Second case of rare mpox strain discovered in traveller

6 days ago

Listen to Australian and world news, and follow trending topics with SBS News Podcasts . "The patient has a close family, and that family are isolating at home. He was not contagious on the return journey to Australia from Africa, and those close contacts that he has been in contact including at the emergency ward and other locations are being contact traced right now and identified." That's Queensland's Health Minister Tim Nicholls, confirming a new strain of mpox virus has been detected in a man who's just returned to the south-east of the state from a trip to Africa. He says Mpox is a disease caused by the monkeypox virus. "Mpox is not easily spread. It is only spread or it can only spread through close or intimate contact. It is particularly spread by close sexual contact and particularly for gay men and people engaging with sex is the primary cause of the contagious spread." Dr Geoffrey Playford is the head of infectious diseases at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Queensland. He says the rare Clade 1 strain of mpox has only been seen once before in Australia, also in a returned traveller. "Over the last year and a half in Queensland, we've had 135 cases in mpox clade 2 - this is the first case of clade 1 and the second time in Australia we've had clade 1. The other case was in New South Wales in May." Mr Nicholls says the public should NOT be concerned. "We think that there are 19 community contacts and 40 staff contacts that have been in contact with the patient. At the moment his symptoms are asymptomatic. They are not showing any signs of the clade 1 mpox, but they are isolating. The family involves children in high school, primary school and childcare centres and the high school, primary school and childcare centres either have been or are in the process of being identified." Dr Playford says authorities are not worried either. He says fortunately in this case the clinical presentation is relatively mild and there are no particular concerns for the patient's health. "And all of our efforts at the moment is to identify contacts using national guidelines to undertake quarantine where the very close contacts have been identified, again in line with the national guidelines." The close contacts will be offered a vaccine that is highly effective against mpox -either preventing or making the disease significantly milder and shorter. Mr Nicholls says over a year ago there were some restrictions on the availability of the vaccine. But now, Queensland has ample supplies - and the vaccine is provided free of charge through sexual health clinics and some GPs [[general practitioners]].
The Queensland government is advising anyone who suspects they may have the virus to seek medical advice from their local doctor, sexual health clinic or public health unit.

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Over 600 malnourished children die in six months in Nigeria: MSF

News.com.au

3 hours ago

News.com.au

Over 600 malnourished children die in six months in Nigeria: MSF

More than 600 malnourished children have died in northern Nigeria in six months after failing to receive proper care as foreign aid dries up, a medical charity has said. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said northern Nigeria, which already is struggling with an insurgency, is "currently facing an alarming malnutrition crisis". Cases of the most severe and deadly form of malnutrition among children jumped by 208 percent between January and June compared with the same period last year. "Unfortunately, 652 children have already died in our facilities since the beginning of 2025 due to a lack of timely access to care," the charity, which is known by its French initials, said in a statement released Friday. Huge cuts in foreign aid sparked by US President Donald Trump's decision to slash spending overseas have combined with spiking living costs and a surge in jihadist attacks to create a dire situation in northern Nigeria. Ahmed Aldikhari, country representative of MSF in Nigeria, said the cuts from the United States -- but also from the United Kingdom and European Union -- were hampering treatment and care for malnourished children. He said "the true scale of the crisis exceeds all predictions". Pregnant and breastfeeding women have not been spared, as an MSF survey on 750 mothers showed that more than half of them were "acutely malnourished, including 13 percent with severe acute malnutrition". Across the country a record nearly 31 million people face acute hunger, according to David Stevenson, chief of the UN's food agency (WFP) in Nigeria. WFP warned earlier this week it would be forced to suspend all emergency food and nutrition aid for 1.3 million people in northeast Nigeria at the end of July because of critical funding shortfalls. sn/jxb

