Health News Roundup: US FDA clears Vivos Therapeutics' oral device for sleep apnea; US life expectancy climbs in 2022 after COVID retreat and more

Life expectancy at birth for 2022 newborns was 77.5 years, up from 76.4 in 2021 but still lower than the 78.8 years expected for those born in 2019, data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests. China's cluster of flu cases under effective control-foreign minister A recent increase in respiratory illnesses in China is a common issue faced by that all countries and Chinese authorities have it under effective control, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Wednesday.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

US FDA clears Vivos Therapeutics' oral device for sleep apnea

Vivos Therapeutics said on Wednesday the U.S. health regulator has cleared its oral device for severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), leading a massive rally in the company's shares before the bell. Shares of the medical device maker more than doubled to $9.12 in premarket trading.

Colombia proposed health reform could push costs up by $234 million next year

Colombia's health sector could see costs grow by 929 billion pesos ($234.7 million) in 2024 if the government's proposed health reform is approved by Congress, the finance ministry said on Wednesday. Health sector expenses could hit 92.3 trillion pesos ($23.3 billion) next year if the controversial bill is approved, versus an expected 91.3 trillion pesos if the reform is blocked.

Suspected fake Ozempic causes hypoglycemia in 11 in Lebanon

Eleven people suffered bouts of dangerously low blood sugar in Lebanon this year, one of whom required hospitalization, after injecting suspected fake versions of Novo Nordisk's diabetes drug Ozempic, according Lebanese health officials. A director for the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health, Rita Karam, said officials suspected the drugs were fake after discovering the doses were different from the ones calibrated for authentic Ozempic injector pens.

US life expectancy climbs in 2022 after COVID retreat

U.S. babies born in 2022 gained roughly a year in life expectancy compared with babies born a year earlier, federal data showed on Wednesday, marking progress after two consecutive years of declines largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Life expectancy at birth for 2022 newborns was 77.5 years, up from 76.4 in 2021 but still lower than the 78.8 years expected for those born in 2019, data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests.

China's cluster of flu cases under effective control-foreign minister

A recent increase in respiratory illnesses in China is a common issue faced by that all countries and Chinese authorities have it under effective control, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Wednesday. The World Health Organization (WHO) last week requested China provide detailed information on an increase in respiratory illnesses and reported clusters of pneumonia in children.

US health insurers Humana, Cigna in talks to merge -source

Cigna and Humana, two of the biggest U.S. health insurers, are in talks for what could be the largest merger announced in 2023, according to a source familiar with the matter. The Wall Street Journal reported the talks earlier on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Climate change is the biggest human health risk, says Africa's disease boss

Climate change is the biggest threat to human health in Africa and the rest of the world, the head of the continent's public health agency said. Mitigating that risk was top of his agenda, Jean Kaseya, the director general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), told Reuters as he headed to the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, which begins on Thursday.

US FDA flags new problem with Philips machines, shares fall

Philips shares fell more than 6% on Wednesday after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it is alerting patients of a new safety issue with machines made by the group that are used for the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea. The Amsterdam-based healthcare technology company has been grappling with the fallout of a global recall in June 2021 of millions of respirators used to treat sleep apnea over worries that foam used in the machines could become toxic.

Disease could be bigger killer than bombs in Gaza - WHO

More people could die from disease than from bombings in the Gaza Strip if its health system is not repaired, a World Health Organization spokesperson said on Tuesday, warning of a surge in infectious diseases and diarrhoea in children. In figures deemed reliable by the United Nations, Gaza health authorities say more than 15,000 people have been confirmed killed in Israel's bombardment of the narrow enclave, around 40% of them children, with many more feared to be lost under rubble.

Return of bird flu brings test for French vaccination strategy

The first outbreak of bird flu this season on a farm in France has put the industry on watch to see if the country's strategy of vaccinating birds will prove effective, helping avoid a repeat of previous crises that killed millions of poultry. The farm ministry said on Tuesday a first case of the highly pathogenic bird flu was found among turkeys in Brittany, northwestern France, as a seasonal wave of infections spreads across Europe, the United States and Japan.

(With inputs from agencies.)