Health News Roundup: China reports 1,062 new coronavirus cases in mainland on Sept 13; Cholera outbreak in Syria poses serious threat - U.N. and more

The outbreak is believed to be linked to irrigation of crops using contaminated water and people drinking unsafe water from the Euphrates river which bisects Syria from the north to the east, U.N. Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Imran Riza said in a statement. Half a million Somali children face hunger in world's worst famine this century More than 500,000 Somali children under five are expected to suffer severe acute malnutrition and risk death from famine this year, a number unseen in any country this century, the U.N. children's agency said on Tuesday.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

China reports 1,062 new coronavirus cases in mainland on Sept 13

China reported 1,062 new COVID-19 infections on Sept. 13, of which 237 were symptomatic and 825 were asymptomatic, the National Health Commission said on Wednesday. That is compared with 1,048 new cases a day earlier, 242 symptomatic and 806 asymptomatic infections, which China counts separately.

Cholera outbreak in Syria poses serious threat - U.N.

A cholera outbreak in several regions of Syria presents "a serious threat to people in Syria and the region", the United Nations representative in the country said, calling for an urgent response to contain its spread. The outbreak is believed to be linked to irrigation of crops using contaminated water and people drinking unsafe water from the Euphrates river which bisects Syria from the north to the east, U.N. Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Imran Riza said in a statement.

Half a million Somali children face hunger in world's worst famine this century

More than 500,000 Somali children under five are expected to suffer severe acute malnutrition and risk death from famine this year, a number unseen in any country this century, the U.N. children's agency said on Tuesday. "We've got more than half a million children facing preventable death. It's a pending nightmare," James Elder, spokesperson for the U.N. children's agency UNICEF said at a Geneva news briefing.

Evidence is lacking for diabetes screening in youths - U.S. panel

A U.S. panel tasked with weighing the pros and cons of regular diabetes screening for children and adolescents found a lack of evidence for the testing, even as the proportion of U.S. youths with type 2 diabetes has doubled since 2001. That rise tracks with increases in obesity - the chief risk factor for the most common form of diabetes linked to poor diet and lack of exercise.

Explainer-How the U.S. drug pricing law affects Medicare and its members

U.S. President Joe Biden last month signed the $430 billion Inflation Reduction Act, authorizing the federal government to negotiate prices on some prescription drugs and cap costs for the government's Medicare health program. Here is how the law may affect some of the 63 million Americans aged 65 or over or with disabilities who receive Medicare health benefits:

'Challenge' to maintain world's focus on global health after COVID-19: Bill Gates

Asking the world to prioritize saving lives in the world's poorest countries is increasingly challenging in a world still rocked by the COVID-19 pandemic, the threat of climate change, rising energy costs, and the war in Ukraine, according to Bill Gates. The Microsoft co-founder turned philanthropist said it was a "paradox" that in the wake of a huge global health threat, funding for tackling diseases like malaria and AIDS could actually drop this year.

UK long-term sickness rate rises to highest since 2005

The proportion of Britain's workforce too sick to work has jumped to its highest since 2005, which economists say is likely due to a mix of long COVID and greater difficulty in accessing health care since the start of the pandemic. A record 2.464 million people aged 16-64 gave long-term sickness as the reason why they were neither working nor seeking work during the three months to July, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed on Tuesday.

Novartis escapes claim that it paid kickbacks to promote MS drug

A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed, for the second time, a whistleblower lawsuit accusing drugmaker Novartis AG of paying kickbacks to doctors through a sham speaker program to promote its multiple sclerosis drug Gilenya. U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood in Manhattan said former Novartis sales representative Stephen Camburn had not provided enough detail to support his claims.

Exclusive-Medical journals broaden inquiry into potential heart research misconduct

Three medical journals recently launched independent investigations of possible data manipulation in heart studies led by Temple University researchers, Reuters has learned, adding new scrutiny to a misconduct inquiry by the university and the U.S. government. The Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology and the Journal of Biological Chemistry is investigating five papers authored by Temple scientists, the journals told Reuters.

Dozen of child deaths prompt the Gambia to suspend paracetamol syrup sales

Gambia on Tuesday ordered importers and shops to suspend sales of all brands of paracetamol syrup while the government investigates a suspected link between the medicine and the deaths of dozens of young children. Last Thursday, the head of the West African country's health service said it had launched the probe after a spike in cases of acute kidney injury among children under the age of five was detected in late July.

(With inputs from agencies.)