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Palestinian hunger striker moved to hospital as health worsens | News

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Khalil Awawdeh has refused meals for greater than 160 days to attract consideration to his detention by Israel with out cost or trial.

A Palestinian prisoner on a protracted hunger strike has been moved from an Israeli jail to a hospital due to his worsening well being situation, his spouse stated.

Khalil Awawdeh has refused meals for greater than 160 days in a bid to attract consideration to his detention by Israeli forces with out trial or cost.

Dalal Awawdeh, Khalil’s spouse, stated his situation had deteriorated, prompting Israeli authorities to maneuver him to a hospital on Thursday.

Israeli forces arrested the 40-year-old father of 4 in December accusing him of being a member of an armed group – an accusation that Awawdeh’s lawyer Ahlam Haddad stated his shopper denies.

Awawdeh now requires a wheelchair and is displaying reminiscence loss and speech difficulties, his lawyer stated.

The case was thrust into the highlight throughout last weekend’s attacks on Gaza by Israeli forces. Palestinian fighters demanded that Awawdeh be launched as a part of a ceasefire settlement that ended the preventing. The Israeli assaults from Friday to Sunday killed 47 individuals in Gaza.

The Palestinian Prisoners Club, which represents former and present prisoners, confirmed that Awawdeh’s situation had worsened.

“He’s in an actual life-threatening scenario,” stated Qadura Fares, the pinnacle of the organisation.

“He might die at any second.”

Danger of mind injury

Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim, reporting from Ramallah within the occupied West Financial institution, stated Awawdeh had ended his starvation strike as soon as after Israeli authorities stated his detention with out cost would finish. Israel then prolonged his detention as a substitute, Ibrahim stated.

“Let’s not neglect that he has been on starvation strike for greater than 150 days, however throughout these days he was promised that his detention with out fees goes to finish, so he suspended his strike,” Ibrahim stated.

“However then the Israeli forces have renewed his detention … main him to return to his starvation strike. We’ve been listening to from medical officers right here in Palestine saying his well being is deteriorating, he may very well be prone to mind injury.”

Some analysts additionally consider that shifting Awawdeh to hospital may be a approach for Israel to organize for his “potential launch”, Ibrahim stated.

The worsening situations of hunger-striking prisoners have prior to now whipped up tensions with the Palestinians, and in some instances prompted Israel to accede to starvation strikers’ calls for.

Awawdeh’s case additionally highlights the plight of a whole lot of Palestinians who’re being held by Israeli forces beneath a system that critics say denies them the best to due course of.

Israel is presently holding some 4,400 Palestinians, together with fighters who’ve carried out assaults and other people arrested at protests or for throwing stones.

About 670 Palestinians at the moment are being held in administrative detention, a quantity that jumped in March as Israel started near-nightly arrest raids within the West Financial institution following a spate of lethal assaults towards Israelis.

Palestinians and human rights teams say administrative detention is designed to quash opposition and preserve everlasting management over thousands and thousands of Palestinians whereas denying them their fundamental rights.

Israel says it follows due course of and largely imprisons those that threaten its safety, although a small quantity are held for petty crimes.

Child infected with Marburg virus dies in Ghana | World Health Organization News

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The variety of fatalities within the nation has risen to 3 since Ghana registered its first-ever Marburg virus outbreak final month.

A baby who contracted the extremely infectious Ebola-like Marburg virus in Ghana has died, a World Well being Group official has mentioned.

The loss of life on Tuesday brings the full variety of fatalities within the nation to 3 since Ghana registered its first-ever outbreak of the illness final month. The outbreak is simply the second in West Africa, after the primary was detected final yr in Guinea.

The lifeless youngster, whose gender or age weren’t disclosed, was one in all two new instances reported final week by the WHO.

“Final week I discussed the 2 further instances. One is the spouse of the index case and the opposite one is the kid of the index case and the kid sadly died, however the spouse remains to be alive and enhancing,” WHO physician Ibrahima Soce Fall informed reporters.

The virus is transmitted to folks from fruit bats and spreads amongst people via direct contact with bodily fluids, surfaces and supplies, the WHO mentioned.

To date, the Ghanaian well being ministry has solely reported three confirmed instances and additional testing stays to be accomplished on a fourth suspected case, Fall mentioned.

