Health News Roundup: Air pollution kills 600,000 children every year, E-cigarette policy, New Jersey viral outbreak

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

E-cigarette policy should consider environmental effects, expert says

Health policy debates around electronic cigarettes should consider the health of the environment, too, according to an editorial in the American Journal of Public Health. Each stage of the e-cigarette product lifecycle, including mining, manufacturing, using and disposing, could pose a potential environmental harm, wrote Yogi Hale Hendlin of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California, San Francisco

Baby 'sleep sacks' might be safer than blankets

Infant sleeping bags, or sleep sacks, are at least as safe as other bedding in preventing sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and might be safer, a new analysis concludes. SIDS is the sudden, unexplained death of a baby younger than 12 months. While little is known about the condition, factors like putting a baby to sleep face down, or using soft bedding, have been found to increase the risk of SIDS.

FDA approves TherapeuticsMD's menopause drug

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved TherapeuticsMD's oral hormone therapy for menopause symptoms such as hot flashes, sleep disturbances and night sweats, the company said on Monday. The regulatory nod is the third in five months for the drugmaker, which received approvals for a birth control device and another hormone therapy for menopause symptoms.

Drugmakers tout new medicines as eye disease battle intensifies

Switzerland's Roche and Novartis and other drugmakers are touting new treatments for a blindness-causing disease that hits millions of older people, as patent expiries are set to open up one of medicine's most lucrative markets. Roche's experimental treatment faricimab showed long-lasting effectiveness against age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the Basel-based drugmaker said on Monday, potentially reducing the frequency of uncomfortable, direct-in-the-eye shots.

Better schools may reduce teens' risk of marijuana abuse

Kids from low-income neighbourhoods who won a lottery and got into high-performing Los Angeles County high schools were less likely to get into trouble with marijuana compared to peers who lost in the lottery, a new study finds. Admission to these public charter schools is based on a lottery system in an effort to equalize students' chances of being admitted. Because the lottery is very much like the randomized assignment that is often used in studies, the system offered a kind of "natural experiment," said the study's lead author, Dr Rebecca Dudovitz, a paediatrician at the University of California, Los Angeles Mattel Children's Hospital.

Shionogi aims to double flu-drug market with FDA-approved treatment

Japan's Shionogi & Co Ltd aims to double the global market for flu treatment with its drug Xofluza, the first flu drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration agency in nearly 20 years, its chief executive said. The drugmaker on Monday raised its full-year operating profit outlook to 124.5 billion yen ($1.11 billion), underpinned by an early approval for the new drug, beating the average market estimates of 121.08 billion yen, according to Refinitiv.

Novartis, Pfizer join forces on potentially lucrative fatty liver disease

Novartis AG and Pfizer Inc are teaming up to develop treatments for a liver disease many drug companies believe will become a hugely lucrative market, as it is tied to the obesity and diabetes epidemics. The Swiss and U.S. drugmakers announced on Monday that they will collaborate to develop combination therapies involving medicines they have been working on separately to treat nonalcoholic steatohepatitis or NASH.

Hunt the malaria bug - a new game for sniffer dogs

In a lab room, two-year-old springer spaniel Freya bustles along a row of vials positioned on stands, sniffing each for signs of disease. The vials all contain pieces cut from socks, one of which belonged to a child carrying the malaria parasite. When Freya detects the scent it gives off, she sits down next to it to receive a reward.

Ninth child dies in deadly viral outbreak in New Jersey

A ninth child died over the weekend in a deadly viral outbreak at a New Jersey rehabilitation centre where a total of 25 young patients with compromised immune systems have been confirmed with adenovirus infections, state health officials said. The death on Sunday at Wanaque Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation in Haskell, New Jersey, was reported over the weekend by the New Jersey Department of Health.

WHO says air pollution kills 600,000 children every year

Air pollution kills an estimated 600,000 children every year and causing symptoms ranging from loss of intelligence to obesity and ear infections but there is a limited amount parent can do, a World Health Organization report said on Monday. Parents should try to avoid household air pollution by using less polluting fuels for cooking and heating and not smoking but to reduce child exposure to the ambient pollution they should need to lobby politicians to clean up the environment, WHO experts said.

(With inputs from Reuters)

(With inputs from agencies.)