Year: 2022

A second U.S. death was linked to monkeypox on Tuesday as health authorities published a study describing how two previously healthy young men experienced inflammation of the brain and spinal cord as a result of the virus.  There have been nearly 22,000 U.S. cases in the current global outbreak, which began in May, but new infections have been falling since mid-August as authorities have distributed hundreds of thousands of vaccine doses.  The latest fatal case involved a severely immunocompromised resident of Los Angeles County who had been hospitalized, the local health department said without revealing further details.  “Persons severely immunocompromised who suspect they have monkeypox are encouraged to seek medical care and treatment early and remain under the care of a provider during their illness,” the department said.  The first U.S. death linked to the viral illness occurred in Texas and was announced on August 30, although authorities said that because the person was severely immunocompromised, they were investigating what role monkeypox had played.  The current global outbreak is primarily affecting men who have sex with men.  Historically, the virus has been spread via direct contact with lesions, body fluids and respiratory droplets, and sometimes through indirect contamination via surfaces such as shared bedding.   But in this outbreak, there is preliminary evidence that sexual transmission may also play a role.  Brain and spinal cord inflammation  The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, meanwhile, published a report about two unvaccinated men in their 30s who experienced brain and spinal cord …

NASA has so far been unable to launch its first Artemis mission, bringing added scrutiny to a program that is billions of dollars over budget and years behind schedule in returning humans to the moon. VOA’s Kane Farabaugh reports that despite scrubbed launches, the U.S. space agency hopes to get the Artemis program off the ground by the end of the year. …

Hoping to witness the launch of NASA’s Artemis 1 rocket to the moon is – so far – an exercise in frustration for Mark Franko.  “I was hoping to feel the noise and the power and the sound – it would have been pretty interesting to see, I think,” Franko told VOA as he and his friends tried to watch a launch behind a local restaurant not far from Cape Canaveral. But fuel leaks and other issues have twice postponed the most powerful rocket system ever created from taking off.    Despite the delays, Franko’s friend, Mary Jane Patterson, thinks NASA shouldn’t be in a hurry to make the next launch attempt.      “I think that they should bring it back to the building and really check it out completely and then go again. I feel like it was too soon to go off after the first problem, and I think that, whether it was PR [public relations] or whatever, they were trying to push the envelope but at the same time they can’t. I don’t think you can be too cautious,” she said.  “It’s the first time we’ve flown this rocket and this capsule,” noted astronaut Stan Love, who spoke with VOA ahead of the first unsuccessful launch attempt. “There are many, many things that can go wrong. This is a test flight. Don’t get your expectations too high.”  But with hundreds of thousands of tourists gathering in Florida for each launch attempt, joining media from around the …

As temperatures reach record highs worldwide, air conditioning is becoming more of a necessity. From Somerville, Massachusetts, Matt Dibble has this story of a company hoping to make AC units more efficient. …

In an executive order signed Monday, President Joe Biden announced steps by his administration to bolster the “bioeconomy” in the United States, a classification that covers research and development across a broad swath of products, including medical supplies, sustainable new fuels and food, as well as technologies meant to help fight climate change. The order comes barely a month after Biden signed a major piece of legislation, the CHIPS Act, meant to supercharge U.S. manufacturing of semiconductors, an area in which the U.S. has lost its once-dominant global position. The effort to boost the U.S. biotech sector further underscores the administration’s apparent belief that deeper engagement by the federal government with domestic manufacturing operations is necessary to preserve U.S. competitiveness in the global economy. In a briefing over the weekend, administration officials made it clear that the administration’s push to bring more U.S.-based biotechnology manufacturing online comes as a response to other countries — particularly China — investing heavily in the sector. Administration officials stressed that biotechnology-based products and “biomanufacturing” present a promising alternative to many current products — fuel, plastics and other materials — that are currently made using the byproducts of carbon-laden petrochemicals. Order text The executive order reads, in part, “It is the policy of my Administration to coordinate a whole-of-government approach to advance biotechnology and biomanufacturing towards innovative solutions in health, climate change, energy, food security, agriculture, supply chain resilience, and national and economic security.” It continues, “Central to this policy and its outcomes are principles …

