The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has passed 10,000 infections since it was declared in May, making it the fastest-growing outbreak on record. Government figures from 19 October showed 9,277 confirmed cases and 4,478 deaths across 64 of 167 health zones in eight provinces. The outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, for which there is no approved vaccine or treatment, so tools used against earlier Zaire strain outbreaks do not apply. The WHO has declared a public health emergency. Cases have been imported to Kenya and Nigeria.
A twenty-year study of 28,512 US adults found that repeated exposure to outdoor heat-index conditions of 103F or higher was linked to higher dementia risk, while milder heat days were not. People with more than seven such days a year had a 23% higher hazard than those with almost none, and those with 0.4 to 1.8 days a year had a 14% higher hazard. The link was strongest in socially vulnerable neighbourhoods, at 40% against 11%, and in areas with less central air conditioning, at 36% against 13%. Heat exposure was counted over five-year windows as participants aged. The findings appear in the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia.
A personalized mRNA vaccine cut the risk of melanoma returning or the patient dying by 42% in a phase 3 trial, researchers reported at the European Society for Medical Oncology congress in Madrid. The trial, INTerpath-001, tested intismeran autogene with pembrolizumab in patients whose stage IIB to IV melanoma had been surgically removed. After a median follow-up of 24.6 months, the combination improved recurrence-free survival with a hazard ratio of 0.58. Results were released on 22 October after a leak, two days before the scheduled presentation, and are to be published in the New England Journal of Medicine. If approved, it would be the first mRNA cancer vaccine on the market.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo has reported 9,704 confirmed cases and 4,687 deaths in its Ebola outbreak, with eight provinces affected, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. The outbreak is caused by Bundibugyo virus, for which no vaccine or specific treatment is licensed. Nigeria reported a case on 20 October in a person with travel history to Uganda, and 44 contacts are being followed. Kenya confirmed one imported case and one death on 6 October. ECDC says the risk to the general population in Europe remains very low. Responders are tracing contacts across several borders in the region.
Adding a personalized cancer vaccine to standard immunotherapy after surgery cut the risk of melanoma returning or the patient dying by 42 percent in a phase 3 trial of 1,137 patients. The vaccine, intismeran, is built from each patient's own tumour and was given with pembrolizumab to people with stage IIB to IV melanoma at high risk of recurrence. Results were presented at the ESMO Congress by Professor Georgina Long of Melanoma Institute Australia. Patients who stayed recurrence-free beyond six months saw a 58 percent reduction. Side effects were mostly short-lived injection-site pain, headache and chills, and were not added to those of pembrolizumab.
A study that followed 294 adults with mild to moderate Parkinson's disease for up to seven years found that those who were more physically active had slower declines in memory, thinking and movement. Participants who reported more than eight hours of activity a week showed almost no average cognitive decline. The research was published in Neurology, the journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Activity was measured by questionnaire and covered work, housework and hobbies, not gym training. The design shows an association, not proof that exercise slows the disease. Researchers say patients should discuss activity with a neurologist. The authors stress that the finding should not be read as a treatment recommendation.
Doctors treating Pope Leo XIV said the tumour removed from his right lung this month was a pulmonary adenocarcinoma and that the disease was localized, so no further treatment is necessary. The 71-year-old American pontiff had the lower lobe of his right lung removed on October 13 at Rome's Gemelli hospital in a video-assisted operation. He returned to the Vatican after five days and has resumed his duties. Adenocarcinoma accounts for about 80% of non-small cell lung cancer cases. Leo, who is not known to have smoked, still plans a two-week trip to South America in November. He is expected to keep a lighter schedule for several weeks while he recovers.
A systematic review and meta-analysis in JAMA Network Open covering 19 studies and nearly 16 million participants found people with ADHD had a 71% higher rate of death from any cause. Suicide deaths were 89% higher, injury deaths 55% higher and natural-cause deaths 27% higher. Medication use was linked to a 25% lower death rate, but only three studies supported that estimate, so the review does not prove that drugs prevent early death. Researchers say absolute risk remains low and point to sleep, injury, substance use and mental health screening as areas families and clinicians can act on.
New CDC survey data show that about 1 in 38 hospitalised patients in the United States had at least one healthcare-associated infection in 2023, compared with 1 in 31 in 2015. The 2023 survey covered 13,653 patients at 218 hospitals in 10 states. An estimated 518,000 such infections occurred in US hospitals that year. Pneumonia, surgical site infections and gastrointestinal infections were the most common, and 61% were not linked to a medical device or procedure.
A Harvard Medical School study published in Nature Medicine found that people at risk of Alzheimer's who walked 3,000 to 5,000 steps a day had about 40 percent less cognitive decline than those who walked less, a delay of roughly three years. Those walking 5,000 to 7,500 steps appeared to gain as much as seven years. Brain scans showed less buildup of tau, a protein tied to disease progression. The study followed participants for about nine years but is observational, so it cannot prove that walking caused the difference.