The Philippines continues to log more leptospirosis cases and deaths, data from the country's Department of Health (DOH) showed on Friday.

From January to October 5, the DOH recorded 5,835 cases, 16 per cent more than in the same period last year. Meanwhile, 509 deaths have been reported across the country.

"As we expect more rain to come, we must always be mindful of what to do especially if there is flooding. Avoid floodwaters as much as possible," Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa said.

Sudan has recorded 2,520 dengue fever cases, including 13 deaths, in five states, its Health Ministry announced in a statement.

The infections were reported in the states of Khartoum, North Kordofan, Kassala, Gedaref, and Sinnar, the ministry said on Thursday, stressing the need to step up epidemic combating campaigns.

Dengue fever is a viral infection transmitted to people via mosquito bites. It is more common in tropical and subtropical climates, news agency reported.

While the majority of infected individuals show no symptoms, those who do typically experience high fever, headaches, severe abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, skin rash, low blood pressure, and difficulty in breathing. In severe cases, dengue fever can be fatal.

Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer account for nearly 90 per cent of deaths in the Western Pacific region, according to a new World Health Organisation (WHO) report released on Thursday.

"While infectious diseases and injuries were previously major causes of illness and death in the Western Pacific, the region is undergoing a significant epidemiological shift," said the Health Statistics in the Western Pacific Region 2023: Monitoring Health for the Sustainable Development Goals.

It added that the region is also experiencing rapid population ageing, as it is home to more than 245 million people aged 65 and older, many of whom are living with NCDs, news agency reported.

The report said that alcohol and tobacco use remains a major risk factor for NCDs. Consumption of alcohol in the region has risen by 40 per cent since 2000. While tobacco use declined from 28 per cent of adults smoking in 2000 to 22.5 per cent in 2022, this was still above the global average of 20.9 per cent.

Australian researchers have discovered why mRNA vaccines can cause side effects such as headaches and fevers in a breakthrough, that they said could help improve the efficacy of vaccines.

A new study published by Melbourne's Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity and RMIT University on Thursday provided the first detailed analysis of how messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccines circulate and break down in the human bloodstream, news agency reported.

The mRNA vaccines are designed to stay in the lymph nodes to produce antibodies to fight infections but the research, which analysed 156 blood samples from 19 individuals over 28 days after receiving an mRNA COVID-19 booster immunization, discovered that a tiny amount of the vaccine found its way into the bloodstream.

"The extent to which the vaccine enters the bloodstream varies between individuals, which may explain some of the side effects such as fever, headache, and fatigue, reported after vaccination," Yi Ju, co-author of the research from the School of Science at RMIT University, said.

Spending more time standing rather than sitting does not improve cardiovascular health and is linked to a higher risk of circulatory issues, Australian researchers have found.

In a study published on Thursday, researchers from the University of Sydney analysed data from research-grade wrist devices that were worn by 83,013 adults in Britain and found that there were no health benefits to standing more compared to sitting.

They found that, over the long term, standing more did not reduce a person's chances of suffering a cardiovascular health incidence -- such as heart failure, coronary heart disease and stroke -- and could increase the risk of circulatory issues related to standing such as varicose veins and deep vein thrombosis.

Men with type 2 diabetes planning pregnancy can be reassured that taking the drug metformin may not increase the risk of birth defects in their baby, according to a large study on Thursday.

The findings, based on more than 3 million pregnancies and published by The BMJ, showed that metformin can continue to be considered a suitable drug for managing blood sugar levels in men planning to have children.

While metformin is widely used to treat type 2 diabetes in men of reproductive age, a recent Danish study reported a link between metformin use by fathers-to-be and an increased risk of congenital malformations, particularly genital, in male infants.

To understand, researchers from Taiwan and Norway set out to evaluate the link between the two.

People with increased exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS -- found in water, food, and people through products such as Teflon pans, waterproof clothing, stain-resistant carpets and fabrics, and food packaging -- were found to have a worse kidney function, according to a study on Thursday.

PFAS are often called “forever chemicals” because once they accumulate in the environment or the human body, they take a very long time to break down.

The researchers from the University of Southern California examined 78 participants, aged 17 to 22, and showed that PFAS causes changes in the gut microbiome which then damages kidney function.

Rwanda has launched the world's first clinical trial for a treatment of Marburg virus disease, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced late Tuesday.

The initiative, in partnership with the WHO, is testing the safety and efficacy of two treatments: Remdesivir, a drug currently used to treat COVID-19, and MBP091, a specialized antibody developed to fight Marburg virus disease, WHO Regional Director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti said on X.

The health initiative is part of a process that began two years ago, where 17 African countries, including Rwanda, were identified by the WHO as willing to conduct clinical trials.

A team of US researchers on Wednesday said they have found a rare mutation that leaves its carriers much more likely to become ill with tuberculosis (TB) — but, curiously, not with other infectious diseases.

The research from The Rockefeller University in the US, published in the journal Nature, may upend long held assumptions about the immune system.

It has long been known that an acquired deficiency of a pro-inflammatory cytokine called TNF is linked to an increased risk of developing TB.

The current study, led by Rockefeller’s Stephanie Boisson-Dupuis and Jean-Laurent Casanova, revealed a genetic cause of TNF deficiency, as well as the underlying mechanism -- a lack of TNF incapacitates a specific immune process in the lungs, leading to severe — but surprisingly targeted — illness.

A new poll in the US showed on Wednesday that 74 per cent of people above age 50 would have very little or no trust in health information if it were generated by artificial intelligence (AI).

Meanwhile, 20 per cent of older adults have little or no confidence that they could spot misinformation about a health topic if they came across it, according to data from the University of Michigan (U-M) and AARP’s ‘National Poll on Healthy Aging’.

That percentage was even higher among older adults who say their mental health, physical health or memory is fair or poor, and among those who report having a disability that limits their activities.

According to the poll, those who might need trustworthy health information, the most were more likely to say they had little or no confidence they could spot false information.