Health News Roundup: U.S. health secretary tests positive for COVID on trip to Berlin; COVID is rising in the Americas, virus 'not going away anytime soon' -PAHO and more

However, the figures from the Tobacco Atlas report – described as a potential tipping point by the authors – also mask growing numbers of smokers in parts of the world, as well as increased tobacco use among young teenagers in almost half of the countries surveyed. U.S. to study whether longer Paxlovid course needed to combat reinfections The U.S. National Institutes of Health is in talks with Pfizer Inc about studying whether a longer course of the drugmaker's COVID-19 antiviral treatment Paxlovid is needed to prevent reinfections, top U.S. infectious diseases expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Wednesday.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Portugal identifies five monkeypox infections, Spain has 23 suspected cases

Portuguese authorities said on Wednesday they had identified five cases of the rare monkeypox infection, and Spain's health services are testing 23 potential cases after Britain put Europe on alert for the virus. The five Portuguese patients, out of 20 suspected cases, are all stable. They are all men and they all live in the region of Lisbon and the Tagus Valley, the Portuguese health authorities said.

Global smoking rates fall for first time, but rise for kids, Africa - report

Smoking rates have declined globally for the first time on record, according to a new report on tobacco use from a public health campaign group and U.S. academics. However, the figures from the Tobacco Atlas report – described as a potential tipping point by the authors – also mask growing numbers of smokers in parts of the world, as well as increased tobacco use among young teenagers in almost half of the countries surveyed.

U.S. to study whether longer Paxlovid course needed to combat reinfections

The U.S. National Institutes of Health is in talks with Pfizer Inc about studying whether a longer course of the drugmaker's COVID-19 antiviral treatment Paxlovid is needed to prevent reinfections, top U.S. infectious diseases expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Wednesday. "We're going to be planning what studies we're going to be doing relatively soon, within the next few days" in order to determine whether or not a longer course is needed, Fauci said during a White House COVID-19 briefing.

Explainer-Why monkeypox cases are rising in Europe

A handful of cases of monkeypox have now been reported or are suspected in the United Kingdom, Portugal and Spain. The outbreaks are raising alarm because the disease mostly occurs in west and central Africa, and only very occasionally spreads elsewhere.

When Africans asked for COVID shots, they didn't get them. Now they don't want them

It's noisy inside the Mamprobi clinic in Accra as kids clamber over their mothers while they wait to get their measles vaccines. Outside, an area reserved for COVID-19 shots is empty. A health worker leans back in his chair and scrolls on a tablet.

One woman, waiting to get her daughter inoculated, is fully aware of the dangers of measles: the high fever, the rash, the risk to eyesight. But COVID-19? She has never heard of a single case.

COVID is rising in the Americas, virus 'not going away anytime soon' -PAHO

COVID-19 is on the rise again in the Americas as many countries have abandoned measures like masking and social distancing and many lag in vaccination rates, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said on Wednesday. Cases in the Americas surged 27.2% last week from the prior one, driven primarily by a spike in infections in the United States, according to PAHO.

World in no better place to fight pandemics than before COVID - review

The world is no better prepared for a new pandemic than it was when coronavirus emerged in 2019 and may actually be in a worse place given the economic toll, according to a panel set up by the World Health Organization (WHO) to evaluate the global response. A lack of progress on reforms such as international health regulations means the world is as vulnerable as ever, the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response said in its report.

U.S. health secretary tests positive for COVID on trip to Berlin

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday while on a trip to Berlin ahead of G7 meetings of health ministers, a spokesperson said. Becerra, who is fully vaccinated and boosted, is experiencing mild symptoms and will work in isolation, she said. Becerra had last visited the White House a week ago and President Joe Biden is not considered a "close contact" as defined by U.S. health authorities, she added.

Biden not 'close contact' of daughter Ashley who tested positive for COVID

U.S. President Joe Biden is not considered a close contact of daughter Ashley Biden, who has tested positive for COVID-19, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said on Wednesday. Pierre says it has been "several days" since the president saw his daughter.

As COVID cases rise, U.S. health officials mull widening additional booster eligibility

Health officials are considering extending the eligibility for a second COVID-19 vaccine booster dose to people under 50 amid a steady rise in cases, with the United States seeing a threefold increase over the past month. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration had in late March authorized a second booster dose of the Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech SE vaccines for people aged 50 and older, citing data showing waning immunity and the risks posed by Omicron variants of the virus.