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Credit score: CDC/James Gathany
eight Large Well being Tales from 2016
From the elimination of measles within the U.S. to the advance of potential new therapies for Alzheimer's illness, 2016 was a jam-packed 12 months for well being information. Listed below are eight of probably the most noteworthy well being information tales from this 12 months.
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Credit score: CDC/James Gathany
Zika's rise and retreat
Though the Zika virus was recognized in 1947, it erupted onto the world scene in 2015, and moved into larger world consciousness with lightning pace over the previous 12 months.
Through the summer season of 2016, native transmission of the Zika virus was seen within the U.S. for the primary time, in a neighborhood close to Miami. And in August, the Nationwide Institutes of Well being introduced that it had launched a scientific trial to check a vaccine to guard folks in opposition to Zika infections.
These infections could be laborious to identify, Dr. Robert Glatter, an emergency doctor at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York Metropolis, informed Dwell Science. That is as a result of 80 % of individuals contaminated with the virus haven't any signs, and the opposite 20 % normally have solely delicate signs, like fever and complications, he stated.
The first hazard of the virus, although, comes from the potential start defects Zika causes when it infects pregnant girls: Researchers have linked the virus to microcephaly, a dysfunction through which infants are born with smaller-than-average heads. These infants then face lifelong disabilities.
On Nov. 18, 2016, the World Well being Group declared that Zika was not a worldwide emergency. Even nonetheless, the virus has unfold to the U.S. in areas like Florida and Texas, the place Zika-infected mosquitoes now exist. At present, no vaccine for Zika exists.
"Zika is right here to remain within the Americas. It may be part of our lives for years to come back," Glatter informed Dwell Science in February. "We have to take a look at the time line and get a good suggestion of what the viruses are which can be a menace to the human race, and put money into applied sciences and spot the tendencies early to grow to be extra proactive and fewer reactive."
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Credit score: Sevigny et al, Nature 2016
Advance in Alzheimer's remedy
An advance within the seek for a remedy for Alzheimer's illness hit the stage in 2016: An early examine, printed in August, discovered that an investigational drug known as aducanumab can considerably cut back the quantity of amyloid beta plaque within the brains of Alzheimer's sufferers. This plaque consists of the tangled clumps of proteins that construct up over time within the brains of people that have Alzheimer's illness. The researchers concluded that the drug spurs the immune system to work to clear the plaques.
Though the examine was not designed to indicate whether or not the drug can enhance folks's cognitive skills, the findings counsel that the drug does work this fashion, the researchers stated.
"We imagine that is a touch of efficacy," examine co-author Dr. Alfred Sandrock stated throughout a information briefing on the findings. Sandrock is a neurologist and govt vice chairman at Biogen, the Cambridge, Massachusetts, firm that funded the trial and utilized to patent the drug.
Extra analysis is required to find out whether or not the drug impacts sufferers' signs of Alzheimer's, Sandrock stated. [6 Big Mysteries of Alzheimer's Disease]
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Credit score: lmstockwork | Shutterstock.com
Ebola outbreak declared over
Earlier this 12 months, the World Well being Group (WHO) declared that the Ebola outbreak in West Africa was not a Public Well being Emergency of Worldwide Concern, signifying that the area was largely away from the illness. The outbreak started in December 2013 and raged throughout 2014 and 2015, hanging hardest in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the place greater than 28,000 folks had been contaminated. Greater than 11,000 folks within the area died from the illness.
Dr. Bruce Aylward, WHO's particular consultant for the Ebola response, famous in a press release in January 2016 that efforts to stop and observe the illness had been nonetheless underway, and that "we nonetheless anticipate flare-ups and should be ready for them.
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Landmark Supreme Court docket case in girls's well being
On June 27 this 12 months the Supreme Court docket overturned a Texas invoice that had acknowledged that docs who carry out abortions should have admitting privileges at a close-by hospital. The bulk opinion (determined 5-Three) stated that such necessities didn't supply any medical advantages to girls in search of abortions, provided that "abortion is likely one of the most secure medical procedures carried out in the US."
Sufferers who endure the process in a clinic not often require hospital admission, stated the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
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Credit score: Rob Byron / Shutterstock.com
Controversy over the EpiPen
This 12 months, the EpiPen's skyrocketing worth generated controversy. The system permits folks to inject epinephrine into their techniques to counteract life-threatening allergic reactions. However in 2016, the system's worth had elevated by 500 % since 2009. Mylan, the corporate that sells EpiPens, agreed in October to pay a whopping $465 million to the Division of Justice (DOJ) after accusations that it had been overcharging Medicaid for the gadgets. As a part of that settlement, Mylan didn't need to admit to any wrongdoing, however labored with the Division of Justice to create a company integrity settlement.
Mylan CEO Heather Bresch stated in a press release to the U.S. Home of Representatives in September that "the misunderstanding about our income is comprehensible and at the very least partly because of the complicated atmosphere through which pharmaceutical costs are decided."
She additionally detailed Mylan's plans to supply financial savings to EpiPen customers, together with providing the primary generic model of the EpiPen.
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Credit score: Drew Angerer/Getty Pictures
Individuals voted on weed within the election
Through the 2016 election, Individuals in 9 states voted on whether or not to legalize marijuana, for both medical or leisure use, of their states. Now, it is authorized to recreationally use marijuana in Alaska, California, Colorado, Oregon, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, Washington and the District of Columbia. Plus, 21 different states permit folks to make use of marijuana for medical functions.
It is laborious to say but what impact all the new legal guidelines might need, consultants stated. Dr. Tina Rizack, an oncologist at Ladies & Infants Hospital in Windfall, Rhode Island, informed Dwell Science in March that because the drug "turns into extra out there, sufferers will ask extra questions on its therapeutic worth, and, hopefully, extra analysis can be performed to reply these questions."
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Credit score: CDC
Measles eradicated within the Americas
On Sept. 27, the Pan American Well being Group (a part of the United Nations) declared that measles was eradicated from the Americas. Basically, which means there aren't any extra circumstances of measles originating in these international locations and that any circumstances of measles that do come up in these places come from exterior the Americas, Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious-disease specialist and a senior affiliate on the College of Pittsburgh Medical Middle's Middle for Well being Safety, informed Dwell Science in September.
"What's holding measles at bay proper now within the Americas is our excessive vaccination fee," Adalja stated. The World Well being Group advisable that international locations have at the very least 80 % of individuals dwelling in cities and 95 % of the whole inhabitants vaccinated in opposition to measles as a way to forestall the unfold of imported circumstances.
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Credit score: Stockxpert
New male contraception examined, however rejected
A examine on a brand new, experimental sort of male contraception that includes hormone pictures was halted early due to the excessive fee of uncomfortable side effects in males who acquired the pictures. The lads's uncomfortable side effects included pimples, ache on the injection web site, elevated intercourse drive and temper issues — which garnered consideration given their similarity to many uncomfortable side effects of feminine contraception.
"Though the injections had been efficient in lowering the speed of being pregnant, the mixture of hormones must be studied extra to think about a superb stability between efficacy and security," stated examine co-author Dr. Mario Philip Reyes Festin, a medical officer on the human copy crew on the World Well being Group.
Initially printed on Dwell Science.
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