Spike in adverse event reports for ADHD medication Vyvanse

The Australian

11 hours ago

The Australian

Spike in adverse event reports for ADHD medication Vyvanse

Authorities are investigating a spike in incidents involving one of Australia's most widely used ADHD medications. Adverse event reports linked to medication Vyvanse have spiked massively this year, and the manufacturer says no changes in the chemical production have been made. 'The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) is currently investigating a potential safety signal associated with Vyvanse, including independent testing of the medicine through the TGA Laboratories,' a spokesperson told NewsWire. 'The investigation is the result of a recent increase in adverse event notifications relating to concerns about the quality, safety, and reduced effectiveness of the drug.' The TGA issued an alert about a typo on the Vyvanse label earlier this year. Picture: TGA 'There are no compliance signals currently under investigation for the facilities used in the manufacture of this product.' A 'signal' is detection of a pattern which requires further investigation. While not formally a pattern in the TGA's eyes, reports of adverse events such as anxiety, ineffectiveness and insomnia have increased massively this year. There have also been 88 reports of issues with the medicines label, which was flagged by the TGA earlier this year for minor typos; however, one of the typos added an extra 'S' to the word capsule; 'Each capsules contains 60mg lisdexamfetamine dimesilate'. The TGA maintains the Database of Adverse Event Notifications, where people report issues with medications. There have been 320 adverse events linked to Vyvanse in the first half of this year, compared to nine reports in the second half of 2024. Inclusion in the database does not confirm the incident is caused by the medication. Reports of ineffective Vyvanse have hit 150 so far this year, along with 88 reports of anxiety, and 73 reports that the therapeutic response has decreased. Last year, 1.8m Vyvanse prescriptions were written in Australia, excluding Department of Veterans' Affairs patients, over-the-counter drugs, private prescriptions and public inpatient prescriptions. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman Prescriptions of Vyvanse have been steadily increasing for the past few years. More than 958,000 scripts were written by public system health workers in 2022, rising to 1.4 million in 2023, and then 1.8m last year, government data shows. In a statement, supplier Takeda Pharmaceuticals Australia said a change of manufacturing facility in 2024 did not alter the chemical composition of the medicine. 'There have been no changes to the formulation,' a Takeda spokesperson told the ABC. Vyvanse was produced with strict quality controls, in line with Australia's Therapeutics Goods Act, the spokesperson said. The labelling typo did not affect the quality of the medication, they said. Blair Jackson Reporter Blair's journalism career has taken him from Perth, to New Zealand, Queensland and now Melbourne. Blair Jackson

Spike in ADHD medication adverse event reports

News.com.au

14 hours ago

News.com.au

Spike in ADHD medication adverse event reports

Authorities are investigating a spike in incidents involving one of Australia's most widely used ADHD medications. Adverse event reports linked to medication Vyvanse have spiked massively this year, and the manufacturer says no changes in the chemical production have been made. 'The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) is currently investigating a potential safety signal associated with Vyvanse, including independent testing of the medicine through the TGA Laboratories,' a spokesperson told NewsWire. 'The investigation is the result of a recent increase in adverse event notifications relating to concerns about the quality, safety, and reduced effectiveness of the drug.' 'There are no compliance signals currently under investigation for the facilities used in the manufacture of this product.' A 'signal' is detection of a pattern which requires further investigation. While not formally a pattern in the TGA's eyes, reports of adverse events such as anxiety, ineffectiveness and insomnia have increased massively this year. There have also been 88 reports of issues with the medicines label, which was flagged by the TGA earlier this year for minor typos; however, one of the typos added an extra 'S' to the word capsule; 'Each capsules contains 60mg lisdexamfetamine dimesilate'. The TGA maintains the Database of Adverse Event Notifications, where people report issues with medications. There have been 320 adverse events linked to Vyvanse in the first half of this year, compared to nine reports in the second half of 2024. Inclusion in the database does not confirm the incident is caused by the medication. Reports of ineffective Vyvanse have hit 150 so far this year, along with 88 reports of anxiety, and 73 reports that the therapeutic response has decreased. Prescriptions of Vyvanse have been steadily increasing for the past few years. More than 958,000 scripts were written by public system health workers in 2022, rising to 1.4 million in 2023, and then 1.8m last year, government data shows. In a statement, supplier Takeda Pharmaceuticals Australia said a change of manufacturing facility in 2024 did not alter the chemical composition of the medicine. 'There have been no changes to the formulation,' a Takeda spokesperson told the ABC. Vyvanse was produced with strict quality controls, in line with Australia's Therapeutics Goods Act, the spokesperson said. The labelling typo did not affect the quality of the medication, they said.