Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. Vietnam culls 1.2 million pigs as African swine fever spreads nationwide

Vietnam has culled more than 1.2 million farmed pigs infected with African swine fever, the government said on Monday, as the virus continues to spread rapidly in the Southeast Asian country. Pork accounts for three-quarters of total meat consumption in Vietnam, a country of 95 million people where most of its 30 million farm-raised pigs are consumed domestically. African swine fever outbreak spreads to fourth province

An outbreak of African swine fever, a severe hemorrhagic disease of pigs, has spread to a fourth province in South Africa, the agricultural ministry said on Monday, following a spate of outbreaks last month. The ministry said the latest outbreak of the disease was reported in the Heilbron area of the central Free State Province, after the disease was detected in the country's North West, Mpumalanga and Gauteng provinces last month. Exclusive: Philip Morris suspends social media campaign after Reuters exposes young 'influencers'

Cigarette maker Philip Morris International Inc has suspended a global social media marketing campaign in response to Reuters inquiries into the company’s use of young online personalities to sell its new "heated tobacco" device, including a 21-year-old woman in Russia. The company's internal "marketing standards" prohibit it from promoting tobacco products with youth-oriented celebrities or "models who are or appear to be under the age of 25." Novartis vows to fight U.S. price-fixing claims against Sandoz unit

Novartis on Monday said claims of price fixing against its Sandoz generics unit amid a U.S. probe of 20 drugmakers are without merit, with the Swiss company vowing to fight allegations in a lawsuit filed last week. "We believe that these claims are without merit and will vigorously contest them," Novartis said. "Sandoz takes its obligations under the antitrust laws seriously. We will continue to be committed to providing high-quality, affordable medicines to U.S. patients, and conducting business with customers and the government with integrity." Factbox: What you need to know about the U.S. measles outbreak

The United States so far this year has recorded 764 cases of measles in 23 states, its largest outbreak since public health officials in 2000 declared the disease eradicated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC on Monday is due to release updated figures on the number of cases recorded so far this year. Israel's Zebra Medical gets FDA ok for AI chest X-ray product

Israel's Zebra Medical Vision said on Monday it received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its artificial intelligence-based chest X-ray triage product. The FDA approval focuses on an alert for urgent findings of pneumothorax, which the company said has demonstrated potential to reduce turnaround time and increase the radiologist’s confidence in making this diagnosis.Pneumothorax is an accumulation of gas within the space between the lung and the chest wall that can lead to total lung collapse. It is usually diagnosed by chest X-ray scan but is difficult to interpret. Teva Pharm CFO says company did not conspire to fix prices

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries' chief financial officer on Sunday reiterated that the company has done nothing wrong in the wake of a price-fixing lawsuit filed by 44 U.S. states. Mike McClellan told a conference in Israel that the suit was an amended one and not new, while stressing it was civil and not criminal.