Reuters Health News Summary

Although a waiver was placed on HIV/AIDS programmes in last month's U.S. foreign aid funding freeze, many concerns remained about the future of treatment programmes, the deputy executive director of UNAIDS told reporters in Geneva. US CDC sends health alert on Uganda's Ebola outbreak The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday warned doctors and other healthcare workers about an outbreak of Ebola cases in Uganda.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Trump backs off contesting Tennessee ban on youth transgender care at Supreme Court

President Donald Trump's administration told the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday that Tennessee's Republican-backed ban on gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors is not unlawful, reversing the position taken by the government under his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden. The justices heard arguments on December 4, with conservative justices signaling their willingness to uphold the measure. Those arguments came in an appeal by Biden's administration of a lower court's decision upholding Tennessee's law.

Trump recall of CDC research puts scientific papers in limbo

Scientists are struggling to respond to a Trump administration order to review papers already submitted for publication for content now banned by the federal government, according to interviews with six researchers. The directive issued on Jan. 31 applies to all research that features work from U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scientists, including collaborations with external academic institutions.

Healthcare company Sanofi announces share buyback of up to 2 billion euros

French healthcare company Sanofi announced on Friday a share buyback plan worth up to 2 billion euros ($2.1 billion), which would be done between now and the end of December. ($1 = 0.9640 euros)

Live poultry markets in New York City, suburbs shut over bird flu

Authorities in New York state have temporarily closed all live poultry markets in New York City and three suburban counties after detecting bird flu at seven markets within the past week, according to a notice on Friday. The virus has wiped out more than 156 million chickens, turkeys and other birds nationwide since an outbreak in poultry began in 2022. Losses of laying hens have slashed egg supplies, sending prices soaring and prompting restaurants to raise prices.

Threat of disease in DRC "multiplied" by conflict, WHO says

Conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo has "multiplied" the risk of the spread of diseases, including cholera, malaria, tuberculosis and the deadly mpox virus, the World Health Organization warned on Friday. Fighting between Rwandan-backed M23 rebels and Congolese armed forces has exacerbated an already "dire situation" for millions of people, Dr Boureima Hama Sambo, WHO representative for the DRC told reporters in Geneva via video link from the capital Kinshasa.

Six million people could die from HIV and AIDS if US funding stops, UN agency warns

More than six million people could die from HIV and AIDS in the next four years if U.S. President Donald Trump's administration pulls its global funding for programmes, the United Nations AIDS agency said on Friday. Although a waiver was placed on HIV/AIDS programmes in last month's U.S. foreign aid funding freeze, many concerns remained about the future of treatment programmes, the deputy executive director of UNAIDS told reporters in Geneva.

US CDC sends health alert on Uganda's Ebola outbreak

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday warned doctors and other healthcare workers about an outbreak of Ebola cases in Uganda. The agency said although no cases have been reported in the U.S., it was issuing an advisory through its health alert network to raise awareness.

Halt in U.S. aid cripples global efforts to relieve hunger

The Trump administration's effort to slash and reshape American foreign aid is crippling the intricate global system that aims to prevent and respond to famine. Struggling to manage hunger crises sweeping the developing world even before U.S. President Donald Trump returned to the White House, the international famine monitoring and relief system has suffered multiple blows from a sudden cessation of U.S. foreign aid.

Health Rounds: Vaccine keeps advanced kidney cancer from recurring

Patients with advanced kidney cancer who received an experimental vaccine after their tumors were removed were still cancer-free years later in a small early-stage trial, researchers reported in Nature. These were patients "where you know the risk of the cancer coming back is very high," said Dr. Toni Choueiri of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, who helped lead the study. "And after a median follow up of almost four years, none of the nine vaccinated patients has experienced a recurrence from their kidney cancer."

US FDA approves AbbVie-Pfizer's treatment for intra-abdominal infections

AbbVie said on Friday that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved its drug for complicated intra-abdominal infections, including those caused by drug-resistant bacteria. AbbVie and co-developer Pfizer's drug, Emblaveo, is approved in combination with an antibiotic medication for patients 18 years and older with such infections.

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