa resident from Lassa fever. The individual had recently returned from travel to West Africa, where it is believed the person contracted the virus, the state health department said. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is working to confirm the diagnosis of Lassa fever, the state health department said. The CDC said it assesses the risk to the general public to be extremely low. Lassa fever is a viral disease common in West Africa, but rarely seen in the United States. There have been eight travel-associated cases of Lassa fever in the United States in the past 55 years, according to the Iowa health department. In West Africa, the Lassa virus…

Islamabad — Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan simultaneously launched fresh vaccination campaigns against polio Monday amid a resurgence in cases in the only two countries globally where the virus continues to be endemic and paralyze children.  The World Health Organization reported 64 polio infections this year: 41 from Pakistan and 23 from Afghanistan, up from six each in both countries in 2023. Pakistani officials said the weeklong house-to-house nationwide campaign that was rolled out Monday enlists 400,000 polio workers, who aim to vaccinate over 45 million children under five against the paralytic disease. “This is Pakistan’s third nationwide campaign this year, launched in response to the alarming increase in polio cases across 71 districts,” said Ayesha Raza Farooq, the prime minister’s point-person for polio eradication. More than half the infections in 2024…

LOS ANGELES — McDonald's announced Sunday that Quarter Pounders will again be on its menu at hundreds of its restaurants after testing ruled out beef patties as the source of the outbreak of E. coli poisoning tied to the popular burgers that killed one person and sickened at least 75 others across 13 states. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration continues to believe that slivered onions from a single supplier are the likely source of contamination, McDonald's said in a statement. It said it will resume selling the Quarter Pounder at affected restaurants — without slivered onions — in the coming week. As of Friday, the outbreak had expanded to at least 75 people sick in 13 states, federal health officials said. A total of 22 people had been hospitalized, and…

The good news: You will get a glorious extra hour of sleep. The bad: It'll be dark as a pocket by late afternoon for the next few months in the U.S.  Daylight saving time ends at 2 a.m. local time next Sunday, Nov. 3, which means you should set your clock back an hour before you go to bed. Standard time will last until March 9 when we will again "spring forward" with the return of daylight saving time.  That spring time change can be tougher on your body. Darker mornings and lighter evenings can knock your internal body clock out of whack, making it harder to fall asleep on time for weeks or longer. Studies have even found an uptick in heart attacks and strokes right after the March…

washington — A NASA astronaut who was hospitalized upon return from the International Space Station for an unspecified medical condition was released Saturday in "good health," the U.S. space agency said.  The four-member Crew-8 mission splashed down off the coast of Florida early Friday after nearly eight months aboard the orbital laboratory.    NASA did not reveal which of the astronauts was hospitalized nor the reason, citing medical privacy.    However, it said in a blog post that the crew member has returned to the Johnson Space Center in Houston "in good health and will resume normal post-flight reconditioning with other crew members."    On its way back to Earth, the SpaceX Dragon executed a normal re-entry and splashdown, and recovery of the crew and spacecraft was without incident, NASA said.    But during routine…

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida — A NASA astronaut was taken to the hospital for an undisclosed medical issue after returning from a nearly eight-month space station stay extended by Boeing's capsule trouble and Hurricane Milton, the space agency said Friday. A SpaceX capsule carrying three Americans and one Russian parachuted before dawn into the Gulf of Mexico just off the Florida coast after undocking from the International Space Station at midweek. The capsule was hoisted onto the recovery ship where the four astronauts had routine medical checks. Soon after splashdown, a NASA astronaut had a "medical issue" and the crew was flown to a hospital in Pensacola, Florida, for additional evaluation "out of an abundance of caution," the space agency said in a statement. The astronaut, who was not identified, was in…

BERLIN, Germany — Close to 200 countries are scheduled to negotiate a new climate finance target for the Global South at the U.N. Climate Change Conference, or COP29, in Baku, Azerbaijan, in November.   Dubbed the “Finance COP,” next month’s conference is expected to see focused discussions on a New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance, or NCQG. It defines a new target for monetary support from historic emitters – mostly countries in the Global North – to address climate needs in poorer countries.     Surging climate needs   In 2009, countries including the United States and the European Union agreed to contribute $100 billion collectively each year by 2020, but an OECD report showed that they struggled to meet that goal over the years. Worse still, much of the climate finance came in…

