Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. U.S. health agency finalizes conscience and religious freedom rule

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday released a final rule allowing doctors, nurses and other health workers to opt out of procedures such as abortions and sterilizations which violate their personal or religious beliefs. The rule, proposed more than a year ago, reinforces a set of 25 laws passed by Congress that protect "conscience rights" in healthcare, HHS said. Those laws allow health providers and entities to opt out of providing, participating in, paying for or referring for healthcare services that they have personal or religious objections to, HHS said. Sydneysiders find their happy place catching a wave on 'Fluoro Friday'

The sun is rising over Sydney's Bondi Beach and surfer Grant Trebilco, clad in a colorful striped long-sleeved shirt and bright yellow shorts with black polka dots, has just caught his first wave. Whether he catches one wave or a hundred, this salt water therapy, as Trebilco calls it, is where he finds his happy place. As measles returns, U.S. states look to cut vaccine exemptions

Maine could soon prohibit parents from citing religious or personal beliefs to avoid vaccinating their children, making the U.S. state one of a half dozen cracking down during the nations' largest measles outbreak in 25 years. State legislatures in New York, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont, Minnesota and Iowa, are looking at similar bills, that would only allow exemptions from vaccinations for medical reasons as determined by the child's doctor. AstraZeneca ties up with France's Transgene to develop viral immunotherapies

British drugmaker AstraZeneca Plc and French biopharmaceutical firm Transgene SA entered into an agreement on Thursday to co-develop five cancer-killing viral immunotherapies. Viral immunotherapy represents a new way of treating cancer by using transgenes, or genes that are artificially introduced into the genome of another organism. A number of companies are working to harness the power of specific viruses to fight tumors using this technology. Phones could help guard against selfie deaths, medics say

Smartphones might ironically be the answer to selfie-related deaths, two wilderness medicine specialists say. Hundreds of people have lost their lives in pursuit of daring selfies to impress their social media followers. But smartphone technology that uses global positioning system (GPS) location, or measures altitude, could potentially be harnessed to prevent these unfortunate incidents, the two experts suggest. Founder, execs of drug company guilty in conspiracy that fed opioid crisis

The founder of Insys Therapeutics Inc on Thursday became the highest-ranking drugmaker executive convicted in a case tied to the U.S. opioid crisis, when he and four colleagues were found guilty of bribing doctors to prescribe an addictive painkiller, helping drive the epidemic. A federal jury in Boston found John Kapoor, 75, the drugmaker's former chairman, and his co-defendants guilty of racketeering conspiracy for a scheme that also misled insurers into paying for the drug. Cholera outbreak declared in cyclone-hit northern Mozambique

Officials declared a cholera outbreak in northern Mozambique on Thursday, a week after cyclone winds, floods and heavy rains hit the area. Cyclone Kenneth crashed into the province of Cabo Delgado on Thursday last week, flattening entire villages with winds of up to 280 kph (174 mph) and killing at least 41 people. Scientology cruise ship quarantined in St. Lucia gets measles vaccine

Health officials for the Caribbean island of St. Lucia furnished 100 free doses of measles vaccine to a Church of Scientology cruise ship placed under quarantine in port after the highly contagious disease was diagnosed on board, the island's chief medical officer said on Thursday. St. Lucia health officials have confirmed one case of measles aboard the ship that has been docked in a port near the island nation's capital Castries since Tuesday, Dr. Merlene Frederick-James said in a video statement. GSK's 3-in-1 inhalable drug shows promise in asthma study

British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline Plc said on Thursday that its three-in-one drug Trelegy met the main goal of a late-stage asthma study, signalling a possible boost to its lung medicines division that has been hit by generic competition. The company, along with co-developer Innoviva Inc, said the once-daily inhaler improved lung function in patients with uncontrolled asthma, compared to its other medicine Relvar/Breo Ellipta. Men with serious illness may not seek erectile dysfunction treatment

Men with cancer or other chronic illnesses are less likely to seek treatment for erectile dysfunction, even though sexual health is an important aspect of quality of life, researchers say. With a better understanding of the reasons why men don't seek help, doctors could change the way they talk to their patients and help them seek treatment, the authors of a small study conclude in the International Journal of Impotence Research.