Public Health

For some patients, removing brain tissue can help treat OCD and other disorders. But ethical concerns remain.

• Vaccines have been effective in reducing the prevalence of an array of diseases.
• In spite of some major successes, deep challenges still exist in guaranteeing equitable distribution of vaccines around the world, including a North-South divide.
• A rise in vaccine hesitancy and a U.S. administration that is withdrawing from global health programs cast doubt on the future of vaccination.

More evidence for an immune model of dementia onset

Some fungal diseases in humans no longer respond to medicines, which increases the risk of severe illness and death as well disease spread, according to a new report.

On Tuesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) published what it calls its first-ever report on the lack of tests and treatments for fungal infections.

Yeasts, moulds and mushrooms are all examples of fungi. Common toenail infections or vaginal yeast infections are common and treatable, but that's not always the case.

"Fungal diseases are an increasing public health concern, with common infections — such as Candida, which causes oral and vaginal thrush — growing increasingly resistant to treatment," WHO said.

The WHO report: https://www.who.int/news/item/01-04-2025-who-issues-its-first-ever-reports-on-tests-and-treatments-for-fungal-infections

More children are taking the hormone in the form of nightly gummies or drops. The long-term effects are unclear.

Since Spring of 2020, there have been ongoing convoluted political attacks against "dangerous" gain of function research. This includes attacks against American scientists, with many accusers citing the still unproven COVID lab leak theory.

One of the biggest supporters of this theory is former CDC director during Trump's previous administration, Robert Redfield.

Redfield also authored public health commentary for the Heritage Foundation in February, supporting Trump's proposed executive order to ban GOF research.

An analysis by the U.S. Defense Department’s intelligence agency concluded five years ago that the virus that caused COVID-19 could have been engineered in a Chinese laboratory and later escaped to spawn the pandemic that eventually killed millions of people, recently released documents obtained by US Right to Know show.

The never-before-published analysis by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) points out that the lab in question – the Wuhan Institute of Virology – was highly capable of genetic manipulation, and includes an assessment that the genome of the coronavirus strain that caused COVID-19 is “consistent with the hypothesis” that it was “a lab-engineered virus” that “escaped from containment.”

The analysis by scientists in the DIA, which is charged with collecting and analyzing medical and health intelligence as part of its operations, also concluded that the virus that became known as SARS-CoV-2 could have come from “a bank” of bat coronaviruses in the Wuhan lab that was under the research of senior virologist, Dr. Shi Zhengli.

What does it mean that religion, not porn use, predicts porn-related problems?

The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched a new report, Dementia in refugees and migrants: epidemiology, public health implications and global health responses, which synthesizes the latest global evidence on the factors affecting the health and care of displaced populations and offers policy considerations to address these challenges. This is the sixth report in the Global Evidence Review on Health and Migration (GEHM) series.

Dementia affects over 57 million people worldwide, with nearly 10 million new cases each year. It is the seventh leading cause of death and a major driver of disability among older people. While no cure exists, physical activity, social engagement, and some medications can help manage symptoms. However, people with dementia frequently face discrimination and barriers to care, highlighting the need for robust policies that safeguard their rights and ensure access to support services.

For refugees and migrants, these challenges are even more pronounced. Many face limited access to culturally and linguistically appropriate care, disrupted support networks, and the compounded effects of migration-related stressors. A lack of cross-cultural assessment tools and limited specialist training for health care professionals contributes to underdiagnosis and undertreatment among refugees and migrants.

In October 2024, the global stockpile of oral cholera vaccine (OCV) ran dry yet again, leaving no unallocated doses for new or worsening outbreaks. This underscores the ongoing shortfall of tens of millions of doses, driven by growing need, with both cases and deaths increasing globally in recent years, and lack of supply, with only one manufacturer currently serving the global stockpile. Meanwhile, however, pharmaceutical companies are reaping profits from a booming parallel market for OCV for a much lower-risk population: travelers from high-income countries (HICs). The current situation, where a tourist from a HIC at essentially zero risk of dying from cholera has more ready access to vaccines than a resident of the endemic country they will visit, exemplifies the chasm between commercial priorities and global health needs.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/31932470

When a person dies, clinicians often look at the cause of death to determine whether it could have been avoided, either by medical prevention such as vaccines or by treatments like antibiotics. These types of deaths are known as avoidable mortalities, and in most high-income countries around the world, the number is going down.

But in the United States, avoidable deaths have been on the rise for more than a decade, according to a new study by researchers at the Brown University School of Public Health and Harvard University, who examined mortality trends across U.S. states and 40 high-income countries. Their findings were published in JAMA Internal Medicine.