The primary two instances, in southern Ghana’s Ashanti area, each had signs together with diarrhoea, fever, nausea and vomiting, earlier than dying in hospital, the WHO mentioned beforehand.

Spain, Brazil report first monkeypox deaths outside Africa | Health News

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About 70 p.c of instances within the outbreak that started in Could have been present in Europe and 25 p.c within the Americas.

Spain and Brazil have reported one loss of life every from monkeypox in what are regarded as the primary fatalities linked to an outbreak of the illness that started in early Could.

Spain is among the world’s worst-hit nations, with 4,298 instances of the virus, in keeping with the well being ministry’s emergency and alert coordination centre.

“Of the three,750 (monkeypox) sufferers with accessible data, 120 instances had been hospitalised (3.2 p.c) and one case has died,” the centre stated in a report on Friday.

A well being ministry spokesperson declined to present additional particulars on the affected person who died. An post-mortem is because of happen.

In Brazil, the affected person who died was a 41-year-old man.

The well being ministry stated he additionally suffered from lymphoma and a weakened immune system.

He had been admitted to hospital within the southeastern metropolis of Belo Horizonte and died from septic shock after being taken to the intensive care unit.

“It is very important underline that he had severe co-morbidities, in order to not unfold panic within the inhabitants. The loss of life charge may be very low” for monkeypox, stated Minas Gerais well being secretary Fabio Baccheretti.

World well being emergency

Brazil’s well being ministry has recorded near 1,000 monkeypox instances, principally in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro states, that are additionally within the nation’s southeast. Together with the United States and Canada it is among the nations that has been most affected by monkeypox within the Americas.

Early indicators of the illness embrace a excessive fever, swollen lymph glands and a chickenpox-like rash.

The primary case within the present outbreak was confirmed in the UK on Could 7 and the World Well being Group (WHO) stated the emergence of tons of of instances exterior the central and western African nations the place the virus is endemic urged it had been spreading undetected for a while.

Some 18,000 instances have now been present in 78 nations internationally and per week in the past, the WHO declared the outbreak a global health emergency.

About 70 p.c of instances present in Europe and 25 p.c within the Americas, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated on Wednesday.

As instances surge globally, the WHO on Wednesday referred to as on the group presently most affected by the virus – males who’ve intercourse with males – to limit their sexual companions.

The illness often heals by itself after two to a few weeks, though restoration can typically take a month.

A smallpox vaccine from Danish drug maker Bavarian Nordic, marketed beneath the title Jynneos in the US and Imvanex in Europe, has additionally been discovered to guard in opposition to monkeypox.

New York raises monkeypox alarm, San Francisco declares emergency | Health News

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Authorities say the declarations will assist authorities to mobilise sources.

New York and San Francisco have issued monkeypox alerts as instances proceed to rise and the USA faces a scarcity of vaccines.

Authorities in New York stated on Thursday the virus “represented an imminent menace” to public well being throughout the state. Well being Commissioner Mary T Bassett stated the declaration would assist well being departments engaged in response and prevention actions “to entry further State reimbursement”.

In the meantime, in San Francisco, California, authorities declared monkeypox a “native public well being emergency”. Mayor London Breed stated the chance of illness remained low, however the declaration going into impact on August 1 would assist in the mobilisation of sources.

“San Francisco confirmed throughout COVID that early motion is important for safeguarding public well being,” Breed stated in an announcement on Thursday.

“We all know that this virus impacts everybody equally – however we additionally know that these in our LGBTQ neighborhood are at better threat proper now.”

“A couple of weeks in the past, the San Francisco Division of Public Well being requested 35,000 vaccines to begin to get at these most in danger for contracting the virus. To this point, within the final three weeks, we’ve barely obtained a 1/3 of that request … we’re going to want way over 35,000 vaccines to guard our LGBTQ neighborhood and to sluggish the unfold of this virus.”

The US has confirmed a complete of 4,907 monkeypox cases, of which 1,247 are in New York, and 261 instances have been identified in San Francisco.

