Following is a abstract of present well being information briefs.

COVID variants BQ.1/BQ.1.1 make up almost half of U.S. circumstances – CDC

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated on Friday that Omicron subvariants BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 account for almost half of the COVID-19 circumstances within the nation for the week ending Nov. 19, in contrast with 39.5% within the earlier week. The proportion of the 2 variants, that are descendants of Omicron’s BA.5 sub-variant, have risen to 49.7% of circulating coronavirus variants, round two months after they have been initially detected.

Canadian hospitals, strapped for workers, pressure with sick kids

Canadian hospitals are straining to look after an inflow of sick kids, many with respiratory sicknesses, within the midst of staffing constraints and as a scarcity of youngsters’s over-the-counter remedy sends extra youngsters to hospital. Hospitals throughout the nation are reassigning workers to pediatric care and placing kids in different components of hospitals, from post-partum to grownup wards, to grapple with the elevated quantity of younger sufferers.

Anti-abortion teams ask U.S. court docket to drag approval for abortion medication

Anti-abortion teams on Friday filed a lawsuit asking a court docket to overturn U.S. regulators’ approval of the drug mifepristone for remedy abortion, which might hobble entry to remedy abortion nationwide. The lawsuit, filed in Amarillo, Texas, federal court docket by the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists and others, stated the U.S. Food and Drug Administration lacked authority to approve the drug for abortion when it did so in 2000 and that it failed to check its dangers for minors adequately.

Pfizer/BioNTech’s up to date COVID shot reveals sturdy response towards BQ.1.1

Pfizer Inc and its German associate BioNTech SE stated on Friday their Omicron-tailored shot produced greater virus-neutralizing antibodies in older adults towards the rising subvariant BQ.1.1 than its authentic vaccine. Antibody ranges towards the subvariant rose almost nine-fold in older adults, aged 55 and above, who acquired the Omicron shot in comparison with a roughly two-fold enhance in individuals with the unique shot, in response to knowledge posted on on-line archive bioRxiv.

Analysis-U.S. midterms dampen Big Pharma hopes for drug value coverage change

The divided U.S. Congress after the November midterm elections undermines pharmaceutical firms who need to weaken a brand new regulation that enables the federal government to barter drug costs, Republican strategists, coverage specialists and pharmaceutical executives say. Democratic President Joe Biden’s signature Inflation Reduction Act, which Democrats handed in August towards pharmaceutical trade and Republicans opposition, permits the federal government’s Medicare well being program for folks aged 65 and older and folks with disabilities to instantly negotiate costs for some medication beginning in 2026.

Beijing district urges staying residence for weekend as COVID circumstances rise

Beijing’s largest district urged folks to remain residence through the weekend and COVID-19 outbreaks grew in quite a few Chinese cities on Friday, whilst China additional fine-tuned its COVID guidelines by eradicating capability limits at leisure venues.

Under a sequence of measures unveiled final week, authorities have sought to be extra focused in making use of COVID-19 curbs which can be taking a heavy toll on the financial system and fuelling public frustration and anger, sparking investor hopes this week for extra important easing.

U.S. FDA greenlights Provention Bio’s diabetes drug

Provention Bio stated on Thursday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had accepted the usage of its drug teplizumab in these aged eight years and older, the primary remedy geared toward delaying the onset of insulin-dependent sort 1 diabetes. The U.S. well being regulator has allowed teplizumab, to be bought beneath the model identify Tzield, for sufferers with stage 2 of the illness who’ve two or extra illness autoantibodies and abnormality in blood sugar stability, Provention Bio stated.

Factbox-Vaccines and medicines within the pipeline for RSV

There are not any accepted vaccines and just one drug within the United States for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a standard respiratory virus that normally causes gentle, cold-like signs however also can result in critical sickness and hospitalization. Sanofi SA and AstraZeneca Plc’s drug nirsevimab not too long ago turned the second to get Europe’s approval to forestall RSV infections in infants, after Swedish drugmaker Orphan Biovitrum’s Synagis. Nirsevimab doesn’t have U.S. approval but.

How the World Health Organization may combat future pandemics

Negotiations on new guidelines for coping with pandemics are underway on the World Health Organization (WHO), with a goal date of May 2024 for a legally binding settlement to be adopted by the U.N. well being company’s 194 member international locations. A brand new pact is a precedence for WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus as his second five-year time period on the head of the worldwide well being company will get underway. It seeks to shore up the world’s defences towards new pathogens following the COVID-19 pandemic that has killed greater than 6.5 million folks, in response to the WHO.

Berlin zoo unexpectedly closes after hen flu case

Berlin’s zoo closed its doorways with out warning on Friday out of precaution after a case of avian flu was found in a wading hen that died earlier this week, it stated in an announcement.

The zoo, which welcomed over 3.7 million company in 2019, its newest determine, didn’t point out when it could reopen to guests.

(With inputs from businesses.)