Latest news with #InfectiousDiseases
CTV News
4 hours ago
- Health
- CTV News
What you need to know about West Nile, Rocky Mountain spotted fever and the measles
Video Infectious diseases expert Dr. Isaac Bogoch on what you need to know about West Nile, Rocky Mountain spotted fever and the Measles.
Zawya
25-06-2025
- Health
- Zawya
Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City launches dedicated travel health clinic
in the UAE – safeguarding their health and the well-being of the wider community Abu Dhabi, UAE: Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City (SSMC), a flagship hospital in the UAE for serious and complex care and a subsidiary of the PureHealth group, has today announced the launch of its new Travel Health Clinic. This specialised clinic will address the evolving health needs of travellers – either departing from or arriving in the UAE – and thereby protecting both their individual well-being and the community's health. Proactive pre-travel consultations offered by SSMC's Travel Health Clinic can significantly reduce travel-associated health risks. Operationally supported by a dedicated multidisciplinary team of infectious disease doctors, travel health nurses, pharmacists, and laboratory staff, the clinic provides a comprehensive suite of pre- and post-travel medical services, designed to prevent and manage travel-related health risks. Dr. Zahir Babiker, interim division chair of tropical and infectious diseases, and consultant at SSMC, said: 'At SSMC, we are committed to advancing healthcare excellence in the region. The launch of our dedicated Travel Health Clinic reflects our leadership in tropical and travel medicine, providing expert, comprehensive support to ensure individuals are well-prepared, protected, and confident when they travel, giving them peace of mind both during their journey and upon their return.' Services provided by the Travel Health Clinic include pre-travel consultations and offering evidence-based, destination-specific health advice tailored to individual health profiles and itineraries. The clinic also administers essential immunisations for international travel, including yellow fever and meningococcal disease – based on destination-specific risk assessments. Preventative measures include protection against infectious diseases such as malaria and non-infectious conditions such as altitude sickness. Post-travel evaluations are also a core offering, involving expert clinical assessment and management of febrile illnesses or specific exposure concerns. In addition, the clinic facilitates certified medical fitness assessments often required by UAE-based foreign embassies. The clinic serves the full spectrum of international travellers, and individuals requiring official embassy-mandated medical certifications. To further support safe and well-prepared travel, SSMC is working closely with corporate partners, embassies, and insurance providers. The clinic is conveniently located within the Outpatient Department of SSMC. To book your travel consultation, a WhatsApp contact number is available, along with the Travel Health Clinic's website, the SEHA App, or – if in the UAE – by calling 800 7762. For media inquiries, please contact: Fadya Al Kathairi Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City Email: falkathairi@ Afaf El-Sharkawy 9Yards Communications Email: About Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City (SSMC) Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City is one of the largest tertiary hospitals in the UAE offering the highest standards of medical expertise for the treatment of serious and complex conditions. Established in 2019, SSMC has 660 patient beds, 18 operating theatres, including a hybrid operating room and a 26-bed neonatal intensive care unit. Supported by the latest diagnostic and treatment modalities available, SSMC offers care in 46 specialties, bringing advanced and trusted quality care closer to the UAE and the wider region. For more information on Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City or to book an appointment, please visit: About PureHealth: PureHealth is the largest healthcare group in the Middle East with an ecosystem that challenges lifespans and reimagines health spans. With 110+ hospitals, 316+ clinics, multiple diagnostic centres, health insurance solutions, pharmacies, health tech, procurement, investments and more, its groundbreaking innovations are at the forefront of healthcare as the company is on a mission to unlock time for humankind. By advancing the Science of Longevity, PureHealth is introducing the healthcare of the future from the United Arab Emirates to the rest of the world. PureHealth's network comprises: SEHA – One of the largest healthcare networks of hospitals and clinics in the UAE SEHA CLINICS - Delivering comprehensive community-based healthcare services Daman (The National Insurance Company) – The UAE's leading health insurer The Medical Office – Overseeing Sheikh Khalifa Hospitals and healthcare facilities established under the initiatives of H.H. The President of the UAE Rafed – The UAE's largest healthcare Group Purchasing Organisation PureLab – Managing and operating the largest network of laboratories in the region One Health – A network that provides end-to-end medical solutions to a base of over 300 healthcare service providers The Life Corner – Abu Dhabi's first holistic pharmacy, serving the health and wellness establishment Ardent Health Services – The fourth largest privately held acute care hospital operator in the US Circle Health Group – The largest independent operators of hospitals in the UK Hellenic Healthcare Group (HHG) - the largest private healthcare provider in Greece and Cyprus PureCS - A leading cloud and technology services provider, specialising in IT management and consulting solutions, cybersecurity, cloud services and AI information systems Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City (SSMC) – The UAE's largest healthcare complex, delivering integrated complex care To learn more, please visit
Express Tribune
20-06-2025
- Health
- Express Tribune
Second Congo virus death reported in Malir
Sindh has reported its second casualty from the Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) Known as Congo virus in 2025, after a fisherman from Ibrahim Hyderi died on June 19. A confirmed case of Congo virus was reported in Malir district after 25-year-old fisherman from Ibrahim Hyderi, identified as Muhammad Zubair was admitted to Jinnah Hospital on June 16 with severe symptoms, including high fever, muscle pain, abdominal pain, cough, diarrhea, and bleeding. Upon suspicion of Congo virus infection and due to limited facilities, he was referred to the Sindh Infectious Diseases Hospital & Research Centre (SIDH & RC), where he passed away on June 19. Following the death, the Sindh Health Department has mobilised an Active Search and Response Team to the affected locality. Health officials have gathered information from the family and identified all individuals who were in contact with the patient. As of now, no other person has been reported with the virus. However, residents and family members have been counseled on preventive measures and early symptom detection.