Monkeypox is a often delicate virus that causes fever in addition to a particular bumpy rash. It spreads by means of shut contact, and through this outbreak, consultants say the virus has been detected in a disproportionate variety of males who’ve intercourse with males. Monkeypox is not known to be a sexually transmitted virus, however sexual contact would represent as shut contact, one of many essential routes by which the virus is thought to unfold.

Final week, the World Well being Group (WHO) declared the outbreak a “public well being emergency of worldwide concern”, a label that’s designed to sound an alarm {that a} coordinated worldwide response is required and will unlock funding and international efforts to collaborate on sharing vaccines and coverings.

On Wednesday, the United Nations’ well being company referred to as on the first threat group – males who’ve intercourse with males – “to restrict their sexual partners“.

Authorities in San Francisco stated they weren’t implementing behaviour restrictions or measures like these carried out throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

The US and the European Union have approved using a vaccine made by Danish drugmaker Bavarian Nordic, in efforts to include the outbreak.

Globally greater than 18,000 instances have been detected in 78 nations, with the bulk in Europe, in response to the WHO.

 

World Health Organization declares monkeypox a global emergency | Health News

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WHO declares the monkeypox outbreak in additional than 50 international locations a ‘public well being emergency of worldwide concern’.

The World Well being Group (WHO) has declared the monkeypox outbreak in additional than 50 international locations an “emergency of worldwide concern”. Greater than 16,500 circumstances of monkeypox have been reported globally.

WHO Director-Basic Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made the choice to subject the declaration regardless of a scarcity of consensus amongst consultants serving on the UN well being company’s emergency committee. It was the primary time the chief of the UN well being company has taken such an motion.

“Now we have an outbreak that has unfold around the globe quickly by new modes of transmission about which we perceive too little and which meets the standards within the worldwide well being laws,” Tedros stated on Saturday.

“I do know this has not been a simple or easy course of and that there are divergent views among the many members” of the committee, he added.

Tedros stated there at the moment are greater than 16 thousand reported circumstances from 75 international locations and territories, and 5 deaths.

A worldwide emergency is WHO’s highest degree of alert, however the designation doesn’t essentially imply a illness is especially transmissible or deadly.

WHO’s emergencies chief, Dr. Michael Ryan, stated the director-general made the choice to place monkeypox in that class to make sure the gobal neighborhood takes the present outbreak severely.

The WHO had lately known as for “urgent” action to stop the unfold of monkeypox in Europe.

Infections in Europe characterize about 90 p.c of the worldwide complete of circumstances, and 31 international locations within the European area have now recognized circumstances, WHO Regional Director for Europe Dr Hans Henri Kluge stated on July 1.

“At this time, I’m intensifying my name for governments and civil society to scale up efforts … to stop monkeypox from establishing itself throughout a rising geographical space,” Kluge stated in a statement at the time.

The UN company estimates that the illness may be deadly, however smallpox vaccines are protecting and a few antiviral medicine are additionally being developed.

Extra to comply with…

Monkeypox

What to know about polio and the first US case in nearly 10 years | Health News

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EXPLAINER

Well being authorities say the case could have originated exterior of the US.

The primary case of polio in the US in practically 10 years has been recognized within the state of New York in a younger unvaccinated man.

The New York State Well being Division said in a statement on Thursday the case in Rockland County could have originated exterior of the US.

The particular person is now not deemed contagious, however investigators try to determine how the an infection occurred and whether or not others had been uncovered. Officers additionally advised healthcare suppliers to be on the look out for extra circumstances and urged individuals within the space who usually are not vaccinated to get the shot.

In accordance with a report by The Washington Put up newspaper, the affected person has been discharged and dwelling at his dad and mom’ residence together with his spouse. He can stand however is having issue strolling.

Here’s what to know in regards to the illness.

What’s polio?

  • In accordance with the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC), polio is a disabling and life-threatening illness brought on by the poliovirus.
  • The virus spreads from individual to individual and is very infectious. A severe case of polio includes nerve damage that may result in paralysis, respiratory difficulties and even demise.
  • The unfold can happen by means of the faecal-oral route or contaminated water or meals.
  • In accordance with the World Well being Group (WHO), the virus enters the physique by means of the mouth and multiplies within the gut.
  • The illness primarily impacts youngsters beneath 5 years of age.

What are the signs?

