Mosquitoes should be given malaria drugs to clear their infection so they can no longer spread the disease, say US researchers.Malaria parasites, which kill nearly 600,000 people a year, mostly children, are spread by female mosquitoes when they drink blood.Current efforts aim to kill mosquitoes with insecticide rather than curing them of malaria.But a team at Harvard University has found a pair of drugs which can successfully rid the insects of malaria when absorbed through their legs. Coating bed nets in the drug cocktail is the long-term aim.Sleeping under a bed net has been one of the most successful ways of preventing malaria as the main malaria-spreading mosquitoes hunt at night.Vaccines to protect children living in high-risk malaria areas are also recommended.Nets are both a physical barrier and also contain insecticides which kill mosquitoes that land on them.But mosquitoes have become resistant to insecticide in many countries so the chemicals no longer kill the insects as effectively as they used to.”We haven’t really tried to directly kill parasites in the mosquito before this, because we were just killing the mosquito,” says researcher Dr Alexandra Probst, from Harvard.However, she says that approach is “no longer cutting it”.The researchers analysed malaria’s DNA to find possible weak spots while it is infecting mosquitoes. They took a large library of potential drugs and narrowed it down to a shortlist of 22. These were tested when female mosquitoes were given a blood-meal contaminated with malaria. In their article in Nature, the scientists describe two highly effective drugs that killed 100% of the parasites.The drugs were tested on material similar to bed nets.”Even if that mosquito survives contact with the bed net, the parasites within are killed and so it’s still not transmitting malaria,” said Dr Probst.”I think this is a really exciting approach, because it’s a totally new way of targeting mosquitoes themselves.”She says the malaria parasite is less likely to become resistant to the drugs as there are billions of them in each infected person, but less than five in each mosquito. The effect of the drugs lasts for a year on the nets, potentially making it a cheap and long-lasting alternative to insecticide, the researchers say.This approach has been proven in the laboratory. The next stage is already planned in Ethiopia to see if the anti-malarial bed nets are effective in the real world. It will take at least six years before all the studies are completed to know if this approach will work. But the vision is to have bed nets treated with both anti-malaria drugs and insecticide so that if one approach doesn’t work, then the other will.

19 minutes agoShareSaveNick TriggleShareSaveGetty ImagesWomen with very dense breasts should be offered additional scans as part of the UK’s NHS breast screening programme to help detect more cancers and save lives, researchers say.A Cambridge University-led study of more than 9,000 women found using different scans from traditional mammograms could treble the number of cancers detected in this group of women.Around one in 10 women have very dense breasts and they have a higher risk of developing breast cancer, however cancers are harder to spot in dense breasts because of the way mammograms (breast x-rays) work.This is because they look whiter on the x-rays, the same colour as early-stage cancers.The trial tested different scanning methods on women with very dense breasts who had been given a mammogram and told they did not have cancer.It is only through mammograms that women and their health professionals can identify breasts that are very dense.’Extra scan spotted my cancer’Louise Duffield, 60, from Ely, Cambridgeshire, was one of the trial participants who had an early-stage breast cancer diagnosed.She had surgery to have the tumour removed within weeks.She says it was a “big shock” when she got the diagnosis.”It’s been a stressful time and it’s a huge relief to have it gone. The tumour was deep in the breast so if I hadn’t been on the trial, it could have gone unnoticed for years.”OtherThe study, published in The Lancet, found two alternative methods, an enhanced mammogram and a fast MRI scan, detected 17-19 cancers per 1,000 women screened. Both techniques use injections to make blood vessels more visible – tumours in the breast have a lot of blood vessels.By contrast, traditional mammograms detect eight cancers in every 1,000 women screened. This amounts to more than 20,000 cancers currently detected each year. Women aged 50 to 71 are invited for breast screening every three years and around two thirds take up the offer.Based on the study results and that level of uptake, using the different scanning techniques on women with very dense breasts could identify 3,500 extra cancers per year and potentially save 700 lives.’Time to change approach’Prof Fiona Gilbert, who led the research, said she was convinced the new approach could make a difference.”We need to change our national screening programme so we can make sure more cancers are diagnosed early, giving many more women a much better chance of survival.”The Department of Health and Social Care said its screening advisory body had been looking at ways to improve detection rates in women with very dense breasts for a number of years.It said it would be reviewing the findings of this trial, but it was determined to “fight cancer on all fronts” to improve survival rates.A new national cancer plan for England is expected to be published later this year.