President Joe Biden on Monday urged Americans to come together for a new “national purpose” — his administration’s effort to end cancer “as we know it.” At the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Biden channeled JFK’s famed moonshot speech 60 years ago, likening the space race to his own effort and hoping it, too, would galvanize Americans. “He established a national purpose that could rally the American people and a common cause,” Biden said of Kennedy’s space effort, adding that “we can usher in the same unwillingness to postpone.” Biden hopes to move the U.S. closer to the goal he set in February of cutting U.S. cancer fatalities by 50% over the next 25 years and to dramatically improve the lives of caregivers and those suffering from cancer. Experts say the objective is attainable — but with adequate investments. The president called his goal of developing treatments and therapeutics for cancers “bold, ambitious, and I might add, completely doable.” In his speech, Biden called on the private sector to make drugs more affordable and data more regularly available. He ticked off medical advancements possible with focused research, funding and data. And he spoke of a new federally backed study that seeks evidence for using blood tests to screen against multiple cancers — a potential game-changer in diagnostic testing to dramatically improve early detection of cancers. Danielle Carnival, the White House coordinator for the effort, told The Associated Press that the administration sees huge potential in the commencement of …

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) on Monday recommended a COVID-19 booster designed to combat the currently circulating Omicron BA.4/5 subvariants, days after endorsing a pair of boosters tailored to target the older BA.1 Omicron variant. The latest recommendation is for a so-called bivalent vaccine developed by Pfizer PFE.N and BioNTech 22UAy.DE, which targets BA.4/5 as well as the strain of the virus that originally emerged in China in December 2019 targeted by earlier COVID vaccines. The EMA recommendation is to authorize the retooled booster shots for people aged 12 and above who have received at least primary vaccination against COVID. The final go-ahead will be subject to European Commission approval, which is expected to come shortly. If authorized, the BA.4/5-tailored booster will be available in days to all 27 EU member states, Pfizer said in a statement on Monday. While existing coronavirus vaccines provide good protection against hospitalization and death, their effectiveness, particularly against infection, was reduced as the virus evolved. Earlier this month, the EMA endorsed both Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna’s MRNA.O vaccines updated for BA.1. EU officials signaled in recent months they were open to initially using boosters targeting the older BA.1 variant, given those specifically targeting the newer, now dominant Omicron BA.4/5 offshoots are further behind in development. In contrast, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration insisted it was only interested in vaccines targeting BA.4/5. Last week, Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna secured U.S. authorization for those despite limited available clinical data. Given BA.1’s earlier emergence, data from human trials …

Jeff Bezos’ rocket company suffered its first launch failure Monday. No one was aboard, only science experiments.  The Blue Origin rocket veered off course over West Texas about a minute after liftoff. The capsule’s launch abort system immediately kicked in, lifting the craft off the top. Several minutes later, the capsule parachuted onto the remote desert floor.  Blue Origin’s launch commentary went silent when the capsule catapulted off the rocket, later announcing: “It appears we’ve experienced an anomaly with today’s flight. This wasn’t planned.”  The mishap occurred as the rocket was traveling nearly 700 mph (1,126 kph) at an altitude of about 28,000 feet (8,500 meters). There was no video shown of the rocket — only the capsule — after the failure occurred. The rocket usually lands upright on the desert floor and then is recycled for future flights; clearly, that did not happen this time.  Launch commentator Erika Wagner said the capsule managed to escape successfully, with the webcast showing it reaching a maximum altitude of more than 37,000 feet (11,300 meters). Thirty-six experiments were on board, half sponsored by NASA.  “Booster failure on today’s uncrewed flight. Escape system performed as designed,” the company tweeted later.  No further details were provided.  It was the 23rd flight for the New Shepard program, named after the first American in space, Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard. The same kind of rocket and capsule have been used to carry paying passengers on 10-minute rides to the edge of space. It was the ninth flight …

When Emmanuel Obeng-Dankwa is worried about making rent on his New York City apartment, he sometimes holds off on filling his blood pressure medication.  “If there’s no money, I prefer to skip the medication to being homeless,” said Obeng-Dankwa, a 58-year-old security guard.  He is among a majority of adults in the U.S. who say that health care is not handled well in the country, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The poll reveals that public satisfaction with the U.S. health care system is remarkably low, with fewer than half of Americans saying it is generally handled well. Only 12% say it is handled extremely or very well. Americans have similar views about health care for older adults.  Overall, the public gives even lower marks for how prescription drug costs, the quality of care at nursing homes and mental health care are being handled, with just 6% or less saying those health services are done very well in the country.  “Navigating the American health care system is exceedingly frustrating,” said A. Mark Fendrick, the director of the University of Michigan Center for Value-Based Insurance Design. “The COVID pandemic has only made it worse.”  More than two years after the pandemic’s start, health care worker burnout and staffing shortages are plaguing hospitals around the country. And Americans are still having trouble getting in-person medical care after health centers introduced restrictions as COVID-19 killed and sickened millions of people around the country, Fendrick said.  …

