Kerry Bolton Oliver Hercombe’s family said they had been “financially broken” by the additional living costs since his cancer diagnosis Families of children and young people with cancer are struggling financially for several months waiting for benefits to help cover extra costs caused by the illness, according to a charity. Young Lives vs Cancer says families need “immediate” help with …
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UK death rate ‘reaches record low’
Christine Jeavans Data journalist, BBC Verify Getty Images Improvements in death rates largely reflect better health at older age groups The UK death rate reached a record low last year, according to exclusive analysis carried out for BBC News. Mortality experts looked at death certificates registered in 2024 and found that deaths per head of the population had returned to …
Read More »Federal Officials Underplaying Measles Vaccination, Experts Say
In a first test of the Trump administration’s ability to respond to an infectious disease emergency, its top health official has shied away from one of the government’s most important tools, experts said on Sunday: loudly and directly encouraging parents to get their children vaccinated. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health secretary, was widely criticized as minimizing the measles outbreak …
Read More »Vesuvius Turned One Victim’s Brain to Glass
Five years ago Italian researchers published a study on the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79. that detailed how one victim of the blast, a male presumed to be in his mid 20s, had been found nearby in the seaside settlement of Herculaneum. He was lying facedown and buried by ash on a wooden bed in the College of …
Read More »She’s a Foot Soldier in America’s Losing War With Chronic Disease
Sam Runyon navigated to the house by memory as she reviewed her patient’s file, a “problem list” of medications and chronic diseases that went on for several pages. Sam, a 45-year-old nurse, had already seen Cora Perkins survive two types of cancer. During previous appointments, she had found Cora’s arms turning blue from diabetes, or her ankles swollen from congestive …
Read More »Uganda reports second death from Ebola outbreak
A Ugandan doctor vaccinates the contact of a patient who tested positive during the launch of the vaccination for the Sudan strain of the Ebola virus with a trial vaccine at the Mulago Guest House (Isolation centre) in Kampala, Uganda, February 3, 2025. — Reuters A young child has died of the Ebola virus in Uganda, the second victim of …
Read More »NHS England boss Amanda Pritchard’s sudden exit shows how power is shifting in healthcare
PA Media Amanda Pritchard, head of NHS England, would have regular Monday meetings with Health Secretary Wes Streeting to review performance and address challenges. But last Monday was different. After discussing the state of the health service, she announced she was stepping down – with just one month’s notice. It came as a shock to many in the organisation, under …
Read More »In Texas Measles Outbreak, Signs of a Riskier Future for Children
Every day, as Dr. Wendell Parkey enters his clinic in Seminole, a small city on the rural western edge of Texas, he announces his arrival to the staff with an anthem pumping loudly through speakers. As the song reaches a climax, he throws up an arm and strikes a pose in cowboy boots. “Y’all ready to stomp out disease?” he …
Read More »A 4-Year-Old Boy Dies of Ebola in Uganda as U.S. Pulls Back on Help
The Ebola outbreak in Uganda, which had seemed to be in retreat, has claimed a new victim: a 4-year-old boy who died on Monday, according to a State Department cable viewed by The New York Times. News of the child’s death comes even as the Trump administration has canceled at least four of the five contracts with organizations that helped …
Read More »Heston Blumenthal on bipolar: ‘I thought TV was talking to me’
Nathan Briant & PA Media BBC News Barney Cokeliss/PA Media Heston Blumenthal is known for experimental dishes, such as snail porridge and bacon and egg ice cream TV chef and restaurateur Heston Blumenthal said being sectioned was the “best thing” to have happened as he opened up about his bipolar symptoms. The 58-year-old, who was diagnosed with the condition in …
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