An MP has described the “debilitating and excruciating” experience of living with a chronic urinary tract infection (UTI).Allison Gardner, the Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent South, made an emotional speech in a Westminster Hall debate on the condition, which she said had at one point led her to consider having her bladder removed.Speaking through tears, Gardner called for better recognition of and treatment for chronic UTIs.”I do believe that this is yet another case in point of how women’s medical conditions continue to be misunderstood, under-researched and underfunded,” she said.UTIs are bacterial infections which can affect the bladder, urethra or kidneys.Gardner said she had frequently relied on bags of frozen peas to relieve the pain but said some women at the debate had described pouring scalding water on their legs to distract themselves.”It’s really unpleasant,” Gardner told the BBC. “You get burning, stinging when you urinate.”Gardner said while most people knew what a UTI was, severe and chronic infections made sufferers feel like they were “on fire”.”There’s something strange about the pain because it also gets to you mentally,” she explained. “You just can’t think and it becomes all-consuming. It gets to you that badly that you think you can’t carry on.”The MP has suffered from menopause-induced UTIs for more than a decade but said the “dipstick” test usually used to diagnose an infection was not sensitive enough.Only when someone has a “raging” UTI, she said, was action taken and, even then, the antibiotics prescribed were not enough to fully clear it.”So you’re in this loop of infections, where eventually it becomes embedded and chronic,” she added.Gardner herself was not diagnosed as a chronic sufferer until 2023.At one point, she thought she would no longer be able to work or even have a relationship because UTIs made sex painful.She said the lack of understanding around the condition in women was an example of medical misogyny, with male patients often prescribed longer courses of antibiotics.”You would never say to a man who has erectile dysfunction: ‘Well, you’ll just have to give up sex.’. Yet this is what happens with women all the time,” she said.While a cocktail of medication now keeps her infections – mostly – at bay, Gardner still suffers from flare-ups.Her daily life is still affected, she added, as she can no longer enjoy tomatoes, grapes, wine, whisky or even baths because they might trigger an infection.Gardner is now hoping to launch a cross-party parliamentary group to look at chronic UTIs. She is also calling on the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to recognise them.”If I can get NICE to provide guidance, that is a huge win,” she said. “That would be phenomenal.”A spokesperson for NICE said it had updated its guidance on prescriptions for recurrent UTIs in December.”We regularly review and update our guidelines, particularly if there are any significant changes to the evidence base,” they added.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting, is “actively reviewing” banning or restricting the private prescription of cross-sex hormones to young people, according to evidence given to the High Court.Government lawyers say an expert panel will report in July on the use of this type of medication by under 18s wishing to change their gender. An application by campaigners for a full judicial review of the secretary of state’s handling of the issue was rejected on Wednesday afternoon.Dismissing the application, Lady Justice Whipple said “the case had moved on substantially” as a result of the government setting up a review in April.The case calling for a full judicial review was brought after the NHS announced in December last year that under-18s would no longer be prescribed puberty blockers at gender identity clinics.Campaigners argued that the prescription of cross-sex hormones should also be addressed and criticised the government’s failure to intervene.But Lady Justice Whipple said it was not “unreasonable or irrational” for the government to address the question of puberty blockers first and later come to cross-sex hormones.The court in London was also told health officials are looking at “alternative legal mechanisms” to tackle issues around private and overseas providers who prescribe such drugs.Cross-sex hormones are given to people who identify as a gender that is different to their biological sex. The medication helps someone who is transitioning to develop characteristics associated with their preferred gender.For instance, it would help a trans man, a biological female who identifies as a man, develop a deeper voice and facial hair. Existing NHS guidance allows the hormones to be prescribed people aged 16 and over.They differ from puberty blockers, which stop the onset of puberty by suppressing the release of hormones.Existing NHS guidance allows the hormones to be prescribed to people aged 16 and over.The case calling for a full judicial review was brought by Keira Bell and two others, who