LONDON (Reuters) – A Saudi man infected with a deadly new virus from the same family as SARS has died, becoming the ninth patient in the world to be killed the disease which has so far infected 15, the World Health Organisation said on Tuesday.

The 39-year-old developed symptoms of the novel coronavirus (NCoV) on February 24 and died on March 2, several days after being hospitalized, the WHO said in a disease outbreak update.

LONDON, March 11 (Reuters) – Antibiotic resistance poses a
catastrophic threat to medicine and could mean patients having
minor surgery risk dying from infections that can no longer be
treated, Britain’s top health official said on Monday.

Sally Davies, the chief medical officer for England, said
global action is needed to fight antibiotic, or antimicrobial,
resistance and fill a drug “discovery void” by researching and
developing new medicines to treat emerging, mutating infections.

LONDON, March 7 (Reuters) – Scientists have for the first
time reported successful use of a brain-stimulating implant to
help patients with severe anorexia whose condition had not
improved with other treatments.

Doctors implanted a device similar to a pacemaker in the
brains of six severe anorexics and found at least half put on
weight and showed improvements in mood. Under previous
therapies, none had shown progress.

LONDON, March 5 (Reuters) – Years of universal healthcare,
rising health spending, cancer screening, immunisation and
anti-smoking laws have failed to stop Britain falling behind its
peers in reducing early death and disease, a study showed on
Tuesday.

Researchers who compared Britain’s health performance since
1990 with 14 European Union countries plus Australia, Canada,
Norway and the United States said its pace of decline in
premature death was “persistently and significantly” behind the
average – a finding they described as “startling”.

LONDON, March 5 (Reuters) – Years of universal healthcare,
rising health spending, cancer screening, immunisation and
anti-smoking laws have failed to stop Britain falling behind in
reducing early death and disease, a study showed on Tuesday.

Researchers who compared Britain’s health performance since
1990 with 14 European Union countries plus Australia, Canada,
Norway and the United States said its pace of decline in
premature death was “persistently and significantly” behind the
average – a finding they described as “startling”.

LONDON, Mar 1 (Reuters) – Scientists from a British cancer
charity are teaming up with technology gurus from the likes of
Amazon, Facebook and Google to design and
develop a mobile game aimed at speeding the search for new
cancer drugs.

The project, led by the charity Cancer Research UK, should
mean that anyone with a smart phone and five minutes to spare
will be able to investigate vital scientific data at the same
time as playing a mobile game.

LONDON (Reuters) – The emergence of a deadly virus previously unseen in humans that has already killed half those known to be infected requires speedy scientific detective work to figure out its potential.

Experts in virology and infectious diseases say that while they already have unprecedented detail about the genetics and capabilities of the novel coronavirus, or NCoV, what worries them more is what they don’t know.

LONDON (Reuters) – The emergence of a deadly virus previously unseen in humans that has already killed half those known to be infected requires speedy scientific detective work to figure out its potential.

Experts in virology and infectious diseases say that while they already have unprecedented detail about the genetics and capabilities of the novel coronavirus, or NCoV, what worries them more is what they don’t know.

LONDON, Feb 27 (Reuters) – GlaxoSmithKline’s
Pandemrix swine flu vaccine has been linked to cases of the rare
sleep disorder narcolepsy in children in a scientific study in
England that confirms similar findings elsewhere in Europe.

The vaccine, more than 30 million doses of which were given
during the H1N1 flu pandemic in 2009-2010, contains a booster,
or adjuvant, and may have triggered an adverse immune reaction
in some children at higher genetic risk of narcolepsy,
scientists said in new research published on Wednesday.

LONDON (Reuters) – A British man infected with a new virus from the same family as SARS has died, health officials said on Tuesday, bringing the worldwide death toll from the previously unknown disease to six.

The virus, called novel coronavirus or NCoV, was unknown in humans until it emerged in the Middle East last year. There have been 12 confirmed cases worldwide – including in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Britain – and half the patients have died.