Health | WPN World People News

More than 13 million people will benefit from a new project for the health sector in Chile, funded by a US$80 million loan approved by the Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank on June 8th.

In the U.S. territories, 5 percent of women who had confirmed Zika virus infection during pregnancy had a baby or fetus with Zika virus-associated birth defects, according to a report published today in CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Among the women with confirmed Zika infection during the first trimester, 8 percent or nearly 1 in 12 had a baby or fetus with Zika virus-associated birth defects.

Functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging (fcMRI) may predict which high-risk, 6-month old infants will develop autism spectrum disorder by age 2 years, according to a study funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), two components of the National Institutes of Health.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest and the National Consumers League, both represented by the nonprofit law firm Earthjustice, on June 7th, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia challenging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s decision to delay a rule requiring chain restaurants, supermarkets, convenience stores, and other food retail establishments to post calorie counts for prepared food and beverages.

Children born to women with gestational diabetes whose diet included high proportions of refined grains may have a higher risk of obesity by age 7, compared to children born to women with gestational diabetes who ate low proportions of refined grains, according to results from a National Institutes of Health study.

A new CDC analysis finds that among the 21 U.S. jurisdictions studied, 76 percent reported health care-associated cases of Legionnaires’ disease, a concerning finding since Legionnaires’ disease acquired from health care facilities can be particularly severe. The findings highlight a possibly deadly risk to patients from exposure to Legionella in health care facilities, according to the CDC Vital Signs report.

Drug deaths in the U.S. rose at the steepest rate ever to the highest level in recorded history in 2016, claiming more than 60,000 lives, and early data suggest deaths from opioids and other drugs will continue to increase in 2017.

New advice on which antibiotics to use for common infections and which to preserve for the most serious circumstances is among the additions to the WHO Model list of essential medicines for 2017. Other additions include medicines for HIV, hepatitis C, tuberculosis and leukaemia.

An updated app for smart phones and other mobile devices can help workers stay safe when working outdoors in hot weather.

Children born to women who had gestational diabetes and drank at least one artificially sweetened beverage per day during pregnancy were more likely to be overweight or obese at age 7, compared to children born to women who had gestational diabetes and drank water instead of artificially sweetened beverages, according to a study led by researchers at the National Institutes of Health. Childhood obesity is known to increase the risk for certain health problems later in life, such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke and some cancers.