Latest news with #PublicHealthInstitute
Global News
4 days ago
- Health
- Global News
West Nile virus to spread to remote areas of Quebec due to climate change, study says
Quebec public health officials are warning of another potential consequence of climate change. A recent study by the Public Health Institute suggests warmer temperatures could lead to a surge in West Nile virus cases and that it could spread to more remote regions of the province for the first time. Get weekly health news Receive the latest medical news and health information delivered to you every Sunday. Sign up for weekly health newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy The virus is often found in Quebec's larger city centres, especially around Montreal. But by 2080, the virus could migrate, going as for as Gaspé and even north to the Abitibi region. As Global's Franca Mignacca reports, warming weather coupled with increased precipitation is expected to increase its spread, as well as other mosquito and tick-born diseases. For the full story, watch the video above.
Yahoo
18-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Marijuana use dramatically increases risk of dying from heart attacks and stroke, large study finds
Get inspired by a weekly roundup on living well, made simple. Sign up for CNN's Life, But Better newsletter for information and tools designed to improve your well-being. Using marijuana doubles the risk of dying from heart disease, according to a new analysis of pooled medical data involving 200 million people mostly between the ages of 19 and 59. 'What was particularly striking was that the concerned patients hospitalized for these disorders were young (and thus, not likely to have their clinical features due to tobacco smoking) and with no history of cardiovascular disorder or cardiovascular risk factors,' said senior author Émilie Jouanjus, an associate professor of pharmacology at the University of Toulouse, France, in an email. Compared to nonusers, those who used cannabis also had a 29% higher risk for heart attacks and a 20% higher risk for stroke, according to the study published Tuesday in the journal Heart. 'This is one of the largest studies to date on the connection between marijuana and heart disease, and it raises serious questions about the assumption that cannabis imposes little cardiovascular risk,' said pediatrician Dr. Lynn Silver, a clinical professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at University of California, San Francisco. 'Getting this right is critically important because cardiovascular disease is the top cause of death both in the United States and globally,' said Silver, who is also senior adviser at the Public Health Institute, a nonprofit public health organization that analyzes marijuana policy and legalization. Silver is the coauthor of an editorial published with the paper that calls for change in how cannabis is viewed by health professionals, regulatory bodies and the public at large. 'Clinicians need to screen people for cannabis use and educate them about its harms, the same way we do for tobacco, because in some population groups it's being used more widely than tobacco,' she said. 'Our regulatory system, which has been almost entirely focused on creating legal infrastructure and licensing legal, for-profit (cannabis) businesses, needs to focus much more strongly on health warnings that educate people about the real risks.' The new systematic review and meta-analysis analyzed medical information from large, observational studies conducted in Australia, Egypt, Canada, France, Sweden and the US between 2016 and 2023. Those studies did not ask people how they used cannabis — such as via smoking, vaping, dabbing, edibles, tinctures or topicals. (Dabbing involves vaporizing concentrated cannabis and inhaling the vapor.) However, 'based on epidemiological data, it is likely that cannabis was smoked in the vast majority of cases,' Jouanjus said. Smoking tobacco is a well-known cause of heart disease — both the smoke and the chemicals in tobacco damage blood vessels and increase clotting, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Therefore, it is not surprising that smoking, vaping or dabbing cannabis could do the same, Silver said: 'Any of the many ways of inhaling cannabis are going to have risks to the user, and there's also secondhand smoke risks, which are similar to tobacco.' The notion that smoking cannabis is less harmful because it's 'natural' is just wrong, Dr. Beth Cohen, professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, told CNN in a prior interview. 'When you burn something, whether it is tobacco or cannabis, it creates toxic compounds, carcinogens, and particulate matter that are harmful to health,' Cohen said in an email. However, edibles may also play a role in heart disease, according to a May 2025 study. People who consumed edibles laced with tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, showed signs of early cardiovascular disease similar to tobacco smokers. 'We found that vascular function was reduced by 42% in marijuana smokers and by 56% in THC-edible users compared to nonusers,' Dr. Leila Mohammadi, an assistant researcher in cardiology at the University of California, San Francisco, told CNN in a prior interview. None of the studies included in the new meta-analysis asked users about the potency of THC in the products they consume. Even if they had, that information would be quickly outdated, Silver said. 'The cannabis market is a moving target. It is getting more potent every day,' she said. 