Health

An estimated 61 million people live with hepatitis B, and 9 million with hepatitis C across the South-East Asia region, said the World Health Organization (WHO), stressing that progress is possible. “Our Region bears one of the highest burdens of chronic viral hepatitis globally, yet most people living with the disease remain undiagnosed and untreated,” said Dr Catharina Boehme, Officer-in-Charge, ...

China is facing a growing outbreak of chikungunya, a mosquito-borne illness, with thousands of cases now reported in the southern part of the country. As of Friday, chikungunya cases had surged to 4,014, marking a sharp increase since local authorities in Foshan, Guangdong province, began tracking the virus two weeks ago, according to health department data. Foshan has been particularly ...

A visiting Chinese medical team from Wuhan Third Hospital has continued its collaborative efforts with Bangladeshi healthcare professionals at National Institute of Burns and Plastic Surgery. During their ongoing visit, the Chinese doctors and nurses reaffirmed their commitment to supporting Bangladesh in treating the injured, expressing a willingness to assist in every possible way, according to a statement from Chinese ...

People who walk 7,000 steps a day have a dramatically lower risk of a broad range of serious health problems, the largest review of the evidence yet said Thursday. The most widely promoted target for people tracking their number of steps is 10,000 — but that figure reportedly originally came from a 1960s marketing campaign for a Japanese pedometer. To ...

Approximately 60,000 appointments across London will be impacted by a five-day doctors’ strike starting on Friday, the medical director for NHS London has said. The British Medical Association (BMA) strike follows a pay dispute with the government over resident doctors – the new name for junior doctors. NHS London said cancer and heart surgeries were being prioritised, however care which ...

A 90-year-old man has died of Covid-19 at Jalalabad Ragib-Rabeya Medical College and Hospital in Sylhet. Dr Md Anisur Rahman, divisional director of health for Sylhet, confirmed the death today, saying it was the third Covid-19 fatality reported in the division this year. “Despite the recent deaths, the overall Covid-19 situation remains under control,” he said. According to the daily ...

An emergency Chinese medical team arrives on Thursday evening to support treatment for the injured of Monday’s tragic Airforce fighter crash in the city. “At the request of the interim government of Bangladesh, the emergency medical team consisting of five burn-specialist Chinese doctors and nurses will arrive in Dhaka on the evening of 24th July,” said a Chinese embassy press ...

Adults who consume more dietary copper tend to perform better on cognitive tests, including memory, attention and language, research has found. In a study of more than 2,400 Americans aged 60 and above, those eating roughly 1.4mg of copper a day scored higher on a number of cognitive assessments than those consuming less than 0.8mg. Copper, though needed in only ...

A man in his 30s, having a very sedentary lifestyle, wakes up in the morning only to find that there is a creepy pain in his abdomen. Even in layperson’s language, abdominal pain may mean many things. Appendicitis, gastroenteritis, gall bladder- whatnot! He and his family members kept guessing until the pain rose beyond the tolerance level. It was a ...

In 64 people, scientists in Turkey measured changes in the cornea’s inner layer, called the endothelium, before taking the first Pfizer dose and two months after receiving the second. Results revealed that taking both doses of the vaccine led to thicker corneas, fewer endothelial cells in the eye and more variation in size of these specialized cells that form the ...