Health

US pregnancy deaths are up, especially among minorities

8 May 2019 (AP) - Pregnancy-related deaths are rising in the United States and the main risk factor is being black, according to new reports that highlight racial disparities in care during and after childbirth.

Black women, along with Native Americans and Alaska natives, are three times more likely to die before, during or after having a baby, and more than half of these deaths are preventable, Tuesday’s report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concludes.

Chinese researchers try brain implants to treat drug addicts

SHANGHAI (AP) — Patient Number One is a thin man, with a scabby face and bouncy knees. His head, shaved in preparation for surgery, is wrapped in a clean, white cloth.

Years of drug use cost him his wife, his money and his self-respect, before landing him in this drab yellow room at a Shanghai hospital, facing the surgeon who in 72 hours will drill two small holes in his skull and feed electrodes deep into his brain.

The hope is that technology will extinguish his addiction, quite literally, with the flip of a switch.

Australia's top science body launches partnership to tackle untreatable cancers

CANBERRA, May 7 (Xinhua): Australia's peak scientific body has launched a partnership with a leading cancer care provider to treat untreatable cancers.

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) on Tuesday announced that it would work with GenesisCare in a 5.1 million Australian dollar (3.5 million U.S. dollar) partnership to develop treatments for the most fatal and difficult-to-treat cancers such as brain and pancreatic cancer.

India: H1N1 virus has claimed 135 lives in Maha since Jan 1

Mumbai, May 6 (PTI) The H1N1 virus infection has claimed 135 lives so far in Maharashtra in 2019 with 25 people, including two from Mumbai, succumbing to it in the last 10 days, a state Health department official said Monday.

He said Pune had the maximum 36 deaths followed by Nashik and Nagpur at 29 and 23 respectively.

Feature: Chinese doctor wins hearts of South Sudanese medics

JUBA, May 5 (Xinhua): A Chinese doctor working for the China medical team in South Sudan has received enormous praise from his local counterparts for his exceptional work in the conflict-torn east African country.

Since coming to South Sudan a year ago, Zhu Ming, an anesthesiologist who is tasked with perioperative care of patients before and after surgery has won the hearts of many South Sudanese health workers because of his readiness to share knowledge and interact freely with locals.

Ebola outbreak deaths top 1,000 in Congo

KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — More than 1,000 people have died from Ebola in eastern Congo since August, the country’s health minister said Friday as hostility toward health workers continues to hamper efforts to contain the second-deadliest outbreak of the virus.

Health Minister Oly Ilunga told The Associated Press that four deaths in the outbreak’s epicenter of Katwa helped push the death toll to 1,008. Two more deaths were reported in the city of Butembo.

Pakistan police arrest doctor after 90 infected by HIV syringe

3 May 2019; DW: At least 90 people, including 65 children, are believed to have been infected with the HIV virus in Pakistan by a doctor using a contaminated syringe, officials said Friday.

"We have arrested a doctor after receiving complaints from the health authorities," said Kamran Nawaz, the local police chief heading the case in the southern city of Larkana.

"We are told that the doctor also has HIV," he said.

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