'What's being sold to people today in California is 510 times stronger than what it was in the 1970s. Concentrates can be 99% pure THC. Vapes are over 80% THC. 'A variety of chemically extracted cannabinoids can be almost pure THC, and all of these just have very different effects on people than smoking a joint in the 1970s.' Higher potency weed is contributing to a host of problems, including an increase in addiction — a July 2022 study found consuming high-potency weed was linked to a fourfold increased risk of dependence. In the United States, about 3 in 10 people who use marijuana have cannabis use disorder, the medical term for marijuana addiction, according to the CDC. 'We know that more potent cannabis makes people more likely to become addicted,' Silver said. 'We know that more potent cannabis makes people more likely to develop psychosis, seeing and hearing things that aren't there, or schizophrenia. Habitual users may also suffer from uncontrollable vomiting.' The rise in potency is one reason that the current study may not have captured the full extent of the risk of marijuana for heart disease, Jouanjus said: 'We are afraid that the association might be even stronger than that reported.' While science continues to study the risk, experts say it's time to think twice about the potential harms of cannabis use — especially if heart disease is a concern. 'If I was a 60-year-old person who had some heart disease risk, I would be very cautious about using cannabis,' Silver said. 'I've seen older people who are using cannabis for pain or for sleep, some of whom have significant cardiovascular risk, or who have had strokes or had heart attacks or had angina, and they have no awareness that this may be putting them at greater risk.'
CNN
17-06-2025
- Health
- CNN
Marijuana use doubles risk of dying from heart disease, large study finds
Get inspired by a weekly roundup on living well, made simple. Sign up for CNN's Life, But Better newsletter for information and tools designed to improve your well-being. Using marijuana doubles the risk of dying from heart disease, according to a new analysis of pooled medical data involving 200 million people mostly between the ages of 19 and 59. 'What was particularly striking was that the concerned patients hospitalized for these disorders were young (and thus, not likely to have their clinical features due to tobacco smoking) and with no history of cardiovascular disorder or cardiovascular risk factors,' said senior author Émilie Jouanjus, an associate professor of pharmacology at the University of Toulouse, France, in an email. Compared to nonusers, those who used cannabis also had a 29% higher risk for heart attacks and a 20% higher risk for stroke, according to the study published Tuesday in the journal Heart. 'This is one of the largest studies to date on the connection between marijuana and heart disease, and it raises serious questions about the assumption that cannabis imposes little cardiovascular risk,' said pediatrician Dr. Lynn Silver, a clinical professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at University of California, San Francisco. 'Getting this right is critically important because cardiovascular disease is the top cause of death both in the United States and globally,' said Silver, who is also senior adviser at the Public Health Institute, a nonprofit public health organization that analyzes marijuana policy and legalization. Silver is the coauthor of an editorial published with the paper that calls for change in how cannabis is viewed by health professionals, regulatory bodies and the public at large. 'Clinicians need to screen people for cannabis use and educate them about its harms, the same way we do for tobacco, because in some population groups it's being used more widely than tobacco,' she said. 'Our regulatory system, which has been almost entirely focused on creating legal infrastructure and licensing legal, for-profit (cannabis) businesses, needs to focus much more strongly on health warnings that educate people about the real risks.' The new systematic review and meta-analysis analyzed medical information from large, observational studies conducted in Australia, Egypt, Canada, France, Sweden and the US between 2016 and 2023. Those studies did not ask people how they used cannabis — such as via smoking, vaping, dabbing, edibles, tinctures or topicals. (Dabbing involves vaporizing concentrated cannabis and inhaling the vapor.) However, 'based on epidemiological data, it is likely that cannabis was smoked in the vast majority of cases,' Jouanjus said. Smoking tobacco is a well-known cause of heart disease — both the smoke and the chemicals in tobacco damage blood vessels and increase clotting, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Therefore, it is not surprising that smoking, vaping or dabbing cannabis could do the same, Silver said: 'Any of the many ways of inhaling cannabis are going to have risks to the user, and there's also secondhand smoke risks, which are similar to tobacco.' The notion that smoking cannabis is less harmful because it's 'natural' is just wrong, Dr. Beth Cohen, professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, told CNN in a prior interview. 'When you burn something, whether it is tobacco or cannabis, it creates toxic compounds, carcinogens, and particulate matter that are harmful to health,' Cohen said in an email. However, edibles may also play a role in heart disease, according to a May 2025 study. People who consumed edibles laced with tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, showed signs of early cardiovascular disease similar to tobacco smokers. 