Namibia's Directorate of Veterinary Services (DVS) issued a warning to farmers following the outbreak of Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD) in several areas.

There have been 73 confirmed cases of the disease, a debilitating viral infection that affects cattle, in the Otjombinde Constituency within the Epukiro Veterinary District in the Omaheke Region of eastern Namibia, Johannes Shoopala, acting chief veterinary officer at the DVS, said in a statement.

"LSD is a state-controlled disease, and wherever it occurs, it must be reported to the nearest state veterinarian," he said.

According to Shoopala, LSD is transmitted by blood-feeding insects such as flies, mosquitoes, and ticks.

Zambia has confirmed three new monkeypox cases, bringing the total number to seven, authorities said.

Minister of Health Elijah Muchima said in a press briefing that the new cases were detected between January 10 and 16, with two cases from the capital city Lusaka, and one from the Copperbelt province.

The ministry has intensified investigations and contact tracing in the affected areas to control the spread of the disease, while also launching awareness campaigns in communities, said the minister, news agency reported.

In October 2024, Zambia reported its first case of monkeypox, also known as mpox. It involved a Tanzanian national visiting the country.

Bangladesh reported on Thursday its first fatality from the Human Metapneumovirus (HMPV) when a woman died with multiple health complications.

The deceased, Sanjida Akhter, died around 6:00 pm local time Wednesday in the capital Dhaka's Infectious Diseases Hospital, where she had received treatment since Sunday.

Ariful Bashar, a senior consultant of the hospital, announced on Thursday that the woman had several underlying conditions, including obesity, kidney issues, and lung complications.

The death comes days after Bangladesh reported its first case of HMPV infection this season, with the woman testing positive for the virus.

Greater exposure to air pollution particulate matter (PM2.5, PM10) and Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in the three months before conception can raise the risk of childhood obesity to two years after birth, according to a study on Thursday.

Past research has linked air pollution exposure during pregnancy to a broad range of health problems in children, including respiratory issues and a higher risk for chronic diseases such as obesity and heart problems.

But, the new study by an international team of researchers from the US and China focused on the preconception period -- typically defined as the three months before a pregnancy begins.

Environmental exposures during this timeframe can affect the health of sperm and eggs, which are in their final stages of growth, said the team, in the paper published in the journal Environmental Research.

People with cardiovascular diseases and those with risk factors must avoid extreme exposures, said health experts on Wednesday.

"Exposure to extreme cold or heat without any pre-acculturation might lead to disturbance in cardiovascular function. Hence, patients with risk factors for cardiovascular diseases should avoid such extreme exposures," Harshal R Salve, Additional professor, centre for community medicine at AIIMS, New Delhi, told.

He also urged people to be "aware about one's cardiovascular health such as blood pressure, deep vein thrombosis, uncontrolled diabetes status before venturing to extreme weather events".

Cardiologist Ashwani Mehta, from a city-based hospital, said many people get heart attacks in the winter.

Health authorities in the Australian state of Victoria have advised people to be cautious of mosquitoes after detecting cases of Japanese Encephalitis Virus (JEV).

The Department of Health in Victoria, Australia's second-most populous state, on Wednesday said that its early warning programme identified JEV in two mosquito traps in the state's north, marking the first detections of the potentially deadly disease in the current summer.

In response to the detections, the department warned tourists and locals in northern Victoria to be vigilant against mosquito bites.

Pakistan has reported 71 cases of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) in 2024, the National Institute of Health (NIH) said.

The 71st case was confirmed on Tuesday and involved a boy from Jacobabad district in the country's southern Sindh province, with symptoms first appearing on December 27, 2024, the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the NIH said on Wednesday.

The institute said that the distribution of cases includes 27 from Balochistan, 21 each from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.

The Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme has intensified its efforts to combat the resurgence of WPV1.

According to the NIH, the programme conducts multiple vaccination drives annually, delivering vaccines directly to households, news agency reported.

Australian researchers have found that DNA repair may determine how cancer cells die following radiotherapy in a new study that may help improve cancer treatment and cure rates.

To understand how cancerous tumour cells die after being subjected to radiotherapy, scientists from Sydney's Children's Medical Research Institute (CMRI) followed irradiated cells for one week after radiation therapy by using live cell microscope technology, said an announcement by CMRI, News agency reported.

"The surprising result of our research is that DNA repair, which normally protects healthy cells, determines how cancer cells die following radiotherapy," said Tony Cesare, head of the CMRI Genome Integrity Unit.

He said that the study found that DNA repair processes can recognise when overwhelming damage has occurred, such as from radiotherapy, and instruct a cancer cell how to die.

New expensive but disease-modifying treatments are expected to foster Alzheimer’s disease market growth globally, according to a report.

The report by GlobalData, a data and analytics company, showed that the growth will particularly be visible in eight major markets -- US, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK, Japan, and China.

The report forecasted that the Alzheimer’s disease market in these countries to grow from $2.4 billion in 2023 to $19.3 billion by 2033 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23.4 per cent.

This will be primarily driven by the entry of expensive disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) into the market, which will likely result in increased treatment rates as more options become available. An ageing global population leading to an increase in prevalent cases, and the launch of novel symptomatic therapies for the treatment of agitation and psychosis associated with Alzheimer’s disease will also contribute to the growth.

Cognitive problems like more diminished attention, but better immediate recall and memory may help predict Lewy body dementia, according to a study.

Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is the most common neurodegenerative dementia after Alzheimer's Disease, yet is usually misdiagnosed, preventing affected people from accessing care better tailored to their prognosis.

To aid in early detection which may help improve outcomes, researchers from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus gathered information from available studies and established a cognitive profile that can differentiate DLB from Alzheimer's before the dementia stage hits.