Reuters Health News Summary

09/08/2016 16:59

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Biden asks U.S. Congress to allow unencumbered Zika funding vote

Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday called on the Republican-led U.S. Congress to allow an up-or-down vote on funding to combat the Zika virus without other provisions attached, calling the health threat posed by the pathogen a national emergency. Congress has failed to approve any funding to fight the mosquito-borne virus since President Barack Obama asked for $1.9 billion in February.

Doctors say Haiti ripe for large Zika outbreak, virus under: reported

Posters warning of the dangers of Zika only reached Haiti's health ministry in August, six months after the country reported an outbreak, in one example of delayed prevention efforts that have health experts worried a "large epidemic" is looming. Gabriel Thimothe, a senior health ministry official, said the public service posters would be distributed to hospitals and airports shortly, but that health funding had been cut this year and foreign aid was sparse to fight the mosquito-borne virus that can cause severe birth defects.

New York to allow late-term abortions for health at-risk women

New York will allow late-term abortions for women whose pregnancies endanger their health, a move that brings the state into federal compliance and ends decades of confusion faced by patients and providers of the procedure, state officials said. State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman issued an opinion publicly on Thursday to clarify that New Yorkers have all the protections afforded to women in the United States under the Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade and are not beholden to the state's more-restrictive abortion law.

Regular exercise tied to lower health costs with heart disease

Need another reason to exercise? A new study suggests that routine workouts are associated with significantly lower health costs for heart disease patients. Patients with heart disease who did moderate to vigorous physical activity for 30 minutes at least five times a week saved an average of more than $2,500 (about 2222 euros) in annual healthcare costs, the study found.

Special Report: 'Superbug' scourge spreads as U.S. fails to track rising human toll

Josiah Cooper-Pope, born 15 weeks premature, did fine in the neonatal intensive care unit for the first 10 days of his life. Then, suddenly, his tiny body started to swell. Overnight, he grew so distended that his skin split.

Pfizer CEO says Clinton plan to curb drug prices would hurt consumers

Pfizer Inc's chief executive on Thursday said recent proposals by Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to curb "unjustified" U.S. drug prices would dampen investment in innovative new drugs and ultimately hurt consumers. "(They) would be very negative for innovation," Ian Read said in webcast from the annual Wells Fargo healthcare conference in Boston. He said Clinton's proposals, if ever approved, would be a step toward a one-payer government system of price controls on prescription medicines.

U.S. lawmakers seek compromise on Zika virus funding

U.S. lawmakers sought on Wednesday to break a logjam over $1.1 billion in funding to combat the Zika virus, with the Senate possibly considering legislation as soon as next week, even as one congressman toted a jar full of mosquitoes to the House floor to condemn congressional inaction. "Can you imagine the fears and anxieties if the mosquitoes were not in this jar?" Florida Republican David Jolly told his colleagues as he brandished the container holding about 100 of the insects in the House of Representatives chamber.

When an airport scanner sees a cyst as a security threat

A traveler with a bulge in their body from a cyst or hernia might get flagged for an invasive airport security screening to look for explosives, a case report suggests. In many larger airports, X-rays have been replaced in recent years by machines that use radio frequencies to detect suspicious items on travelers, researchers note in JAMA Dermatology.

Even babies see social cues at mealtime

Parents may see mealtime with babies as little more than a chance for kids to toss sippy cups and yogurt puffs on the floor, but a new study suggests infants may actually be learning social cues from sitting at the table. Babies pay close attention to what food is being eaten around them - and especially who is eating it - according to the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study adds evidence to a growing body of research suggesting even very young children think in sophisticated ways about subtle social cues.

Singapore says unclear if local Zika strain causes birth defects

Singapore said on Thursday it did not know if the Zika virus detected in the country could cause the same birth defects and other disorders linked to an outbreak in Latin America. A DNA analysis of the mosquito-borne virus, which has infected almost 300 people in Singapore, including two pregnant women, revealed slight differences between the strains but it was not clear what that meant in terms of the severity of the disease, the health ministry said.

09/08/2016 16:59