WebMD
19-06-2025
- Health
- WebMD
FDA Approves First Twice-Yearly Shot to Prevent HIV
June 19, 2025 – The FDA has approved the first twice-yearly shot to reduce the risk of HIV infections. Originally approved in 2012, the drug – known as lenacapavir but sold under the name Yeztugo – offers a new way to protect against this life-threatening infection that affects more than a million people in the U.S. and has no cure. The shot is given before potential exposure to the virus. HIV spreads through unprotected sex and shared needles (including dirty needles from tattoos and body piercings). It weakens the immune system, and in its advanced stage, the body can no longer fight off infections, leading to acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Only about a third of eligible people in the U.S. use available HIV prevention, with especially low use among women, Black/African American and Hispanic communities, and people in the South. This is mainly due to stigma, low awareness about existing options, and challenges with daily pills or frequent shots. Carlos del Rio, MD, a distinguished professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Emory University School of Medicine, said that getting a shot just twice a year could make it easier for people to stick with prevention. "Yeztugo could be the transformative PrEP [pre-exposure prophylaxis] option we've been waiting for – offering the potential to boost PrEP uptake and persistence and adding a powerful new tool in our mission to end the HIV epidemic," said del Rio, who is also co-director of the Emory Center for AIDS Research in Atlanta. Gilead, the drug's maker, said the FDA approved Yeztugo based on two major studies, which showed that it worked better than taking a daily pill form of PrEP in preventing HIV with a nearly 100% success rate. In one trial, none of the 2,134 women who received Yeztugo got HIV, while in the other, only two out of 2,179 people did. It was well tolerated with no new safety concerns, which led the academic journal Science to name lenacapavir as its 2024 "Breakthrough of the Year." Yeztugo attacks a protective shell that HIV needs to stay alive, which helps stop the virus from growing and spreading. Most HIV drugs only work at one part of the virus's life cycle, but Yeztugo works at several points. It also still works even if other HIV drugs have stopped working. It is given as a shot under the skin and is only for people who test negative for HIV. Before starting Yeztugo and before each shot, your provider will test for HIV to prevent the virus from developing resistance to the medication. The treatment begins with two shots and two tablets, followed by two more tablets the next day – then continues with one shot every six months. If a shot is delayed by over two weeks, a weekly pill can be used for up to six months. If over 28 weeks pass with no treatment, patients may need to restart. If a patient gets HIV while on Yeztugo, they'll need full HIV treatment, as Yeztugo alone isn't enough. Yeztugo helps lower the risk of HIV when taken as prescribed, along with safe sex practices like using condoms.
The Independent
06-06-2025
- Health
- The Independent
How AI could help stop the next pandemic before it starts
Could artificial intelligence tools be used to stop the next pandemic before it starts? During the Covid pandemic, new technology developed by researchers at Johns Hopkins and Duke universities didn't exist. But, for the first time, researchers there say they've devised a revolutionary large language modeling tool - the type of generative AI used in ChatGP - to help predict the spread of any infectious disease, such as bird flu, monkeypox, and RSV. That could help save lives and reduce infections. 'Covid-19 elucidated the challenge of predicting disease spread due to the interplay of complex factors that were constantly changing,' Johns Hopkins' Lauren Gardner, a modeling expert who created the Covid dashboard that was relied upon by people worldwide during the pandemic, said in a statement. 'When conditions were stable the models were fine. However, when new variants emerged or policies changed, we were terrible at predicting the outcomes because we didn't have the modeling capabilities to include critical types of information,' she added. 'The new tool fills this gap.' Gardner was one of the authors of the study published Thursday in the Nature Computational Science journal. The tool, named PandemicLLM, considers recent infection spikes, new variants, and stringent protective measures. The researchers utilized data that had never been used before in pandemic prediction tools, finding that PandemicLLM could accurately predict disease patterns and hospitalization trends one to three weeks out. The data included rates of cases hospitalizations and vaccines, types of government policies, characteristics of disease variants and their prevalence, and state-level demographics. The model incorporates these elements to predict how they will come together and affect how disease behaves. They retroactively applied PandemicLLM to the Covid pandemic, looking at each state over the course of 19 months. The authors said the tool was particularly successful when the outbreak was in flux. It also outperformed existing state-of-the-art forecasting methods, including the highest performing ones on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's CovidHub. 'Traditionally we use the past to predict the future,' author Hao 'Frank' Yang, a Johns Hopkins assistant professor of civil and systems engineering, said. 'But that doesn't give the model sufficient information to understand and predict what's happening. Instead, this framework uses new types of real-time information.' Going forward, they are looking at how large language models can replicate the ways individuals make decisions about their health. They hope that such a model would help officials to design safer and more effective policies. More than a million Americans have died from Covid. It's not a matter of if there will be a next pandemic, but when. Right now, the U.S. is dealing with the spread of H5N1 bird flu, RSV, HMPV, pertussis, and measles, among other health concerns. Vaccination rates for measles have plunged since the pandemic, and general vaccine hesitancy has increased. That has resulted in fears that the nation could see decades of health progress reversed. Furthermore, U.S. health officials have acted to separate from global efforts to respond to pandemics, withdrawing from the World Health Organization earlier this year. Last month, they limited access to Covid vaccines for certain groups. 'We know from Covid-19 that we need better tools so that we can inform more effective policies,' Gardner said. 'There will be another pandemic, and these types of frameworks will be crucial for supporting public health response.'
