Photo:

Environmental medicine

Harmful substances in the soil, water and air also endanger people's health. In recent years, environmental medicine has been increasingly concerned with the consequences of climate change – in particular, rising temperatures and water shortage are causing many new medical problems.

Photo

News • Health impact of PFAS

Study: “forever chemicals” disrupt key biological processes

Exposure to a mixture of chemicals called PFAS - also known as 'forever chemicals' - leads to alterations in biological processes associated with a broad range of diseases, a new study finds.

Photo

News • Non-communicable diseases management

Can the metaverse improve public health?

A new interdisciplinary article suggests ways in which the virtual-reality-based metaverse can help design healthy living environments and combat non-communicable diseases.

Photo

News • SARS-CoV-2 genetic material in wastewater

Using sewage to forecast Covid-19 infections

A new mathematical model developed by Hokkaido University engineers uses wastewater samples to effectively forecast the number of clinical Covid-19 cases in a community five days in advance.

Photo

News • Environmental pollution

Microplastics found in operating theatres

High levels of microplastics were detected in surgical environments in a new study. Microplastic was found in both the operating theatre and anaesthetic room, in cardiothoracic surgeries.

Photo

News • Stress reaction in the body

Exploring heat and cold as cardiovascular hazards

Both hot and cold environments trigger a stress response and can lead to cardiovascular problems. Results of a new study are especially interesting in light of the current multiple global crises.

Photo

News • Environmental medicine

Study shows how air pollution eats away at the immune system

The diminished power of the immune system in older adults is usually blamed on the aging process. But a new study shows that decades of particulate air pollution also take a toll.

Photo

Article • Antimicrobial resistance development

AMR and climate change: a worrying dual threat to global health

Climate change and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are forming an alarming alliance: Global warming creates new breeding grounds for resistant bacteria. A serious and very real threat to public health – but not quite the doomsday scenario some might make it out to be, says Prof Sabiha Essack from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa.

Photo

News • United appeal

Climate change: 200 health journals call on world leaders to address “catastrophic harm to health”

'Unite behind the science' is an essential appeal from climate activist figurehead Greta Thunberg – and so they did: Over 200 health journals across the world have come together to simultaneously publish an editorial calling on world leaders to take emergency action to limit global temperature increases, halt the destruction of nature, and protect health. While recent targets to reduce…

Photo

News • Environmental connections

Has climate change driven the emergence of SARS-CoV-2?

Global greenhouse gas emissions over the last century have made southern China a hotspot for bat-borne coronaviruses, by driving growth of forest habitat favoured by bats. A new study published in the journal Science of the Total Environment provides the first evidence of a mechanism by which climate change could have played a direct role in the emergence of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that caused the…

Photo

News • Not just the climate changes

Global warming might be behind the rise of Candida auris

Global warming may have played a pivotal role in the emergence of Candida auris. According to a new study published in mBio, an open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology, C. auris, which is often multi-drug resistant and is a serious public health threat, may be the first example of a new fungal disease emerging from climate change.

Photo

Article • Travel medicine

Parasites & company – the radiologists' view

Sunburn and happy memories are not the only things we can bring home from a holiday. Sometimes parasites, fungi, viruses or bacteria from distant countries accompany our return, later to become noticeable in unpleasant ways, often to pose a real health threat. At the German Radiology Congress in Leipzig, Dr André Lollert and colleagues ventured into the world of tropical and travel medicine.

Photo

News • It's in the air

Higher air pollution in cities tied to higher mortality

New research presented at APHA’s 2017 Annual Meeting and Expo examined the burden of air pollution and its association with mortality in Chinese cities. The study by researchers at Drexel University Dornsife School of Public Health showed a significant correlation between higher air quality index concentrations and higher mortality rates. The study is the first to provide strong evidence of the…

Subscribe to Newsletter