are remaining anonymous. They wanted a ban on the prescription of cross-sex hormones by non-NHS organisations, such as private clinics and overseas providers.As a teenager, Ms Bell was given cross-sex hormones after attending the now closed NHS Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) run by the Tavistock clinic.At the time she identified as male, but says she deeply regrets the decision to take medication that altered her body permanently.Responding to this afternoon’s judgment she said: “I am relieved that the secretary of state is now actively considering a ban on cross-sex hormones outside of the NHS. “These powerful drugs should not be given to children and young people.”Her barrister, Zoe Gannon, had argued that while the health secretary banned the private prescription of puberty suppressing drugs in gender cases involving under-18s, he had “failed or refused” to take the same action in relation to cross-sex hormones, and this was “irrational”. Iain Steele, barrister for the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), told the court Mr Streeting “is currently seeking clinical and expert advice from NHS England”.He also said there were a wide range of medical uses for hormones, such as testosterone and oestrogen, which made decisions on whether to restrict or ban their use in different situations complex.Delivering the judgment rejecting the application for a judicial review, Lady Justice Whipple, sitting with Mr Justice Johnson, said the secretary of state had acted rationally.She said, “This is an immensely difficult and sensitive area of policy formation where there are strong and genuinely held views on each side of the debate and where there is no consensus.”She added Mr Streeting was taking practical steps and was therefore entitled to more time to consider the issues.She continued that it was appropriate that there was an active review and that was to be welcomed.

They contain increasing amounts of sugar, fat and sodium and decreasing amounts of protein and fiber.Breakfast cereals, a heavily marketed, highly processed mainstay of the American diet, especially among children, are becoming less healthy, filled with increasing amounts of sugar, fat and sodium, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal JAMA Network Open. The study also found that cereals’ protein and fiber content — nutrients essential for a healthy diet — have been in decline.The findings, based on an analysis of 1,200 new or reformulated cereal products introduced in the United States between 2010 and 2023, are likely to add fuel to the ongoing debate about the relationship between processed food, mounting childhood obesity and the rising prevalence of chronic diseases.The debate has gained greater prominence in the months since health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. began using the federal bully pulpit to excoriate ultra-processed foods as part of his “Make America Healthy Again” campaign. Mr. Kennedy, who has declared that “sugar is poison,” last month announced that the Department of Health and Human Services would work to remove some artificial dyes from the U.S. food supply, citing concerns about their impact on children’s health.Shuoli Zhao, a professor of agricultural economics at the University of Kentucky and a co-author of the new study, said the findings were especially notable given evolving consumer awareness about the links between excess consumption of sugar, salt and saturated fat and chronic conditions like diabetes, hypertension and cancer.“What’s most surprising to me is that the healthy claims made on the front of these products and the nutritional facts on the back are actually going in the opposite direction,” he said.The analysis, based on data gathered by the marketing consultancy Mintel, did not identify brand names, nor did it capture information on purchasing and consumption habits. The vast majority of the 1,200 products it analyzed were relaunches of existing cereals, including so-called reformulations that alter a product’s taste or nutritional content, Professor Zhao said.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

The test may make it easier to identify whether people with memory and thinking problems have Alzheimer’s or not.A blood test that can help diagnose Alzheimer’s disease has received clearance from the Food and Drug Administration. This is a step toward a goal of scientists and doctors to one day be able to diagnose a confounding illness with the prick of a finger. But there is still a long way to go.Here is what to know:What is the test, and how should it be used?The test, manufactured by Fujirebio Diagnostics, is intended to be used only by specialists in Alzheimer’s, the F.D.A. said. Its mouthful of a name — Lumipulse G pTau217/ß-Amyloid 1-42 Plasma Ratio — describes what the test measures: levels of two proteins, amyloid and tau, that are hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease.In people who develop Alzheimer’s, amyloid begins to accumulate and form plaques in the brain more than 20 years before any symptoms of cognitive impairment. Tau accumulates later, forming tangles in the brain, and is much more closely correlated with cognitive decline.Can people who don’t have memory problems take the blood test?No. The F.D.A., and Alzheimer’s experts, emphasized that the blood test should be given only to people who are already experiencing cognitive decline and are ages 55 and older. Moreover, it should not be used on its own to diagnose or to rule out Alzheimer’s.