September 4, 2024
A New Edition of Journal of Medical Humanities Is Now Available
Journal of Medical Humanities (vol. 45, no 3, 2024) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
Global Bioethics
September 2, 2024
An Ethical Way Forward for Indigenous Microbiome Research
(Nature) – Science has a history of exploitation and extraction. Microbiologists have the chance to take a different approach. Around the time the study was published, Crittenden found herself sitting with a Hadza friend on a blanket under the shade … Read More
September 2, 2024
Large-Scale Polio Vaccinations Begin in War-Ravaged Gaza After First Case in 25 Years
(ABC News) – Palestinian health authorities and United Nations agencies on Sunday began a large-scale campaign of vaccinations against polio in the Gaza Strip, hoping to prevent an outbreak in the territory that has been ravaged by the Israel-Hamas war. … Read More
August 29, 2024
WHO Says Its Deal with Israel Will Allow Limited Pauses in Gaza Fighting for Polio Vaccinations
(ABC News) – The U.N. World Health Organization said Thursday that it has reached an agreement with Israel for limited pauses in fighting in Gaza to allow for polio vaccinations for hundreds of thousands of children after a baby contracted … Read More
August 29, 2024
This Ancient Disease Still Kills 1 Million People Every Year
(Vox) – More than a decade ago, scientists achieved a historic breakthrough: They found a first-ever cure for hepatitis C, one of two related liver diseases that, combined, take more than a million lives every year. In 2016, just three … Read More
August 29, 2024
Google and Others Are Developing AI That Can Hear Signs of Sickness
(Bloomberg) – Bioacoustics is the thrilling combination of biology and acoustics, helping us gain insights from sounds produced by animals and humans. Generative AI, the kind of tech that brought ChatGPT to 200 million users worldwide, is now adding a … Read More
August 27, 2024
New Mpox Strain Is Changing Fast; African Scientists Are ‘Working Blind’ to Respond
(Reuters) – Scientists studying the new mpox strain that has spread out of Democratic Republic of Congo say the virus is changing faster than expected, and often in areas where experts lack the funding and equipment to properly track it. … Read More
August 26, 2024
Baby Paralyzed in Gaza’s First Case of Type 2 Polio for 25 Years, WHO Says
(Reuters) – A 10-month-old baby in war-shattered Gaza has been paralysed by the type 2 polio virus, the first such case in the territory in 25 years, the World Health Organization said on Friday, with U.N. agencies appealing for urgent … Read More
August 23, 2024
Pulling Back the Curtain
(Science) – Mpox circulated in Nigeria for 8 years before it sparked a global outbreak. What happened? And could it have been stopped? The first two patients were discharged; in the subsequent months another two who fit the same profile … Read More
August 21, 2024
Gastroenteritis Rates Higher in Seine Events Than in Previous Olympics
(MedPage Today) – Athletes who swam in the Seine during the Olympic games in Paris had higher rates of gastroenteritis than those in games past, a U.S. Olympic official told MedPage Today. About 10% of athletes who competed in the … Read More
August 21, 2024
US Clinical Trials in China Questioned by US Lawmakers
(Reuters) – A bipartisan group of lawmakers on Tuesday called on the Biden administration to ramp up scrutiny of U.S. clinical trials conducted in China, citing the risk of intellectual property theft and the possibility of forced participation of Uyghurs. … Read More
August 20, 2024
Mpox Is Not the New COVID, Says WHO Official
(Reuters) – A World Health Organization official stressed on Tuesday that mpox, regardless of whether it is the new or old strain, is not the new COVID, as authorities know how to control its spread. “We can and must tackle … Read More
August 19, 2024
Congo Says It Will Receive Its First Mpox Vaccines Next Week to Address New Global Emergency
(ABC News) – Congo will receive the first vaccine doses to address its mpox outbreak next week from the United States, the country’s health minister said Monday, days after the World Health Organization declared mpox outbreaks in Africa a global … Read More
August 14, 2024
Doctors Strike Across India to Protest Rape and Murder of Trainee Medic
(CNN) – Thousands of doctors have gone on strike across India to demand better protection for health workers after a trainee medic was raped and murdered in eastern West Bengal state. The resident doctor’s body was found last Friday with multiple injuries … Read More
August 14, 2024
WHO Declares Mpox Outbreaks in Africa a Global Health Emergency as a New Form of the Virus Spreads
(Associated Press) – The World Health Organization declared the mpox outbreaks in Congo and elsewhere in Africa a global emergency on Wednesday, with cases confirmed among children and adults in more than a dozen countries and a new form of … Read More
August 13, 2024
Africa CDC Declares Mpox Outbreak a Public Health Emergency
(The Guardian) – The African Union’s health watchdog has declared a public health emergency over the growing mpox outbreak on the continent, saying the move is a “clarion call for action”. The outbreak has swept through several African countries, particularly … Read More
August 12, 2024
First Imported Cases of Zika-Like Virus Detected in Europe
(Politico) – Outbreaks of Oropouche virus, which may be linked to fetal deformities, are reported in several countries in South and Central America and the Caribbean. Europe’s disease agency has warned vacationers about the risks — especially for pregnant women … Read More
August 8, 2024
UN Health Agency Convening Experts to Determine If the Mpox Outbreak in Africa Is a Global Emergency
(Associated Press) – The head of the World Health Organization said Wednesday he will convene an expert group to determine if the increasing spread of the mpox virus in Africa warrants being declared a global emergency. At a press briefing … Read More
August 8, 2024
Gaza to Get 1.2m Polio Vaccines Amid Outbreak Fears
(BBC) – The World Health Organisation (WHO) has announced plans to send 1.2 million polio vaccines to Gaza after the virus was detected in wastewater. The agency’s chief, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, outlined plans for two rounds of vaccination, targeting … Read More
August 7, 2024
Tokyo Was Meant to Be the COVID Games. It’s Far, Far Worse in Paris
(Sydney Morning Herald) – The Tokyo Olympics will forever be remembered as the COVID Games, an extraordinary feat of public health ingenuity and Japanese forbearance that enabled the world’s largest sporting event to be staged within a massive, temporary quarantine … Read More
August 7, 2024
AI Is Heating the Olympic Pool
(Wired) – A data center in Paris has been hooked up to the energy system heating the Olympic pool. But critics say that projects recycling data centers’ excess heat are a distraction from the real environmental costs of AI. In … Read More
August 6, 2024
Many of Gaza’s Medical Workers Have Been Detained or Killed
(New York Times) – Out of a prewar total of about 20,000 health workers, 500 have been killed in the war, according to the W.H.O., and more than 300 are in Israeli detention, Gaza’s health ministry says. Based on estimates … Read More
August 6, 2024
Every Day of Infancy Is Safer Than in the Past
(Our World Data) – This chart shows death rates across the first year of a baby’s life and how they have been reduced over time. The data spans 1921 to 2021 and comes from the Office for National Statistics in … Read More
August 5, 2024
Have Babies for Russia: Putin Presses Women to Embrace Patriotism Over Feminism
(Washington Post via MSN) – Vladimir Putin, who has long cultivated an aura of machismo as Russia’s strongman leader, is enlisting women to grow Russia’s population through childbirth and to rebuild his nation as a great power steeped in traditional … Read More
August 5, 2024
Argentina Will Use AI to ‘Predict Future Crimes’ but Experts Worry for Citizens’ Rights
(The Guardian) – Argentina’s security forces have announced plans to use artificial intelligence to “predict future crimes” in a move experts have warned could threaten citizens’ rights. The country’s far-right president Javier Milei this week created the Artificial Intelligence Applied … Read More