A global search for alternative sources to Russian energy in light of the war in Ukraine has refocused attention on smaller, easier-to-build nuclear power stations, which proponents say could provide a cheaper, more efficient alternative to older model mega-plants. U.K.-based Rolls-Royce SMR says its small modular reactors, or SMRs, are much cheaper and quicker to get running than standard plants, delivering the kind of energy security that many nations are seeking. France already relies on nuclear power for a majority of its electricity, and Germany kept the option of reactivating two nuclear plants it will shut down at the end of the year as Russia cuts natural gas supplies. While Rolls-Royce SMR and its competitors have signed deals with countries from Britain to Poland to start building the stations, they are many years away from operating and cannot solve the energy crisis now hitting Europe.   Nuclear power also poses risks, including disposing of highly radioactive waste and keeping that technology out of the hands of rogue countries or nefarious groups that may pursue a nuclear weapons program. Those risks have been accentuated following the shelling around Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, which has raised fears of potential nuclear disaster. In the wake of the war, however, “the reliance on gas imports and Russian energy sources has focused people’s minds on energy security,” Rolls-Royce SMR spokesman Dan Gould said.   An SMR’s components can be built in a factory, moved to a site in tractor trailers and …

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Friday the state was stepping up its polio-fighting efforts as the virus that causes the life-threatening disease was detected in the wastewater of yet another county in the New York City area. Health officials began checking for signs of the virus in sewage water after the first case of polio in the United States in nearly a decade was identified in July in Rockland County, which is north of the city. The latest detection involved a wastewater sample collected last month in Nassau County on Long Island, directly east of the city. The sample is genetically linked to the polio case from Rockland and provides further evidence of expanding community spread, state health officials said. The poliovirus had previously been detected in wastewater in New York City and three counties to its north: Rockland, Orange and Sullivan. Hochul declared a state disaster emergency that allows EMS workers, midwives and pharmacists to administer polio vaccines and allows doctors to issue standing orders for the vaccine. Data on immunizations will be used to focus vaccination efforts where they’re needed the most. “On polio, we simply cannot roll the dice,” state Health Commissioner Dr. Mary T. Bassett said in a prepared statement. “If you or your child are unvaccinated or not up to date with vaccinations, the risk of paralytic disease is real. I urge New Yorkers to not accept any risk at all.” Health officials said all unvaccinated New York residents — including children by 2 …

New York Governor Kathy Hochul declared a disaster emergency Friday in a bid to accelerate efforts to vaccinate residents against polio after the virus was detected in wastewater samples taken in four counties.  Hochul’s executive order followed the discovery of the virus last month in samples from Long Island’s Nassau County, bordering the New York City borough of Queens. Earlier this year the virus was found in samples from Rockland, Orange and Sullivan counties, all north of the city.   In July, the first confirmed case of polio in the United States in nearly a decade turned up in an adult in Rockland County, according to the state health department.  “On polio, we simply cannot roll the dice,” State Health Commissioner Mary Bassett said in a statement. “If you or your child are unvaccinated or not up to date with vaccinations, the risk of paralytic disease is real.”  Polio can cause irreversible paralysis in some cases, but it can be prevented by a vaccine first made available in 1955. While there is no known cure, three injections of the vaccine provide nearly 100% immunity.  People of all ages are under threat, though the virus primarily affects children age 3 and younger.   Officials urged inoculations for unvaccinated adults and children as young as 2 months, and they advised that vaccinated people receive a lifetime booster dose.  Hochul’s declaration authorizes paramedics, midwives and pharmacists to administer polio vaccinations, among other steps, to accelerate inoculation rates. The order also directs health care …

The introduction of a nationwide mental health hotline has increased the numbers of people calling for help in the United States and the need for more counselors to answer their calls. For VOA, Svitlana Prystynska has this story from the Western state of Colorado. Camera – Vladimir Petruniv. …