“Other clinical evaluations or additional tests should be used for determining treatment options,” the F.D.A. said in a statement, adding that “the results must be interpreted in conjunction with other patient clinical information.”The current gold standard for diagnosing Alzheimer’s still involves either imaging using PET scans, which are expensive, or spinal taps, which are invasive. The blood test can help flag the presence of the Alzheimer’s-related proteins, and doctors might then order confirmatory testing with one of the other methods.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

West Nile virus has been detected in UK mosquitoes for the first time, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said.It added that the risk to the general public is “very low” but advice to healthcare professionals will be issued. West Nile virus causes either very minor symptoms or none at all – but around 20% of cases can experience headaches, high fever and skin eruptions.Currently, there is no evidence to suggest the ongoing circulation of the virus in birds or mosquitos in the UK, the health agency said.There have been no cases of West Nile virus in humans acquired in the UK to date – though there have been seven travel-related cases since 2000.West Nile virus is endemic in several regions across the world, including parts of South America and Europe, and has expanded in recent years.A research programme by the UKHSA and the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) found fragments of the virus in mosquitoes collected in Britain in 2023.”While this is the first detection of West Nile Virus in mosquitoes in the UK so far, it is not unexpected as the virus is already widespread in Europe,” said Dr Meera Chand, a deputy director for travel health and infections at UKHSA.Dr Arran Folly, the lead of the project which found the virus, said its detection is part of a “wider changing landscape, where, in the wake of climate change mosquito-borne diseases are expanding to new areas.”While the Aedes vexans mosquito is native to Britain, he added that warming temperatures may bring non-native species to the UK and, with them, the potential of infectious disease.Last year, protests were held in Seville, Spain, after the death of five people infected with the disease.The mosquito is often found in wet areas. Experts recommend getting rid of standing water sources – where they breed – and taking personal measures such as using mosquito repellent and bed nets.

At the T.H. Chan School of Public Health, which relies heavily on federal support, a crisis response is underway and a reshaping of the institution feels inevitable.In a windowless conference room at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health last Thursday, Amanda Spickard, an associate dean, sat with half a dozen colleagues, improvising a plan for the havoc about to unfold.Within a few hours, more than 130 researchers at the graduate school would receive emails canceling the federal funding for their work. No other division of the university relies as heavily on government support, and Ms. Spickard’s team was all too aware that the loss of tens of millions of dollars would end careers, halt progress toward medical breakthroughs and reshape the institution.As recently as a few weeks ago, everyone at the table had been consumed with other tasks in the Office of Research Strategy and Development, smoothing wrinkles with lab equipment or scientific journals for faculty members, who number nearly 200, and other researchers. Those concerns now seemed quaint and distant.“Other work has ground to a halt, because this is all-consuming,” Ms. Spickard said. “We’re professional troubleshooters, but now for 190 people at the same time, all facing an existential crisis.”Since April 14, when Harvard refused to comply with a list of demands from the Trump administration, the Chan School had braced for a crackdown. The administration promised to freeze more than $2 billion in grants and contracts to the entire university; the public health school had been slated to receive more than $200 million in federal grants and contracts in the current fiscal year.The administration has argued that wealthy universities like Harvard, which has a $53 billion endowment, should be able to fund their work without the help of the federal government. In a recent letter to Harvard, the education secretary, Linda McMahon, wrote that the university “should have no problem using its overflowing endowment to fund its bloated bureaucracy.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