Four astronauts returned to Earth on Friday after a nearly eight-month space station stay extended by Boeing's capsule trouble and Hurricane Milton. A SpaceX capsule carrying the crew parachuted before dawn into the Gulf of Mexico just off the Florida coast after undocking from the International Space Station mid-week. The three Americans and one Russian should have been back two months ago. But their homecoming was stalled by problems with Boeing’s new Starliner astronaut capsule, which came back empty in September because of safety concerns. Then Hurricane Milton interfered, followed by another two weeks of high wind and rough seas. SpaceX launched the four — NASA's Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps, and Russia's Alexander Grebenkin — in March. Barratt, the only space veteran going into the mission, acknowledged…

Maulana Tayyab Qureshi, the top cleric in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, has seen up close the devastating effects of polio. Two of his own kin were once paralyzed, victims of a scourge that has been vanquished worldwide yet refuses to go away from Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan. “Had their parents not neglected [to have their children vaccinated], their children wouldn’t be disabled today,” Qureshi said of his relatives. As the chief khateeb, or Friday prayer leader, of the northwestern province, Qureshi preaches this message at every opportunity — Friday sermons at his 17th century Mahabat Khan Mosque in Peshawar, Eid prayers when upward of 40,000 people congregate, meetings with village elders. “I’m very clear cut: I tell them, it’s free. It doesn’t cost you anything. Why don’t you take it…

Snakebites are classified as a neglected tropical disease by the World Health Organization. In South Africa and other countries in the region, there are numerous barriers to getting the antivenom necessary to save limbs and lives. But scientists are working to make antivenom cheaper, safer and easier to produce. Kate Bartlett reports from Johannesburg. Camera: Zaheer Cassim ...

The naturally occurring form of polio remains active in only two countries in the world: Pakistan and Afghanistan. Over 50 cases of so-called wild polio have been confirmed in the region this year despite continuing efforts to eradicate the disease. This report comes from both sides of the border, narrated by Bezhan Hamdard. ...

One person died and dozens fell ill from E. coli infections linked to McDonald's Quarter Pounder hamburgers in 10 states, led by Colorado, where 26 people were sickened, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control said on Tuesday. The E. coli outbreak, linked to one of McDonald's most popular menu items, has sickened 49 people and sent 10 to the hospital, officials say. The strain involved, E. coli O157:H7, can cause serious illness and was the source of a 1993 outbreak that killed four children who ate undercooked hamburgers at Jack in the Box restaurants. Shares of the world's largest fast-food chain were down about 6% in extended trading. A livestock trader said the outbreak also could pressure U.S. cattle futures on Wednesday by threatening demand for beef. Everyone interviewed as…

Health officials say there have been six cases of polio reported in Ivory Coast in 2023, and one so far this year. It doesn’t seem like many, but any polio cases are cause for concern among health officials trying to completely eradicate the disease.  VOA’s Yassin Ciyow reports from Abidjan, in this story narrated by Anthony LaBruto. (Camera: Yassin Ciyow ) ...

Berlin — An infection with the new mpox variant clade 1b has been detected in Germany for the first time, the Robert Koch Institute health authority said on Tuesday.   The infection occurred abroad and was detected last Friday, the institute said, adding that it did not see an increased risk for Germany but was "monitoring the situation very closely."   Mpox, a viral disease related to smallpox that causes fever, body aches, swollen lymph nodes and a rash that forms into blisters, has two main subtypes -- clade 1 and clade 2.   From May 2022, clade 2 spread around the world, mostly affecting gay and bisexual men in Europe and the United States. In July 2022, the WHO declared an international public health emergency, its highest level of alarm…

HONG KONG — China's National Health Commission (NHC) published its first set of guidelines to standardize the diagnosis and treatment of obesity, with more than half of China's adults already overweight and obese, and the rate expected to keep rising. The guidelines, made public on October 17, come as China experiences an upward morbidity trend of its overweight and obese population. The rate of overweight or obese people could reach 65.3% by 2030, the NHC said. "Obesity has become a major public health issue in China, ranking as the sixth leading risk factor for death and disability in the country," the guidelines said. China is facing a twin challenge that feeds its weight problem: In a modernizing economy underpinned by technological innovation, more jobs have become static or desk-bound, while a…