  • The WHO says that as much as 90 p.c of these contaminated will expertise no or delicate signs, and the illness typically goes unrecognised.
  • For others, preliminary signs can embody fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting and ache within the limbs.
  • These signs might final two to 5 days after which go away.
  • Nonetheless, a smaller proportion of individuals with the an infection might develop signs that might have an effect on the mind and spinal wire.
  • In accordance with the WHO, paralysis can happen inside just a few hours of an infection. Of these paralysed, 5 to 10 p.c die when they don’t seem to be capable of transfer their respiratory muscle tissue.

Can polio be cured?

  • The WHO says there is no such thing as a treatment for polio however it may be prevented with vaccines.
  • Therapies for polio deal with limiting and assuaging the signs. Bodily remedy can support in stimulating the muscle tissue, whereas medicine can even assist them chill out. These therapies might enhance mobility however can’t reverse everlasting polio paralysis.
  • Nonetheless, two vaccines can be found: oral polio and inactivated polio. Vaccinations towards the illness means it’s uncommon in most elements of the world.

How lengthy does the safety of the vaccine final?

  • The CDC says it’s unclear how lengthy individuals who obtained the vaccine shall be immune, however they “are probably protected for a few years after a whole sequence of [vaccines]”.

Has polio not been eradicated within the US and elsewhere?

  • Since 1979, no circumstances of polio have originated within the US. Nonetheless, the virus has been delivered to the nation by travellers.
  • According to US authorities, the more moderen polio circumstances within the nation weren’t wild strains;  the last-known one registered by the CDC was in 2013.
  • The US noticed a polio outbreak within the Forties, which disabled greater than 35,000 individuals every year, in line with the CDC.
  • The WHO says that of the three strains of poliovirus, sort two was eradicated in 1999, and no circumstances of sort three have been discovered since a reported case in Nigeria in 2012. As of 2020, sort one impacts solely two nations: Pakistan and Afghanistan.
  • Globally circumstances have decreased by 99 p.c since 1988 when polio was endemic, and 350,000 circumstances had been recorded globally. In 2021, there have been six reported circumstances, in line with the WHO.

US reports first polio case in nearly a decade | Health News

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One who examined optimistic in New York state not contagious, however investigators are checking if others had been uncovered.

The USA has reported its first case of polio in practically a decade after well being officers within the state of New York mentioned a affected person had examined optimistic for the illness.

The state’s well being division mentioned on Thursday that the case was detected in a resident of Rockland County, about 48km (30 miles) north of Manhattan.

Testing advised the case of the extremely contagious virus might have originated outdoors of the US, the division mentioned in a statement.

“We’re monitoring the scenario intently and dealing with the New York State Division of Well being and the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention to reply to this emergent public well being situation to guard the well being and wellbeing of county residents,” Rockland County Well being Commissioner Patricia Schnabel Ruppert mentioned.

The individual is not deemed contagious, however investigators try to determine how the an infection occurred and whether or not others had been uncovered. Officers additionally advised healthcare suppliers to be looking out for extra instances and urged folks within the space who are usually not vaccinated to get the shot.

The final case of polio within the US was recorded in 2013, based on the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC).

The CDC, which confirmed Thursday’s case, has mentioned no instances of polio have originated within the US since 1979. Nevertheless, the virus prior to now has been introduced into the nation by travellers with polio.

The final such case was in 2013 when a 7-month-old who had just lately moved to the US from India was recognized in San Antonio, Texas, based on federal well being officers.

Polio was as soon as one of many nation’s most feared illnesses, with annual outbreaks inflicting 1000’s of instances of paralysis. The virus primarily impacts kids and its signs embrace sore throat, fever, tiredness and nausea, the CDC mentioned.

Vaccines became available beginning in 1955, and a nationwide vaccination marketing campaign lower the annual variety of US instances to lower than 100 within the Sixties and fewer than 10 within the Seventies, based on the CDC.

In 1979, polio was declared eradicated within the US, that means there was not routine unfold.

Most Individuals are vaccinated in opposition to polio, however the brand new case ought to function a wake-up name to the unvaccinated, mentioned Jennifer Nuzzo, a Brown College pandemic researcher.

