Health News Summary: Bulgaria reports swine fever; Phone apps help heart patients

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Fake, low quality drugs come at high cost

About one in eight essential medicines in low- and middle-income countries may be fake or contain dangerous mixes of ingredients that put patients' lives at risk, a research review suggests. Researchers examined data from more 350 previous studies that tested more 400,000 drug samples in low- and middle-income countries. Overall, roughly 14 percent of medicines were counterfeit, expired or otherwise low quality and unlikely to be as safe or effective as patients might expect.

California hospital chain with ties to billionaire files for bankruptcy

Verity Health System of California Inc, a non-profit operator of six California hospitals managed by billionaire former surgeon Patrick Soon-Shiong's NantWorks LLC, filed for bankruptcy on Friday to help resolve a cash crunch while it seeks a buyer. The health system's bankruptcy filing follows a series of deals that left it saddled with more than $1 billion in pension liabilities and bond debt. Verity, which serves low-income communities in Los Angeles and San Jose, secured a $185 million loan to help it stay operational through the bankruptcy.

Phone apps help heart patients remember meds

Smartphone apps that remind heart patients to take their pills could help them stick to prescribed regimens, an Australian study suggests. Heart patients often take up to four medications a day, three times a day, and that can be overwhelming, said Dr. Karla Santo.

Congo Republic says to launch vaccination drive after yellow fever outbreak

The Congo Republic will launch a country-wide vaccination campaign to control an outbreak of yellow fever near the border with the Angolan enclave of Cabinda, the health ministry said on Friday. Earlier this week, the authorities said over 180 suspected cases and one confirmed case of the sometimes deadly mosquito-borne virus had been identified this year, many in the western commercial hub of Pointe Noire.

Changes to U.S. college football drills could curb head impacts

(Reuters Health) - Limiting time spent on specific drills during practice could help reduce head impacts among U.S. college football players, researchers say. Shortening the highest-risk drills by a few minutes per practice could cut the equivalent of nearly a year's worth of head impacts over the course of a college career, the researchers write in Annals of Biomedical Engineering.

Ebola control measures seem to be working in Congo, WHO says

Efforts to halt an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo appear to be working, but substantial risks remain, the World Health Organization said on Friday. The outbreak has so far killed 77 people in Congo's North Kivu and Ituri provinces among 116 cases. Fifteen of the cases were health workers.

Exclusive: Brazil prosecutors hope to strike deal lifting glyphosate injunction

Brazil federal prosecutors are negotiating with health authority Anvisa and the agriculture ministry to reach a deal that could lift an injunction against the popular weed-killer glyphosate, a prosecutor on the case told Reuters on Friday. Prosecutors have requested a meeting next week to discuss a deal just as a ban on glyphosate products already on the market is expected to go into effect on Monday, Brasilia-based prosecutor Luciana Loureira Oliveira said by telephone.

Cataract surgery not tied to longer life for women, after all

While older women may have a better quality of life and better vision after surgery to remove cataracts, newly reanalyzed data suggest they shouldn't base their decision to have the surgery on whether it will help them live longer. In a paper last year in JAMA Ophthalmology, researchers concluded that women who opted for cataract surgery were 60 percent less likely to die from all causes during the study period than women who didn't. Their findings were drawn from 74,044 women with cataracts, including 41,735 who underwent cataract surgery.

Medtech firms get personal with digital twins

Armed with a mouse and a computer screen instead of a scalpel and operating theater, cardiologist Benjamin Meder carefully places the electrodes of a pacemaker in a beating, digital heart. Using this "digital twin" that mimics the electrical and physical properties of the cells in patient 7497's heart, Meder runs simulations to see if the pacemaker can keep the congestive heart failure sufferer alive - before he has inserted a knife.

Bulgaria reports its first outbreak of African swine fever

Bulgaria reported its first outbreak of African swine fever on Friday, with authorities saying seven backyard pigs at a farm close to the Romanian border had been infected with the disease. African swine fever is a highly contagious disease that affects pigs and wild boar. It does not affect humans.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)