Paris — French drugmaker Sanofi's confirmation that it will sell a controlling stake in its consumer health unit to a U.S. investment fund sparked a new political backlash Monday, stoked by fears the deal marks a loss of sovereignty over key medications.   Paris "must block the sale" using powers to protect strategic sectors, Manuel Bompard, a senior lawmaker in the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party, told the TF1 broadcaster.   Politicians and unions have torn into Sanofi's proposed 16-billion-euro ($17.4 billion) deal with U.S. investment fund CD&R for a controlling stake in Opella.   The subsidiary makes household-name drugs including Doliprane branded paracetamol  whose yellow boxes dominate the French market.   Under pressure, Prime Minister Michel Barnier's minority government said it had secured a two-percent stake in Opella for public…

Bogota, Colombia — Global environmental leaders gather Monday in Cali, Colombia to assess the world's plummeting biodiversity levels and commitments by countries to protect plants, animals and critical habitats. The two-week United Nations Biodiversity Conference, or COP16, is a follow-up to the 2022 Montreal meetings where 196 countries signed a historic global treaty to protect biodiversity. The accord includes 23 measures to halt and reverse nature loss, including putting 30% of the planet and 30% of degraded ecosystems under protection by 2030. In opening remarks on Sunday, Colombia's environment minister and COP16 president Susana Muhamad said the conference is an opportunity "to collect the experience that has passed through this planet from all civilizations, from all cultures, from all knowledge ... to generate livable, relatively stable conditions for a new society…

Geneva — The WHO chief on Sunday urged Rwanda to keep up its fightback against Marburg, as the country battles an outbreak of one of the world's deadliest viruses.   There have been 62 confirmed cases and 15 deaths in the outbreak, which was first announced in late September.   No new cases have been detected in the last six days and 44 people have recovered from infection.   Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization, visited Rwanda to see the outbreak response for himself and hailed the country's handling of the situation.   "We're pleased to see that there have been no new cases in the past six days, and we hope that remains the case," he told a press conference in the capital Kigali.   "But we are dealing with one…

MILWAUKEE — Whooping cough is at its highest level in a decade for this time of year, U.S. health officials reported Thursday. There have been 18,506 cases of whooping cough reported so far, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. That's the most at this point in the year since 2014, when cases topped 21,800. The increase is not unexpected — whooping cough peaks every three to five years, health experts said. And the numbers indicate a return to levels before the coronavirus pandemic, when whooping cough and other contagious illnesses plummeted. Still, the tally has some state health officials concerned, including those in Wisconsin, where there have been about 1,000 cases so far this year, compared to a total of 51 last year. Nationwide, CDC has reported that kindergarten…

People with HIV can safely receive donated kidneys from deceased donors with the virus, according to a large study that comes as the U.S. government moves to expand the practice. That could shorten the wait for organs for all, regardless of HIV status. The new study, published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, looked at 198 kidney transplants performed across the U.S. Researchers found similar results whether the donated organ came from a person with or without the AIDS virus. Last month, the Department of Health and Human Services proposed a rule change that would allow these types of kidney and liver transplants outside research studies. A final rule would apply to both living and deceased donors. If approved, it could take effect in the coming year. Participants…

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan said Saturday that two children in its southern Sindh province had been paralyzed by poliovirus, bringing the total number of cases nationwide to 39 for the year since March, when officials confirmed the first case. The South Asian nation of around 240 million people reported six cases of paralytic poliovirus infections in 2023, following a period of more than a year without any documented cases, only to see the numbers rise again. "Genetic sequencing of the cases is under way," said a Pakistan polio eradication program statement Saturday while reporting the two new infections in Sindh. "The intense virus transmission and increase in polio cases are indicative of the harm that children suffer when they miss opportunities for vaccination." Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan, with at least 20 cases…

ABUJA, NIGERIA — Nigeria officially launched its malaria vaccination campaign this week to protect millions of children from the deadly disease, focusing heavily on high-risk states. The first 846,000 doses of the R21 malaria vaccine arrived in Abuja, Nigeria, on Thursday, marking a milestone in efforts to eliminate malaria. According to the World Health Organization, the country accounts for about 27% of global malaria cases. In 2022, it recorded nearly 67 million infections and nearly 200,000 deaths, about 80% of the deaths occurring in children under age 5. Dr. Muyi Aina, head of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, said the initial rollout prioritizes high-risk regions. "We expect another 140,000 or so to make a million doses in this first batch,” Aina said. “Every child, every person that is vaccinated,…