'We found that vascular function was reduced by 42% in marijuana smokers and by 56% in THC-edible users compared to nonusers,' Dr. Leila Mohammadi, an assistant researcher in cardiology at the University of California, San Francisco, told CNN in a prior interview. None of the studies included in the new meta-analysis asked users about the potency of THC in the products they consume. Even if they had, that information would be quickly outdated, Silver said. 'The cannabis market is a moving target. It is getting more potent every day,' she said. 'What's being sold to people today in California is 510 times stronger than what it was in the 1970s. Concentrates can be 99% pure THC. Vapes are over 80% THC. 'A variety of chemically extracted cannabinoids can be almost pure THC, and all of these just have very different effects on people than smoking a joint in the 1970s.' Higher potency weed is contributing to a host of problems, including an increase in addiction — a July 2022 study found consuming high-potency weed was linked to a fourfold increased risk of dependence. In the United States, about 3 in 10 people who use marijuana have cannabis use disorder, the medical term for marijuana addiction, according to the CDC. 'We know that more potent cannabis makes people more likely to become addicted,' Silver said. 'We know that more potent cannabis makes people more likely to develop psychosis, seeing and hearing things that aren't there, or schizophrenia. Habitual users may also suffer from uncontrollable vomiting.' The rise in potency is one reason that the current study may not have captured the full extent of the risk of marijuana for heart disease, Jouanjus said: 'We are afraid that the association might be even stronger than that reported.' While science continues to study the risk, experts say it's time to think twice about the potential harms of cannabis use — especially if heart disease is a concern. 'If I was a 60-year-old person who had some heart disease risk, I would be very cautious about using cannabis,' Silver said. 'I've seen older people who are using cannabis for pain or for sleep, some of whom have significant cardiovascular risk, or who have had strokes or had heart attacks or had angina, and they have no awareness that this may be putting them at greater risk.'
The Guardian
26-05-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Malawi battles mpox as cases of the infectious disease surge in Africa
Malawi's ministry of health has announced three new cases of mpox in the capital, Lilongwe, bringing the number of confirmed cases to 11 since the country's first was reported in April. Malawi is one of 16 countries in Africa reporting mpox outbreaks as health officials battle with vaccine shortages as well as limited testing and hospital capacity. The Public Health Institute of Malawi said the patients were aged between 17 and 41. 'Investigations are under way to establish the possible source of infection and trace contacts,' the department said in a statement last week. The first cases in Malawi come after US government aid cuts to healthcare, including HIV programmes, badly hit the country and raised fears of an escalation of infectious diseases. HIV medication programmes have been severely depleted by the cuts, said Richard Mvula, spokesperson for the Lilongwe district health office. 'A commonality about these cases is that some were immunocompromised,' he said, adding that people who had been on ART (antiretroviral therapy) had stopped taking their medication because of shortages brought about by the US cuts. HIV can worsen the risk and severity of mpox, while effective HIV treatment can help manage the risk. People living with HIV, especially those with uncontrolled viral loads, may experience a more severe form of mpox. Malawi had been on alert since the global mpox outbreak began in 2022 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and several other African countries. The news of the first cases last month prompted fears of an outbreak. While most cases have been restricted to Lilongwe, a two-year-old was found with the condition in Mangochi district, about 150 miles (240km) from the capital. While recorded cases remain low in Malawi, one of the poorest countries in the world, mpox has surged in the region overall. The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) reports 52,082 cases since the beginning of 2025, with more than 1,770 deaths during the outbreak as a whole. In a briefing to journalists last week, Africa CDC officials said they were seeing different patterns of transmission between countries. In Sierra Leone, where cases are rising 'exponentially', the clade IIb form of the virus is circulating. In the DRC and its neighbours it is clade Ia and Ib that dominate. They said the continent would need about 6.4m doses of vaccine, but was still far from having that available, with only 1.3m received so far. They also highlighted a lack of testing capacity in many countries, and warned that in Sierra Leone patients were being treated two to a bed. Malawi's health system faces many challenges, including long distances to clinics, insufficient funding, a shortage of equipment and a lack of qualified personnel. In March this year, the Joint UN Programme on HIV and Aids drew attention to the immediate risks of the US funding cuts on HIV programmes in Malawi. The programme cited thousands of HIV prevention drugs (PrEP) which were expiring. It said the government has instructed the remaining implementer to continue with the scaling up of injectable PrEP but to only recruit new pregnant and lactating women. The US government had been providing more than $350m (£282m) to Malawi annually, according to the US Department of State. Knowledge of mpox around the country is low, reminiscent of the Covid-19 outbreak where myths were rife and people resorted to tree leaves and herbs to cure the symptoms. Thousands of people died. A series of interviews across the capital showed most people have no knowledge of mpox. In central Lilongwe, taxi driver Steven Banda outlined what he knew. 