
How to combat 'sloth syndrome' and get moving
Launched one month ago by WHO Europe to mark World Bicycle Day on June 3, the campaign "Let's Get Moving! 100 Reasons to Walk and Cycle More" went somewhat unnoticed.
Yet, this list could have been a great way to find motivation to walk or cycle more. First, not only does one's physical and mental health experience benefits from this type of exercise, but so does the environment, the economy and even community cohesion. The health arguments alone should be compelling. "In the WHO European Region, physical inactivity is linked to approximately one million deaths each year, with nearly 25% of adults failing to meet WHO's recommendation of at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity throughout the week," the United Nations agency emphasized in the campaign's presentation.

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Euronews
14 hours ago
- Euronews
A common bacteria could cause 12 million cases of stomach cancer
A common bacteria found in the stomach could cause nearly 12 million cancers among people born over a single decade, a new study suggests. Over the course of their lives, 15.6 million people born between 2008 and 2017 are expected to develop stomach cancer – and 76 per cent may be caused by the Helicobacter pylori bacteria, according to the study published in the journal Nature Medicine. Stomach cancer is largely preventable, but the prognosis is poor once a patient is diagnosed. It is the fifth most common form of cancer worldwide, killing an estimated 770,000 people per year. Chronic infection with H. pylori is a major cause, and it helps explain the rise in stomach cancers among young people in recent years, the study found. Most people are infected with H. pylori as children, and they may be infected for years without knowing it because the infection doesn't cause symptoms. But it can also cause ulcers or inflammation in the stomach lining. The bacteria can spread by mouth, for example kissing, or through contact with vomit or stool. Where stomach cancer cases will rise Researchers from the World Health Organization's (WHO) cancer research agency analysed stomach cancer data from 185 countries in 2022. They projected that under current trends, 11.9 million people could be diagnosed with stomach cancer attributable to H. pylori infection by 2101, which is the year someone born in 2017 would turn 84. The vast majority of bacteria-linked stomach cancer cases – 8 million – are expected in Asia. Another nearly 471,000 cases are projected in the European Union, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Norway and Iceland. The burden of stomach cancer is also shifting globally. While sub-Saharan Africa currently has relatively few cases, the researchers expect stomach cancer cases tied to H. pylori to rise to 1.4 million by 2101 – six times higher than the rate in 2022 – due to ageing and population changes. 'With demographic changes set to increase the gastric cancer burden in many parts of the world, there is an urgent need for coordinated prevention strategies and for regional health systems to be prepared to manage the growing burden,' said Dr Jin Young Park, one of the study's co-authors and head of the gastric cancer prevention team at the WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). The study has some limitations, notably poor data quality in lower-income countries that can make it harder to make confident predictions. But the researchers said the data is clear enough for health authorities around the world to take action. They called for countries to invest in initiatives to screen and quickly treat people for H. pylori infection. Their analysis shows that such programmes could reduce the number of expected stomach cancer cases by up to 75 per cent. 'It is essential that health authorities make gastric cancer prevention a priority and accelerate efforts to control it,' Park said.

LeMonde
3 days ago
- LeMonde
How to combat 'sloth syndrome' and get moving
"It's like therapy, without a therapist." "It helps me come up with better ideas and solutions to a problem." "It connects me to myself and to others." These are just a few of the responses from European citizens to a simple question posed by the World Health Organization (WHO): Why do you love walking or cycling? Launched one month ago by WHO Europe to mark World Bicycle Day on June 3, the campaign "Let's Get Moving! 100 Reasons to Walk and Cycle More" went somewhat unnoticed. Yet, this list could have been a great way to find motivation to walk or cycle more. First, not only does one's physical and mental health experience benefits from this type of exercise, but so does the environment, the economy and even community cohesion. The health arguments alone should be compelling. "In the WHO European Region, physical inactivity is linked to approximately one million deaths each year, with nearly 25% of adults failing to meet WHO's recommendation of at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity throughout the week," the United Nations agency emphasized in the campaign's presentation.


Euronews
3 days ago
- Euronews
Hot European summers raise health risks from mosquito-borne diseases
Europe is in for a long, hot summer – and with it, a swarm of mosquitoes. The insects are more than just pesky. Some mosquito species carry illnesses such as Zika, West Nile virus, dengue, and chikungunya – and outbreaks of these diseases, typically found in tropical and subtropical climates, are becoming more common in Europe as a result of increased travel and warmer weather driven by climate change. Last year, there were 1,436 cases of West Nile virus and 304 dengue infections acquired in Europe, up from 201 the previous two years combined, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). Italy made up 238 of those dengue cases, the largest outbreak the bloc has ever seen. This may be another record-breaking year. France already has seven active outbreaks of chikungunya this summer, which the ECDC said indicates the mosquito season started earlier than usual. 'It's an exponential curve,' Jan Semenza, an environmental epidemiologist at Umeå University in Sweden, told Euronews Health. Dengue can spread easily because most infected people have no or mild symptoms, but it can cause severe illness and death. The most common symptoms are fever, headache, body aches, nausea, and rash. Chikungunya is rarely fatal, but it can cause similar symptoms to dengue as well as debilitating joint pain that can last months or even years. Semenza and other scientists believe these diseases could soon become endemic in Europe. One recent study found that if a new mosquito species arrived in a European country in the 1990s, it would take about 25 years for a major outbreak to occur. Now, it's under five years. 'That time span has collapsed dramatically,' Semenza said. Outbreaks in Europe are still small compared to the rest of the globe. So far in 2025, there have been more than three million dengue cases and 220,000 chikungunya cases worldwide. More than 1,400 people have died from dengue and there have been 80 chikungunya deaths worldwide. But other vector-borne diseases could soon emerge as public health threats, as well. The mosquito species that spreads yellow fever, once eliminated in Europe, has reappeared in Cyprus. 'We are very concerned that Europe could potentially be invaded by this aggressive mosquito,' Semenza said. What can be done to combat mosquito-borne diseases? Semenza said that while it's impossible to eliminate mosquitoes altogether, governments can do more to prevent them from spreading disease. They could, for example, boost surveillance in hotter southern European countries during the summer, particularly around airports and other transit hubs where people might unknowingly bring viruses in. 'We want to make sure that if a passenger arrives from a dengue-active area, that if that person has the virus in [their] blood, we would like to isolate that individual as quickly as possible to make sure that he or she doesn't get bitten by a mosquito, because then you have these larger outbreaks,' Semenza said. Spain is taking some steps to minimise the risks. People can submit photos of mosquitoes to an app that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to identify the species and issue an alert if it hasn't been detected in that area before. Regional health authorities can then take steps to prevent infections. This 'citizen science' programme has helped officials identify invasive Asian tiger mosquitoes, which can carry dengue and chikungunya viruses, in 156 municipalities since 2023, according to the Spanish health ministry. Meanwhile, the ECDC said people can take steps to minimise their own risks from mosquitoes , including using insect repellent and wearing long sleeves and trousers at dusk and dawn, when mosquitoes are most active. Travellers returning from countries where these viruses are endemic – most parts of Central America, South America, and the Caribbean – should maintain these precautions for at least three weeks after their return to Europe to prevent mosquitoes from biting them and spreading any viruses locally, the agency said. Other climate scientists say European countries grappling with the reemergence of mosquito-borne diseases should take lessons from regions where they have long been endemic, such as sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and the Americas. 'In Europe, it's definitely a seasonal disease,' Semenza said. 'But we see the season expanding, and we'll see more and more cases'.