Health News Roundup: Chinese COVID testing firms report big profits as virus fight intensifies; Uganda says Ebola outbreak death toll rises to 48 and more

The boy's death is the latest incident to trigger blowback over China's strict zero-COVID policy, with one critical hashtag racking up 380 million reads on Wednesday on the Twitter-like Weibo platform. 'Considerable' monkeypox transmission happens before symptoms, study suggests Monkeypox can spread before symptoms appear, British researchers said on Wednesday, providing the first evidence indicating the virus can be transmitted this way.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Chinese COVID testing firms report big profits as virus fight intensifies

Several of China's largest medical testing companies have posted big increases in profit for the first three quarters of the year, as the country's strict zero-COVID policy boosts spending in a minority of sectors while depressing the broader economy. Over the past two weeks, at least six such companies have reported a soaring jump in earnings.

Uganda says Ebola outbreak death toll rises to 48

The death toll from an Ebola outbreak in Uganda has risen to 48, with 131 confirmed cases, a health official involved in managing the outbreak said on Thursday. Last week Uganda's health minister put the death toll at 30, with 109 confirmed cases.

New U.S. cancer drug prices rise 53% in five years -report

The annual price of a newly-launched cancer drug in the United States averaged $283,000 last year, a 53% increase from 2017, according to a new report from U.S. Democratic Representative Katie Porter, a consumer bankruptcy law professor running for re-election in California. Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States, oncology treatments are nearly four times as costly as other therapies and are largely paid for by taxpayer-funded programs like the government's Medicare plan for people over age 65, the report notes.

Pfizer, BioNTech start COVID-flu combination vaccine study

U.S. drugmaker Pfizer Inc and its German partner BioNTech SE have started an early-stage study to evaluate a combination vaccine targeting COVID-19 and influenza, the companies said on Thursday. The single-dose vaccine candidate is a combination of Pfizer's mRNA-based flu shot and the companies' Omicron-tailored COVID-19 booster shot.

Factbox-What is China's zero-COVID policy and how does it work?

Nearly three years into the pandemic, China is sticking with a strict COVID-19 containment policy that has caused mounting economic damage and widespread frustration, while keeping its borders shut for most international travel. China has yet to describe when or how it will begin to exit from an approach that it calls "dynamic zero".

Analysis-Wanted: an oxygen monitor reliable for all races

Medical device makers and scientists are working on new technologies to improve widely-used devices that assess potential heart and respiratory problems given mounting evidence that current ones could lead to inadequate healthcare for patients with darker skin. Doctors have long known that pulse oximeters are less accurate in estimating blood oxygen levels in non-white patients, but the discrepancies were considered insignificant. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed some of the real dangers of these flaws, as the devices gave falsely high oxygen readings in patients with dark skin.

Teva to pay up to $4.2 billion in U.S. to settle opioid claims

Teva Pharmaceuticals will pay up to $4.2 billion in the United States to settle claims related to its role in fueling the country's opioid crisis, New York Attorney General Letitia James said on Thursday. The company will pay $523 million to New York state to settle claims in the state, James said.

China COVID cases highest since Aug, Beijing vows to stay the course

China's COVID-19 cases hit their highest in two and a half months on Thursday after the health authority stuck by its strict containment policy, dampening investor hopes for an easing of curbs battering the world's number two economy. Beaten-down Chinese stocks had soared this week on speculation that Beijing would ease its "dynamic zero-COVID" policy, despite the rising case numbers and reiterations of a stance that makes China an extreme outlier nearly three years into the pandemic.

Father blames China's COVID policy for son's death that sparked online anger

The father of a 3-year-old boy who died on Tuesday from carbon monoxide poisoning in northwest China said strict COVID-19 policies "indirectly killed" his son by causing delays obtaining treatment, in a case that has sparked social media outrage. The boy's death is the latest incident to trigger blowback over China's strict zero-COVID policy, with one critical hashtag racking up 380 million reads on Wednesday on the Twitter-like Weibo platform.

'Considerable' monkeypox transmission happens before symptoms, study suggests

Monkeypox can spread before symptoms appear, British researchers said on Wednesday, providing the first evidence indicating the virus can be transmitted this way. It was previously thought that monkeypox was almost entirely spread by people who were already sick, although pre-symptomatic transmission had not been ruled out and some routine screening had picked up cases without symptoms.