Health & Fitness

High blood pressure could be treated by a single injection twice a year, ending the need for daily pills for millions of Britons. Scientists from Queen Mary University of London and Barts Health NHS Trust are to begin trialling Zilebesiran, a drug that prevents the production of a protein that constricts the blood vessels. Around one in three adults in Britain suffers from high blood pressure, which increases the risk of heart attack, stroke, kidney disease, aneurysm and dementia. Many people take daily pills such as ACE inhibitors, with around 15 million prescriptions for the drugs issued by the NHS each year. Researchers are hoping to recruit around 630 patients worldwide for a three-year trial, with 100 of those patients hailing from across the UK, and have already enrolled t...

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NEW YORK (AP) — Three out of every four U.S. children have been infected with the coronavirus and more than half of all Americans had signs of previous infections, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers estimated in a report Tuesday. The researchers examined blood samples from more than 200,000 Americans and looked for virus-fighting antibodies made from infections, not vaccines. They found that signs of past infection rose dramatically between December and February, when the more contagious omicron variant surged through the U.S. For Americans of all ages, about 34% had signs of prior infection in December. Just two months later, 58% did. “I did expect it to increase. I did not expect it to increase quite this much,” said Dr. Kristie Clarke, co-leader of a CDC team that t...

A 4-year-old boy in central China has been infected with H3N8 bird flu, making it the first time that the virus has been confirmed in humans. Scientists believe that a previous strain of the virus – which is also found in horses and dogs – was responsible for the 1889 pandemic. The boy, from Zhumadian City in Henan Province, developed fever and other symptoms on April 5 and was hospitalized on April 10 when his condition worsened, China’s National Health Commission (NHC) said in a statement. “On the 24th, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention conducted a test on the patient specimen sent from Henan Province and the result was positive for the H3N8 avian influenza virus,” NHC said in the statement. The child had been in contact with chickens...

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Placeholder while article actions load Before omicron, one-third of Americans had been infected with the coronavirus, but by the end of February, that rate had climbed to nearly 60 percent — including about 75 percent of kids and 60 percent of people age 18 to 49, according to federal health data released Tuesday. The data from blood tests offers the first evidence that over half the U.S. population, or 189 million people have been infected at least once since the pandemic began — double the number reflected in official case counts. Officials cautioned, however, that the data, in a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, does not indicate people have protection against the virus going forward, especially against increasingly transmissible variants. “We continue to re...

CNN  —  After years of recommending regular aspirin to prevent heart attack and stroke, scientists now see little benefit for most healthy people, and say it may contribute to a risk of bleeding in your stomach or brain that goes up as you get older. The US Preventive Service Task Force has finalized its latest recommendations on low-dose aspirin regimens and now says people over 60 should not start taking a daily aspirin for primary prevention of heart problems, in most cases. If you are between 40 and 59 years old, the USPSTF leaves it up to you and your doctor to decide whether you should take a daily aspirin in specific circumstances. “If you are real...

Christine Bronstein took a home colon cancer test after seeing blood in her stool. It was positive. Her doctor assured her she didn't have cancer, but a colonoscopy found she had stage 3. She's undergoing chemo and raising awareness of colorectal cancers, which are on the rise in young people. Loading Something is loading. When Christine Bronstein saw some blood in her stool last fall, she chalked it up to hemorrhoids. The 48-year-old — known for founding the soci...

Blood drawn by a registered nurse for an antibody test for the coronavirus, June 16, 2020 in Washington, DC. Win McNamee | Getty Images Three out of every 5 people in the U.S. now have antibodies from a previous Covid-19 infection with the proportion even higher among children, demonstrating how widespread the virus was during the winter omicron surge, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The proportion of people with natural Covid antibodies increased substantially from about 34% of the population in December to about 58% in February during the unprecedent wave of infection driven by the highly contagious omicron variant. The CDC's analysis didn't factor in people who had antibodies from vaccination. The CDC published the d...

CNN  —  Health authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo are scrambling to contain an Ebola outbreak after a second person died from the virus, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday. The country declared a new outbreak of the disease last week after the death of a 31-year-old man, who was diagnosed with the disease in Mbandaka, in the DRC’s northwestern Equateur Province, after being sick for more than a week. His sister-in-law, a 25-year-old woman, was the second victim. She died on April 25. “This is very sad news, and we must continue to put all our effort into saving the lives of anyone else who may have contracted the virus. So far, at least 145 people ha...