The World Health Organization is warning of a resurgence of deadly meningitis in Africa because COVID-19 has disrupted lifesaving vaccination campaigns. The near elimination of the deadly form of meningitis type A in Africa is one of the continent’s biggest health success stories. Over the last 12 years, about 350 million Africans have received a single dose of MenAfriVac, a vaccine designed specifically for the African meningitis belt.   The WHO regional director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, said not a single case of meningitis Group A has been reported on the continent in the past five years. “Now, however, the COVID-19 pandemic has delayed vaccination campaigns targeting more than 50 million African children, raising the risk that these gains will be reversed,” she said. “In addition, major outbreaks caused by meningitis Group C have been recorded in seven of the African Sub-Saharan meningitis belt countries in the past nine years.” Moeti noted a four-month outbreak last year in the Democratic Republic of Congo claimed more than 200 lives.   Francois Marc Laforce, director of technical services for the Serum Institute of India, played a pivotal role in the development of the MenAfriVac vaccine at the Serum Institute nearly two decades ago. He said that besides meningitis Group C, Africa currently is contending with residual outbreaks of other forms of meningitis. “A new vaccine again specifically designed for the African meningitis belt will, hopefully, be prequalified later this year or early next year,” he said. But this vaccine holds the promise of finishing …

A new malaria vaccine developed by Britain’s University of Oxford is 80% effective in preventing infection, according to trial results published Thursday in The Lancet medical journal. Scientists say it represents a huge breakthrough that has the potential to save millions of lives and eventually eradicate the disease. The vaccine, named R21/Matrix-M, had already shown encouraging trial results after three primary doses. Maintaining that immunity has always been a big challenge and the latest trial shows that a booster dose is effective, explained Professor Adrian Hill, the director of the Jenner Institute at the University of Oxford and co-author of The Lancet paper.  “The technology has been complex to develop because we need very strong antibody responses to get protection against malaria and those antibodies, like all responses, decline over time,” Hill told VOA.  “One of the worries was that this would be short-term protection and only last for a few months. That’s definitely not the case with the data we’re releasing today,” Hill said. “And indeed, 80% efficacy in the second year of follow up after a booster dose is really very encouraging in that respect.”  The latest phase II trial involved 450 children between 5 and 17 months old, recruited from the Nanoro region in Burkina Faso. The results show a higher strength booster dose was 80% effective in preventing malaria infection. No serious side effects were seen.  “This is a parasite we’re trying to vaccinate against. It’s not a virus. It’s got thousands of genes. [So it’s] …

A panel of federal health advisers voted Wednesday to recommend approval for an experimental drug to treat Lou Gehrig’s disease, a remarkable turnaround for the much-debated medication that was previously rejected by the same group earlier this year. The Food and Drug Administration advisers voted 7-2 that data from Amylyx Pharma warranted approval, despite hours of debate about the strength and reliability of the company’s lone study. The FDA is not required to follow the group’s advice, but its positive recommendation suggests an approval is likely later this month. The FDA has approved only two therapies for the disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, which destroys nerve cells needed for basic functions like walking, talking and swallowing. Patients support drug ALS patients and their families have rallied behind Amylyx’s drug, launching an aggressive lobbying campaign and enlisting members of Congress to push the FDA to grant approval. Despite a negative review published by FDA’s internal scientists ahead of the meeting, a majority of the outside panelists said Amylyx had presented enough evidence to suggest the drug is helping patients live longer. The same group of neurology experts narrowly voted against the drug in March, because of concerns about missing data and other issues in the company’s study. “To deprive ALS patients of a drug that might work, it’s probably not something I would feel terribly comfortable with,” said Dr. Liana Apostolova of Indiana University’s School of Medicine, who voted for approval. “At the previous meeting it wasn’t that clear and …

As the world grapples with multiple climate-related disasters on different continents, a watchdog group in Washington is pressing the Biden administration to take more aggressive action to reduce emissions in the United States. A report, issued by the liberal-leaning Revolving Door Project, outlines a wide number of actions that the group believes President Joe Biden can implement by executive action, meaning that he would not need to coax cooperation from U.S. lawmakers currently preoccupied with looming midterm elections. Headlines this week underscore the challenges facing the planet. As the report was issued, Pakistan was suffering from catastrophic floods that have displaced tens of thousands and ravaged crops; a powerful typhoon recently dropped a meter of rain on South Korea; China is suffering its worst heat wave on record; and the western United States is gripped by a drought of historic severity. The Environmental Protection Agency may seem like the most obvious focus of the report’s attention, and the list of steps that agency might take is indeed long. However, the report also homes in on actions available to many other federal agencies, such as the Department of Justice and the Department of Defense, that are not typically associated with climate change issues. “Every part of the government should be thinking very much about how to consider climate in the work that they do — how to incorporate it into their existing mandates to protect their various domains, and to be thinking and acting very creatively and aggressively on this,” Max …