Following is a summary of current health news briefs.
Surge in Gambia child deaths linked cough syrup under control, president says
Gambia’s President Adama Barrow on Friday said a surge in acute kidney injuries likely linked to a paracetamol syrup that killed dozens of children in past months was under control, with only two diagnoses in the last two weeks. Authorities launched a probe last month after doctors in July noticed that a number of children developed symptoms after taking a locally-sold paracetamol syrup used to treat fevers.
Becton recalls some sterilization containers due to quality breach
Becton Dickinson & Co is recalling some models of its sterilization containers sold under the Genesis Sterrad brand in the United States and Canada, the company said on Friday, citing “discrepant test results” during an internal quality assessment.
The company said it had found the recalled product models had conflicting results for a quality test known as aerosol challenge in 2011.
U.S. reports highly lethal bird flu in Arkansas chickens
A highly lethal form of avian flu infected a commercial flock of breeding chickens in Arkansas, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Friday, widening an outbreak of the disease in the key southern producing region. Nationwide, more than 47 million birds have been killed by avian flu or culled to control its spread this year in the nation’s worst outbreak since a record 50 million birds were wiped out in 2015.
Appeals court temporarily blocks Arizona’s abortion ban
An appeals court on Friday temporarily blocked Arizona from enforcing a 1901 ban on nearly all abortions in the state, overruling a trial court’s decision last month to let the ban proceed. The Arizona Court of Appeals granted Planned Parenthood’s request for an emergency stay of Pima County Superior Court’s ruling on Sept. 23 that lifted an injunction on the ban. The appeals court said the abortion-rights advocacy group “demonstrated a substantial likelihood of success” in its challenge of that decision.
(With inputs from agencies.)