'I came across an official from the ministry of health who was explaining about it and advised that we should be careful since it is dangerous. She described the symptoms including swellings, and mentioned some of the districts affected. I'm not aware of any cases in my area or seen anyone suffering from the disease. We don't know much about it,' he said. Dr Victor Mithi, the president of Malawi's Society of Medical Doctors, said there is need for significant vigilance among practitioners within hospitals to make sure that 'as we perform our day-to-day clinical procedures, we are able to screen those patients that may be having this condition'. 'It is a big concern because in Malawi, most people live in crowded houses and still believe that as a form of expression of love, you need to shake hands, you need to hug people and all those things which are basically the risk factors in the transmission of this disease.' Mithi said that with the lessons drawn from Covid-19 and other infectious diseases, Malawi had the capacity to manage mpox, at clinical and community level. 'The challenge exists though because of the withdrawal of the US aid; the capacity of our healthcare system is no longer the same. Almost 60% of our healthcare system is donor dependent, of which more than 50% of the donor aid was coming from [the US]. So the withdrawal means that our healthcare system is completely shaken, we are left in a state where we didn't build internal capacities to sustain ourselves,' Mithi added.
Time of India
24-05-2025
- Automotive
- Time of India
Double-decker flyover to open in June after fifth deadline extension
Patna: The deadline for completing the ambitious double-decker flyover on the congested Ashok Rajpath stretch has been extended once again. Initially slated for completion by Jan this year, the Rs 422-crore project is now expected to open to the public in the first week of June. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now This is the fifth extension of the project, which is being implemented by Bihar Rajya Pul Nirman Nigam Limited (BRPNNL). Engineers attributed the delay to a range of challenges encountered during construction, pushing the timeline back by five months. While the 2.2-km-long flyover from Kargil Chowk to Science College is structurally complete, extensive repair work is still ongoing on the grade-level (existing) road. In addition, drainage pipes are being installed along the excavated stretch. A senior BRPNNL engineer said, "The deadline to complete the road repair is May 31 and the project will be inaugurated by CM Nitish Kumar in the first week of June. The flyover is ready with all the finishing touches, including lighting, railings, sound barriers, thermoplastic markings, traffic signs and landscaping. The repair work on the existing road will be completed within a week." The flyover features a dual-tier structure. The first tier, measuring 1.5km, will cater to one-way traffic from Patna College towards B N College. The second tier, 2.2km in length, will support one-way movement from Kargil Chowk to Science College. Both levels will have 7.5-metre-wide traffic lanes. The flyover will have several access points. One will link to the proposed multi-level car parking facilities of Patna Medical College Hospital (PMCH) while another ramp near Patna University's Central Library – part of tier II – will provide direct access to J P Ganga Pathway at Krishna Ghat. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Outlining the key challenges, the engineer said, "Drainage work is underway on a single lane from Bishop House to the Public Health Institute and from Kulhariya Complex to Kargil Chowk. Heavy traffic in this commercial zone is another obstacle. Additional delays arose due to land acquisition issues linked to the metro rail project, the road-over-drain project near Anta Ghat and a one-metre land acquisition delay from the church. " He added, "The civic body has completed drainage work between Kulhariya Complex and Kargil Chowk, and we will now begin road repairs on this stretch, expected to finish within four to five days. However, between Bishop House and the Public Health Institute, work is stalled due to the pending land requirement. A manhole will be constructed, and we will repair the road accordingly." Commenting on traffic arrangements, he said, "We requested the district administration to allow one-way traffic from Kulhariya to Kargil Chowk. In return, traffic from Kargil Chowk could be diverted through the lane near Christ Church and St Joseph's Convent High School. But nothing was done." In addition, 1 to 1.5-metre-wide footpaths are being constructed on both sides for pedestrian use. The repair work from NIT More to PMCH is complete, except for the portion affected by ongoing metro rail construction near the hospital. The space beneath the flyover will be utilised for vehicle parking.
