Health News Roundup: Sugary coffee drinks tied to poor sleep for young women and more

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Measles vaccine drive aims to protect 45 million children in Africa, Asia

Up to 45 million children in seven developing countries will be immunized against measles in a series of major vaccination campaigns to try to halt a global surge in the viral disease, the GAVI vaccine alliance said on Wednesday. Measles cases have risen dramatically in all parts of the world in recent years. The World Health Organization said in December that measles had infected nearly 10 million people in 2018 and killed 140,000, mostly children, in what it described as "an outrage."

Sugary coffee drinks tied to poor sleep for young women

Nearly half of all young women in a small U.S. study said they were poor sleepers, and those who drank sugary coffee beverages and energy drinks tended to have the worst sleep quality. "Young adulthood is a time of intense change that influences health behaviors," said Deborah Rohm Young, director of behavioral research at Kaiser Permanente Southern California in Pasadena. "We were specifically interested in sleep quality because not much research has been conducted on sleep and other health behaviors in young adults."

U.S. government experts, industry spar over asbestos testing in talc

For the first time in nearly 50 years, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration examined asbestos testing for talc powders and cosmetics at a hearing on Tuesday, after traces of the known carcinogen were found in several such products, including Johnson & Johnson's Baby Powder. Citing those FDA findings, some U.S. lawmakers and consumer advocates have called for stricter safety regulations to protect public health.

China virus toll nears 500, airlines cut Hong Kong flights, cases found on cruise ship

The death toll from a coronavirus outbreak in China passed 490 on Wednesday, as two U.S. airlines suspended flights to Hong Kong following the first fatality there and 10 cases were confirmed on a quarantined Japanese cruise ship. China's National Health Commission said another 65 deaths had been recorded on Tuesday, bringing the toll on the mainland to 490, mostly in and around the locked-down central city of Wuhan where the virus emerged late last year.

U.S. FDA expands use of CDC coronavirus diagnostic test

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday extended the use of a coronavirus detection tool to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-qualified laboratories across the country. The authorization was until recently limited to CDC laboratories.

EU medicines agency to support coronavirus vaccine, drug development

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said it was taking steps to speed up the development of vaccines and treatments to combat the new coronavirus that has killed more than 400 people. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the flu-like virus a global emergency and experts say much is still unknown, including its mortality rate and transmission routes.

No box of chocolates: South Korea border town laid low by swine fever, not shells from North

For the first time in 10 years, Kong Ji-ye's chocolate-making machines sit idle in Paju city, near the demilitarized zone (DMZ) that separates the two Koreas. Not because of shelling, nuclear tests or general sabre-rattling from the North. Her business is at a standstill because an outbreak of a virus that kills pigs but can't harm humans triggered a ban on tours that bring hundreds of thousands of South Korean and foreign visitors to the border with the North.

Former executive of Taro Pharmaceutical indicted in U.S. for price-fixing

A former sales and marketing executive of Taro Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, Ara Aprahamian, has been indicted for price-fixing and bid-rigging, among other charges. The Justice Department said that Aprahamian was indicted on Tuesday for participating in two conspiracies to fix generic drug prices between 2013 and 2015.

WHO calls for improved data-sharing on virus, says sending team to China

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday urged all health ministers to improve data-sharing on coronavirus immediately and said he would send a team of international experts to work with Chinese counterparts. The U.N. agency was sending masks, gloves, respirators and nearly 18,000 isolation gowns from its warehouses to some two dozen countries that need support, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told its Executive Board.

More evidence texting pedestrians are accidents waiting to happen

Smartphone users who text while they walk are more prone to accidents than pedestrians who just listen to music or talk on their phones, a research review suggests. Compared to people who didn't text while walking, those who did appeared to look left and right less often before crossing streets, the analysis found. Texting was also associated with higher odds that pedestrians would bump into other people or things in their paths or experience near-misses.

(With inputs from agencies.)