“This isn’t regular. We don’t wish to see this,” Nuzzo mentioned. “Should you’re vaccinated, it’s not one thing it’s essential to fear about. However in the event you haven’t gotten your children vaccinated, it’s actually necessary that you just be sure that they’re updated.”

A health worker gives polio vaccine to a girl on a street in Lahore, Pakistan.
A well being employee provides a polio vaccine to a woman on a avenue in Lahore, Pakistan [File: KM Chaudary/AP Photo]

There are two varieties of polio vaccines. The US and plenty of different nations use jabs made with an inactivated model of the virus. However some nations the place polio has been extra of a current menace use a weakened dwell virus that’s given to kids as drops within the mouth. In uncommon cases, the weakened virus can mutate right into a type able to sparking new outbreaks.

US kids are nonetheless routinely vaccinated in opposition to polio with the inactivated vaccine. Federal officers advocate 4 doses to be given at set ages from two months by means of to 6 years outdated.

In keeping with the CDC’s most up-to-date childhood vaccination information, about 93 p.c of 2-year-olds had acquired at the very least three doses of polio vaccine.

Polio spreads principally from individual to individual or by means of contaminated water. It could possibly infect an individual’s spinal twine, inflicting paralysis and presumably everlasting incapacity and loss of life.

The illness is endemic in Afghanistan and Pakistan, though quite a few nations in Africa, the Center East and Asia have additionally reported instances in recent times.

Rockland County, in New York Metropolis’s northern suburbs, has been a centre of vaccine resistance in recent times. A 2018-2019 measles outbreak there contaminated 312 folks.

988: US to launch mental health and suicide prevention hotline | Mental Health News

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High US well being official says the quantity, set to go dwell on Saturday, goals to make psychological well being care accessible for extra People.

The USA is ready to launch its first nationwide three-digit psychological well being disaster hotline that can join individuals experiencing psychological well being emergencies or suicidal ideas to skilled counselors.

The Substance Abuse and Psychological Well being Companies Administration (SAMHSA) stated the 9-8-8 Suicide and Disaster Lifeline, which is able to go dwell on Saturday, goals “put disaster care extra in attain for individuals in want”.

“988 is greater than a quantity, it’s a message: we’re there for you. Via this and different actions, we’re treating psychological well being as a precedence and placing disaster care in attain for extra People,” Xavier Becerra, US secretary of well being and human providers, stated in a press release on Friday.

“There’s nonetheless a lot work to do. However what issues is that we’re launching, 988 can be dwell. We want to each governor and each state within the nation to do their half to make this a long-term success.”

The initiative is akin to 911, the US quantity used for bodily well being and safety emergencies nationwide. The brand new quantity got here amid an persevering with push to attach individuals experiencing psychological well being episodes to psychological well being professionals fairly than dispatching armed police officers, which results in attainable violence and pointless arrests.

The brand new three-digit quantity for suicide and psychological well being disaster was authorised by Congress in a 2020 invoice that was signed into regulation by then-President Donald Trump.

“Since January 2021, the Biden-Harris Administration has made unprecedented investments to assist the 988 transition, investing $432 million to scale disaster heart capability and guarantee all People have entry to assist throughout psychological well being crises,” SAMHSA stated.

The brand new system will construct on an present programme – the Nationwide Suicide Prevention Lifeline – which has greater than 200 disaster centres throughout the US. Calls to the outdated quantity, 1-800-273-8255, will nonetheless undergo even after 988 comes on-line.

Potential sufferers will even be capable of ship textual content messages to 988.

HHS Assistant Secretary Miriam Delphin-Rittmon stated the company is working to develop entry to mental health providers in cooperation with the states.

“Over time, the imaginative and prescient for 988 is to have further disaster providers accessible in communities throughout the nation, a lot the way in which emergency medical providers work,” Delphin-Rittmon stated in a press release.

On Friday, a number of US police departments, officers and lawmakers promoted the brand new initiative, urging constituents to make use of the brand new quantity in the event that they need assistance.

“On July 16, the Suicide and Disaster Lifeline quantity is altering to 988. If you’re struggling along with your psychological well being, textual content or name this quantity anytime from anyplace within the US to be related to a skilled counselor,” Detroit Police Division stated in a tweet. “Bear in mind, you aren’t alone.”