Health News Roundup: Bat meat still popular in parts of Indonesia; Vaccine for new coronavirus and more

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Bat meat still popular in parts of Indonesia, despite coronavirus fears

Bat meat is still popular in some parts of Indonesia, despite research suggesting the coronavirus spreading from China might have originated in bats before being passed on to humans. Bats are traditionally eaten by the Minahasan people from North Sulawesi in the form of a curry-like dish called Paniki. Whole bats are used in Paniki, including the head and wings.

Mother's beauty products might impact girls' weight gain

Mothers who use beauty products containing chemicals known as parabens during pregnancy may be more likely to have overweight daughters, a small study suggests. Babies tended to be heavier at birth, and more likely to become overweight by age 8, when mothers used makeup, lotions and other common beauty products containing parabens while pregnant, the study found. One of these chemicals, butylparaben, was associated with excess weight only in girls.

Novartis lung cancer drug gets priority U.S. review

Novartis has won fast-track U.S. regulatory review for capmatinib (INC280) in a hard-to-treat form of lung cancer, the Swiss drugmaker said on Tuesday. Capmatinib is a MET inhibitor being evaluated as a treatment for first-line and previously treated patients with locally advanced or metastatic MET exon 14 skipping (METex14) mutated non-small cell lung cancer.

Vaccine for new coronavirus 'COVID-19' could be ready in 18 months: WHO

The first vaccine targeting China's coronavirus could be available in 18 months, "so we have to do everything today using available weapons", World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in Geneva on Tuesday. He said the virus had been named COVID-19, explaining that it was important to avoid stigma and that other names could be inaccurate.

How disease sleuths used sequencing to link mumps outbreaks in Massachusetts

U.S. scientists used gene sequencing technology to tie together what appeared to be unrelated outbreaks of mumps in the Boston area, helping to rule out the possibility that the virus had mutated to evade vaccine protection, a new report says. The report, published in PLoS Biology, is the latest to show how gene sequencing helps public health officials solve infectious disease outbreaks.

Novacyt biotech company says winning race for high-speed virus test

Franco-British biotech company Novacyt says it can offer a coronavirus test that is faster than rival methods by focusing on a narrow sequence of DNA coding, as it fights stiff competition to turn the outbreak into a business opportunity. In an appeal for sharing virus samples and speeding up research into drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics, the World Health Organization on Tuesday said China's coronavirus outbreak posed a "very grave threat for the rest of the world."

Japan cruise ship coronavirus cases climb to 175, including quarantine officer

Another 39 people have tested positive for the coronavirus on the Diamond Princess cruise ship quarantined in Japan, with one quarantine officer also infected, bringing the total to 175, the health ministry said on Wednesday. The Diamond Princess was placed in quarantine for two weeks on arriving in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, on Feb. 3, after a man who disembarked in Hong Kong was diagnosed with the virus.

Britain's Native Antigen Company introduces novel coronavirus antigens

British-based The Native Antigen Company said on Wednesday that it had introduced novel antigens to deal with the coronavirus afflicting China. "The Native Antigen Company, one of the world's leading suppliers of reagents that enable research into vaccines and diagnostics for emerging and endemic infectious diseases, today announced the commercial introduction of its Novel Coronavirus antigens, derived from the emerging Wuhan strain," it said in a statement.

China's new coronavirus cases drop, but the world still on alert

China reported on Wednesday its lowest number of new coronavirus cases in nearly two weeks, lending weight to a forecast by its foremost medical adviser for the outbreak to end by April - but a global expert warned it was only beginning elsewhere. The 2,015 new confirmed cases took China's total to 44,653. That was the lowest daily rise since Jan. 30 and came a day after epidemiologist Zhong Nanshan forecast the epidemic would peak in China this month before subsiding.

Coronavirus outbreak 'just beginning' outside China, says, expert

The coronavirus epidemic may be peaking in China where it was first detected in the central city of Wuhan but it is just beginning in the rest of the world and likely to spread, a global expert on infectious diseases said on Wednesday. The Chinese government's senior medical adviser has said the disease is hitting a peak in China and maybe over by April. He said he was basing the forecast on mathematical modeling, recent events and government action.