5 hours agoShareSaveJoanne WrittleHealth correspondent, BBC MidlandsShareSaveBBCLast summer, as people watched England in the Euro 2024 final, paramedic Jacob Hoy was on a night shift. He was called to a football fan in Birmingham, reportedly in cardiac arrest – but the patient was drunk and Mr Hoy said he was attacked. “He grabbed hold of my wrist, twisted it and it caused a sprain to my wrist,” he said. Mr Hoy is among West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) workers who have welcomed new Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) guidance aimed at bringing swifter sentences for people who attack them. Mr Hoy said the assault meant he could not do his job for eight weeks. “I had to wait for time to heal because I wouldn’t have been able to lift or carry. I wouldn’t be able to do CPR for any patients,” he said. But Mr Hoy said it was not an isolated incident as he had been attacked a number of times before. “If you speak to any of my colleagues that have been on the ambulance service for a year or more, they will have at least one case where they have been assaulted by a patient – either verbally, physically, sexually or racially,” he added.The man who attacked him was cautioned under a scheme targeting alcohol-related violence. WMAS has 30 cases involving 37 front-line workers either waiting for a court date or with such a date not set until August 2026. Dan Knight, WMAS’ head of security and safety, said: “We’re seeing more cases going through the legal system, which is a positive for us.”But unfortunately, because of that, we are now seeing a delay in the number of cases seen in court and getting an outcome on those cases – which is having an impact on staff morale.” Steve Raven, who was assaulted while on duty as a paramedic in Leominster, Herefordshire in 2022, told an anti-violence campaign by the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives it had a huge impact on him. “I thought I was going to die,” he said, adding the attack “broke my jaw, caused facial nerve damage and affected me mentally as well”.The man who punched him was jailed for two years in February 2024, after admitting grievous bodily harm and criminal damage.WMASEarlier this month, the CPS issued new guidance with the hope of getting faster justice for emergency workers assaulted while on duty. The move means prosecutors will now be able to pick a charge which best fits the seriousness of the case, including those that can be dealt with more quickly in magistrates’ courts. A spokesperson said they hoped it would help reduce backlogs in the court system.The news has given some workers who have been attacked, including Mr Hoy, more optimism. “A lot of the time me and my colleagues don’t generally report [assaults] because we don’t have faith that the prosecution will happen,” said Mr Hoy.”But after hearing the new CPS guidance, that they’re pushing to get more people through magistrates’ court rather than having to wait for crown court, it makes me more hopeful.” Meanwhile, the Ministry of Justice announced an independent review to address court backlogs.’It is clear there are many cases taking far too long to be heard,” a spokesperson said. More on this storyInternet links

An inquiry accused Nestlé and French officials of hiding the company’s practice of filtering Perrier water it labels “natural.” The head of Nestlé has suggested that human activity is making pure water scarcer.For more than 120 years, the French brand Perrier has produced some of the world’s most recognizable sparkling mineral water, its teardrop-shaped green bottles and light, fizzy bubbles synonymous with European refinement and good taste.Recently, however, the brand has found itself embroiled in a decidedly inelegant scandal involving food and drink regulations, the definition of “natural” water and, this week, accusations of a cover-up that reached the upper levels of the French government.At the heart of the issue is the marketing of Perrier as “natural mineral water,” a term whose use is strictly regulated by France and the European Union.French regulators and independent consumer watchdogs have accused Nestlé Waters, Perrier’s French parent company, of using filters and ultraviolet sterilizers for years to treat the water it bottles from wells in Provence. The methods ran afoul of French and E.U. regulations, they said, and altered the water to the point that it could no longer be labeled “natural.”This month, officials in the Gard region of southern France, where Perrier’s water is sourced, ordered the company to remove its water filters within two months while authorities decide whether to demand that Perrier change its labeling. The dispute widened this week when the French Senate released the findings of an investigation that found Nestlé had concealed its treatment of Perrier and other brands of bottled water with the help of the French government, which the report accused of covering up “illegal practices.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.