Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. Later school start times may help teens get needed sleep

Teens who start school at 9 a.m. may get about an hour more sleep at night than peers who have to be in class at 8 a.m., a small German study suggests. Researchers followed 65 students at a high school in Germany for three weeks before the school switched to a flexible schedule allowing teens to choose an 8 a.m. or 9 a.m. start. Overall, the students got the same amount of sleep before and after the schedule changes took effect. Vaccine prevents deadly meningitis B in infants

Innoculating infants with the Bexsero vaccine against group B meningitis provides protection from the deadly infection for at least two years in 75% of young children, according to results from the first large real-word test of the vaccine, conducted in the United Kingdom. Meanwhile, an Australian study is showing that while the vaccine also works in teens, it does not extend "herd immunity" to unvaccinated children, as some vaccines do. Endometriosis drug reduces bleeding in women with fibroids

The AbbVie drug elagolix, already used to treat the pain of endometriosis, can significantly reduce the chances of heavy menstrual bleeding caused by uterine fibroids, according to the results of two studies reported in The New England Journal of Medicine. Uterine fibroids are non-cancerous growths in the uterus that can cause problems such as pain, pressure, heavy periods and infertility in as many as half the women who have them. They are very common, particularly among African American women. French Senate approves bill allowing IVF for single women, lesbians

France's Senate voted on Wednesday in favor of a bill that would allow single women and lesbian couples access to in-vitro fertilization (IVF), the first major social reform of President Emmanuel Macron's term. The bill was passed 160-116 in the Senate, where Macron's centrist party is outnumbered by right-wing Republicans. Paraguay's President Abdo contracts dengue fever amid outbreak

A dengue fever outbreak that has affected thousands of Paraguayans in recent weeks has reached as far as the presidential palace, with the country's leader Mario Abdo confirmed as having been struck by the disease. The country's Health Minister Julio Mazzoleni said on Wednesday that the 48-year-old president fell unwell during an trip to the east of the country and returned to the capital Asunción where the diagnosis was confirmed. He has been ordered to rest. WHO says will decide on Thursday if China virus is a global health emergency

The World Health Organization (WHO) said it will decide on Thursday whether to declare a global emergency over the outbreak of a new flu-like virus spreading in and beyond China. If it does so it will be only the sixth international public health emergency to be declared in the last decade. Texas judges increasingly block minors seeking abortion without parental consent

Texas statistics show that judges are increasingly blocking minors who wish to terminate a pregnancy without their parents' consent, a new study finds. In 37 states, including Texas, that require minors to notify or obtain permission from parents before an abortion, girls who can't ask, are afraid to ask, or have been denied can go before a judge to obtain permission to terminate their pregnancy. Trump says U.S. in 'great shape' with plan for coronavirus

President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the United States has a plan in place to contain the coronavirus outbreak. Speaking on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, Trump said: 16 people monitored for contact with U.S. coronavirus victim

At least 16 people had close contact with a Washington state man diagnosed as the first U.S. case of the coronavirus and are being monitored for the illness that has killed 17 people in China and sickened hundreds more, local officials said. The patient, a 30-year-old man, is doing well and may soon be released from an Everett, Washington hospital, officials told press conferences. China locks down epicenter of virus outbreak; nearly 600 infected

China is putting on lockdown a city of 11 million people considered the epicenter of the new coronavirus outbreak that has killed 17 and infected nearly 600 people, as health authorities around the world work to prevent a global pandemic. Global health authorities fear the transmission rate will accelerate as hundreds of millions of Chinese travel at home and abroad during the week-long Lunar New Year holiday.