Health News Roundup: New York's mandatory measles vaccination order; Ebola survivors comfort sick in Congo

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

South Africa's Tiger Brands to fight listeria class action

South Africa's leading food producer Tiger Brands said on Wednesday it will fight a class action lawsuit over its role in the world's largest ever listeria outbreak. The listeriosis outbreak, the infection caused by the bacteria, killed more than 200 people in South Africa last year and was traced back to a factory run by Tiger Brands-owned Enterprise Foods.

Many older U.S. gun owners don't store firearms safely

Roughly one-third of older people in the U.S. may live in households with guns and a new study suggests that many of those firearms are not stored in the safest way: locked and unloaded. Researchers examined survey data from 4,428 men and women aged 65 and older in Washington State. Overall, 1,696 participants, or 39 per cent, lived in households with firearms, researchers report in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Judge upholds New York City's mandatory measles vaccination order

A Brooklyn judge on Thursday ruled against a group of parents who challenged New York City's recently imposed mandatory measles vaccination order, rejecting their arguments that the city's public health authority exceeded its authority. In a six-page decision rendered hours after a hearing on the matter, Judge Lawrence Knipel denied the parents' petition seeking to lift the vaccination order, imposed last week to stem the worst measles outbreak to hit the city since 1991.

U.S. launches four-state study to find ways to reduce opioid overdose deaths

U.S. health officials on Thursday said they will spend $350 million in four states to study ways to best deal with the nation's opioid crisis on the local level, with a goal of reducing opioid-related overdose deaths by 40 per cent over three years in selected communities in those states. The National Institutes of Health will award grants to research sites in Kentucky, Massachusetts, New York and Ohio, NIH Director Dr Francis Collins said at a news conference to unveil the plan. They will go to the University of Kentucky, Boston Medical Center, Columbia University and Ohio State University.

Crowdsourced AI learns to target lung tumors for radiation

In many parts of the world, there are not enough radiation oncologists to design and deliver radiation treatments for lung cancer patients, but that gap could one day be filled with the help of artificial intelligence, researchers suggest in a new study. In a novel approach to the problem, the authors turned to crowdsource to help them develop a computer algorithm that would take over some of the duties of an experienced radiation oncologist.

Ebola survivors comfort sick and frightened in the Congo outbreak

Wearing a disposable gown and gloves for protection, Jeanine Masika cradles a 2-year-old Ebola patient and offers the listless toddler teaspoons of brown soup. Most health care workers need a surgical mask, goggles, hooded coveralls, an apron, rubber boots and two pairs of gloves to avoid catching the virus that typically kills around half those it infects.

Lower dose of Pfizer-Lilly painkiller misses main goals in late stage study

A lower dose of non-opioid painkiller developed by Pfizer Inc and Eli Lilly and Co failed to meet main goals in a late-stage study in patients with moderate-to-severe osteoarthritis of the hip or knee, the companies said on Thursday. The drug, tanezumab, belongs to a new category of pain medications that target nerve growth factor, a protein involved in the growth of nerve cells, and has been touted as a potential blockbuster.

Yale study revives cellular activity in pig brains hours after death

Yale University scientists have succeeded in restoring basic cellular activity in pigs' brains hours after their deaths in a finding that may one day lead to advances in treating human stroke and brain injuries, researchers reported on Wednesday. The scientists emphasized that their work did not even come close to reawakening consciousness in the disembodied pig brains. In fact, the experiment was specifically designed to avoid such an outcome, however improbable.

Obese sleep apnea patients may live longer with nighttime breathing aid

Obese people with sleep apnea, a common nighttime breathing disorder, may live longer when they use a machine to help keep their airways open while they sleep, a recent study suggests. After following obese patients with sleep apnea for about 11 years, researchers found those who used the nighttime breathing aid were 42 per cent less likely than those who didn't use the devices to die of any cause.

Dozens of doctors in Appalachia charged in opioid fraud bust

Dozens of medical professionals in Appalachia, a region hard-hit by the U.S. opioid crisis, have been charged with writing hundreds of thousands of illegal prescriptions and committing health care fraud, federal prosecutors said on Wednesday. Sixty people, including 31 doctors, were accused of illegally prescribing opioid drugs in exchange for cash and sexual favours in the rural, mountainous region stretching from Pennsylvania and West Virginia to Alabama and Louisiana.