Health News Roundup: Childbirth classes may help first-time mothers in delivery; LA County confirms first case of coronavirus and more

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Childbirth classes may help first-time mothers have normal deliveries

First-time mothers who take childbirth classes are more likely to have normal deliveries without interventions, a small study suggests. The study compared more than 300 women who gave birth to a first child at an Israeli medical center. Researchers found that those who took a series of classes on the experience of childbirth, pain management, and postpartum issues were more likely to have normal vaginal deliveries and less likely to have vacuum extraction used during their delivery.

Los Angeles County confirms first case of coronavirus

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health said on Sunday it had confirmed the first case of the novel coronavirus in county. The individual was returning from Wuhan, China and is currently receiving medical treatment, the health agency said in a statement.

Researchers find cancer-fighting potential in non-cancer drugs

(Reuters Health) - U.S. researchers who tested the cancer-fighting properties of more than 4,500 non-cancer drugs found nearly 50 drugs for other conditions showed at least some cancer-killing ability. "We found that a surprising number of non-oncology drugs are able to kill cancer cell lines in the lab," said Dr. Steven Corsello of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard University, who led the research.

Hong Kong bans entry of visitors from China virus province

Residents of China's Hubei province, where the new coronavirus outbreak was first reported, will be banned from entering Hong Kong from Monday as China tries to halt the rapid spread of the outbreak. China's Cabinet also announced it will extend the week-long Lunar New Year holiday by three days to Feb. 2 and schools will return from their break later than usual, state broadcaster CCTV said.

Canada's first coronavirus patient had symptoms on flight from China

Canada's chief medical officer said on Sunday that an individual who was declared the country's first "presumptive" confirmed case of the novel coronavirus had developed symptoms on the plane while traveling from Wuhan in China to Toronto. The province of Ontario health officials on Saturday said a man in his 50s developed a respiratory illness after arriving in Toronto on Jan. 22 from Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak of the viral disease, and was being treated in a public hospital and in isolation.

Coronavirus patients arrived in France without symptoms

Two of the three Chinese nationals in France who have been diagnosed with the Wuhan coronavirus arrived without showing symptoms, doctors at a Paris hospital said on Saturday. On Friday, France confirmed the first three cases of the virus in Europe, with two patients hospitalized in Paris and the other in Bordeaux. The health ministry said on Saturday that no new cases have been confirmed since then but several people were being monitored.

Coronavirus worries have surgical masks flying off shelves in New York's Chinatown

Teresa Zhan, a pharmacist in Manhattan's Chinatown, had not seen protective face masks sell out in her 10 years as an employee until this week when China's coronavirus arrived in the United States just days before Lunar New Year celebrations. More than a dozen pharmacies in the tiny district had run out of face masks or only had a few left on Friday. Pharmacists said hundreds of locals had rushed to buy masks for protection from the newly discovered coronavirus that has killed 26 people in China and infected at least 800 others, including a case in Chicago and another near Seattle.

With Wuhan virus genetic code in hand, scientists begin work on a vaccine

When a newly organized vaccine research group at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) met for the first time this week, its members had expected to be able to ease into their work. But their mandate is to conduct human trials for emerging health threats - and their first assignment came at shocking speed. In just three months' time, they likely will be testing the first of a number of potential experimental vaccines against the new SARS-like coronavirus that is spreading in China and beyond.