Public health

Public health

Thirty-six infants in the UK have had suspected food poisoning from contaminated baby formula. It comes after specific batches made by Nestle and Danone were recalled after possible contamination with the toxin, cereulide. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) says it has received clinical notifications of young children developing symptoms, including vomiting and diarrhoea, consistent with cereulide poisoning. None of the infants all around or under one are reported to be gravely ill, the BBC understands.

There have been 36 clinical reports of children suffering symptoms consistent with toxin poisoning linked to recent baby formula recalls, the UK Health Security Agency has said. The UKHSA said it and partner agencies had received 24 notifications in England, seven in Scotland, three in Wales, one in Northern Ireland and one from the crown dependencies of children who had consumed implicated batches and developed symptoms.

Isla first went to the GP in July 2022 with a lump in her breast, but she was told it was likely to be benign and caused by hormonal changes. "She was told it was hormonal - a fibroadenoma - and she would grow out of it," Isla's father Mark said. Two years later, Isla became ill and was taken to hospital, where doctors suspected she had cancer and made an urgent referral for biopsies.

Two years ago, I noticed changes in my friend's ability to carry on conversations and her lack of awareness of current events. After COVID's isolation, she and her husband seldom left their house, and her husband spent more time on his computer. My friend's calls to me became more frequent and repetitive even though she had no news or reason to phone. She repeated the same three or four stories and often within a five-minute span.

In 2024, the NHS began testing whether flying drones could do a better job than couriers shuttling blood samples between labs in Guy's and St Thomas' hospitals. Instead of weaving through traffic, the drones simply lifted off, crossed central London, and landed minutes later. Delivery times dropped to barely a couple of minutes, reliability shot up thanks to a lack of roadworks in the sky, and the service turned out to be cheaper too. Since then, more than 6,000 samples have been transported by air.

Kennedy has also called for overhauling the current safety monitoring system for vaccine injury data collection, known as Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, or VAERS, claiming that it suppresses information about the true rate of vaccine side effects. He has also proposed changes to the federal Vaccine Injury Compensation Program that could make it easier for people to sue for adverse events that haven't been proven to be associated with vaccines.

In a matter of seconds, it exploded, causing burns to his face. "He was crying and just yelling, 'It burns, it burns,'" said Whitney Grubb, Caleb Chabolla's mother. Grubb says her son's Needoh Cube had burst. Inside the popular sensory toy, a thick, gel-like substance became hot because of the microwave and stuck to his face. "The right side of his face was kind of melting off, basically," Grubb said.

On January 23, 11-year-old Aline Asfour received her third-grade graduation certificate with honors, scoring in the 98th percentile and ranking first in her class. Her family celebrated her academic achievement and excellence. Two days later, Aline began feeling unwell. She started vomiting repeatedly and suffered from severe diarrhea. At first, her family believed she was experiencing a common cold due to the cold weather and living in displacement tents.

Developmental disabilities are actually quite common. In the United States, about 1 in 6 children has a developmental disability (CDC, 2024). Intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are a group of neurodevelopmental conditions usually present at birth that affect the trajectory of a person's physical, intellectual, and/or emotional development (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 2021). Conditions such as Down Syndrome, Autism, Fragile X, Cerebral Palsy, and others are examples of intellectual or developmental disabilities.

I think everybody worries when they come to the last stages, no one knows what to expect, but these people are wonderful at relaxing you and they help you an awful lot.

If you haven't yet bought candy for Valentine's Day, you might want to hold off. The Florida Department of Health has announced that certain candies tested as part of the state's new Healthy Florida First initiative were determined to have elevated levels of heavy metals. Forty-six types of candies from 10 different well-known brands were determined to have higher-than-safe levels of mercury, arsenic, cadmium, or lead.

The number of late-night pharmacies in England has fallen more than 90 per cent in three years, according to an analysis of NHS data, raising fresh concerns about patient access to out-of-hours care.

A Mediterranean diet can reduce the risk of every type of stroke, in some cases by as much as 25%, a large study conducted over two decades suggests. A diet rich in olive oil, nuts, seafood, whole grains and vegetables has previously been linked to a number of health benefits. However, until now there has been limited evidence of how it might affect the risk of all forms of stroke.

Targeting genetic screening for the condition to priority areas could help identify at-risk individuals earlier and avoid future health complications, experts say. Haemochromatosis symptoms can evolve over decades as high iron levels in the body cause damage to organs. Early diagnosis and treatment - such as regular blood donation to reduce iron levels - is key to prevent liver damage, liver cancer and arthritis.

Smoking, being overweight, and exposure to ultraviolet radiation from the sun and sunbeds are the top preventable causes of cancer, experts have warned. Researchers from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and its International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) analysed 30 risk factors that cause cancer, such as smoking, drinking alcohol and air pollution. Using data from across 185 countries, they estimate that about 7.1 million of the 18.7 million new cancer cases diagnosed globally in 2022 were preventable.

Air quality meters from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sounded the alarm Tuesday morning, showing unsafe conditions in both Daytona Beach, Florida and Atlanta, Georgia. Live tracking data captured sharply elevated levels of PM2.5, microscopic particles composed of toxic compounds or heavy metals that are small enough to penetrate the lungs, inflame the respiratory system, and even contribute to heart attacks.

To protect your privacy, you'll be asked to pick a code name-favourite movie characters or favourite foods are popular choices. If it's your first visit, you'll do a brief intake at the welcome desk, where staff will ask if you have any medical conditions or have had any bad drug reactions. They'll also ask which drug you're using that day, and whether you'd like the substance checked to confirm that you're consuming what you think you're consuming.

After Missouri residents voted to repeal their state's near-total abortion ban and enshrine abortion rights into their state constitution, advocates quickly got to work. In a lawsuit filed the day after the 2024 election, abortion providers challenged not only the constitutionality of the state's ban, but also a slew of other restrictions that, they said, made their jobs so arduous as to be impossible. More than a year later, they are still in court.

Recent research reveals that chronic loneliness increases premature death risk by 26%, putting it on par with obesity. That's not hyperbole or clickbait. That's cold, hard science telling us that our friendless existence might be shortening our lives more than we ever imagined.