Mountaineers scaled Mt. Everest in less than a week with help from an anesthetic gas. Critics warn it's dangerous
Mountaineers usually spend weeks or months acclimating to high altitudes before ascending Mt. Everest. But one group accomplished the feat in less than a week after using an anesthetic gas that critics warn could be dangerous.
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Forbes
6 hours ago
- Forbes
Man Vomits So Hard His Esophagus Explodes After Eating Street Food
While most episodes of vomiting don't lead to Boerhaave syndrome, it is a rare possibility. (Photo: ... More Getty) This could be considered a bad street food experience. A 59-year-old previously healthy man had eaten some street food when something came up—like all the stuff that was in his stomach. Apparently, he literally couldn't stomach the food and vomited it up quite forcefully. In fact, the vomiting was so forceful that it blew a hole in his esophagus, as described by a case report in the New England Journal of Medicine. And this wretched retching situation is a medical emergency, because you are not exactly whole with a hole in your esophagus. The Man Had Boerhaave Syndrome, Spontaneous Rupture Of The Esophagus This was an example of Boerhaave syndrome, a rather rare life-threatening situation where your esophagus spontaneous ruptures from severe vomiting. Only an estimated 0.0003% of the population has suffered such an emergency. So, it's probably something that you don't want to make up as an excuse for missing work. The man began suffering severe chest pain half an hour after he had vomited. These symptoms went on for five hours until he got to the emergency room at Qilu Hospital in Qingdao, China. Severe or repeated vomiting and sudden onset chest pain are two parts of what's called the Mackler Triad, the trio of signs suggestive of Boerhaave syndrome. The third sign is subcutaneous emphysema, a fancy medical term for having air trapped in the tissues under your skin where it isn't supposed to be. Penghui Wei, M.D., and Wenyong Zhu, M.D. of the Cheeloo College of Medicine at Shandong University described in the case report what happened next. At the ER, the doctors found his breathing to be rapid and shallow and signs of air in his neck tissue, which, voilà, would constitute the third sign of the Mackler triad. A CT (computed tomography) of his chest indeed revealed a tear in his esophagus, along with air in the parts of his chest and neck where it shouldn't be. The doctors then inserted a tube in his chest to drain the accumulated fluid and air. An esophagram, which is where you swallow contrast materials and then undergo X-rays to view the esophagus, confirmed the perforation of the esophagus. Surgical Repair Of The Esophagus Was Needed Since such a tear won't heal on itself or with supplements, vaginal steaming or some kind of scented candle, the man underwent emergency surgery through thoracoscopy to repair the esophagus. Survival from Boerhaave syndrome really depends on how quickly you get treatment. The Cleveland Clinic website estimates that when treatment occurs within 24 hours, the survival rate is around 75%. This goes below 50% if you wait for more than 24 hours. In fact, once you get beyond 48 hours, the death rate is reaches 90%. This resulted in a 35-day stay in the hospital. He had to use a feeding tube through his nose to get nutrition for several months until imaging showed that his esophagus had adequately healed. Vomiting Can Cause Other Types Of Damage To Your Esophagus Vomiting in general is not a good thing. The force of having your stomach contents being shot up into your esophagus can cause various degrees of damage to your esophagus. So can the acid that should normally stay in your stomach. Less severe than Boerhaave syndrome is a Mallory-Weiss tear, which is a tear in the lining of the esophagus, most often close to the stomach. Signs of such damage include chest pain and blood in the vomit, known as hematemesis. You may also notice black tarry stools if the blood makes it down through your poop. There may not be any noticeable symptoms so if you find yourself repeatedly vomiting over time, it may be a good idea to check in with a doctor. Again, Boerhaave syndrome is quite rare, which is why it is a case study in the New England Journal of Medicine. Such a journal wouldn't have the following as a case study: man east street food, has diarrhea, the end. So don't go around being petrified of having esophagus rupture someday. But you may want to be careful of what you eat where and recognize the bad things that could come up when you upchuck.
Yahoo
16 hours ago
- Yahoo
WHO says probe into COVID-19 virus origin still ongoing
(Reuters) -The World Health Organization said on Friday that efforts to determine the origins of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic, are still ongoing and incomplete. The WHO Scientific Advisory Group reported progress in understanding COVID-19's origins but noted that critical information required to fully assess all hypotheses remains unavailable. The agency said it had requested China share hundreds of genetic sequences from COVID-19 patients early in the pandemic, detailed information on animals sold at Wuhan markets, and details on research and biosafety conditions at Wuhan laboratories. WHO added that China has not yet shared the information. China's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Yahoo
16 hours ago
- Yahoo
COVID-19 origin still ‘inconclusive' after years-long WHO study
The World Health Organization (WHO) says efforts to uncover the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic are still ongoing and incomplete, as critical information has 'not been provided'. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said 'all hypotheses must remain on the table' to determine the cause of the virus, also known as SARS-CoV-2, after an expert group investigating its origins reached an unsatisfying conclusion in its final report released on Friday. 'We continue to appeal to China and any other country that has information about the origins of COVID-19 to share that information openly, in the interests of protecting the world from future pandemics,' Tedros said. The global pandemic, which began in 2020, killed millions worldwide, with countries enforcing lockdowns in an attempt to stop the spread of the virus. With the first cases detected in Wuhan, China, in late 2019, information from the country is seen as key to preventing future pandemics. In 2021, Tedros launched the WHO Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO), a panel of 27 independent international experts. Marietjie Venter, the group's chair, said on Friday that most scientific data supports the hypothesis that the new coronavirus jumped to humans from animals. But she added that after more than three years of work, SAGO was unable to get the necessary data to evaluate whether or not COVID was the result of a lab accident, despite repeated requests for detailed information made to the Chinese government. 'Therefore, this hypothesis could not be investigated or excluded,' she said, however adding, 'It was deemed to be very speculative, based on political opinions and not backed up by science.' Venter also said there was no evidence to prove that COVID had been manipulated in a lab, nor was there any indication that the virus had been spreading before December 2019 anywhere outside of China. In 2021, a group of experts from the WHO first travelled to Wuhan to examine the origins of the virus with their Chinese counterparts. By March of that year, their joint report found that the most likely hypothesis was from bats to humans via an intermediate animal. They said at the time that a lab leak was 'extremely unlikely'. However, that investigation faced backlash for lacking transparency and access, and not taking the lab-leak theory seriously. After that, SAGO was launched. According to the SAGO report, 'the weight of available evidence … suggests zoonotic [a disease spread between animals to humans] spillover … either directly from bats or through an intermediate host'. 'Until more scientific data becomes available, the origins of how SARS-CoV-2 entered human populations will remain inconclusive,' Venter said. 'Understanding the origins of SARS-CoV-2 and how it sparked a pandemic is needed to help prevent future pandemics, save lives and livelihoods, and reduce global suffering,' she added. Tedros said it was a 'moral imperative' to determine how COVID began, noting that the virus killed at least 20 million people, wiped at least $10tn from the global economy and upended the lives of billions.
