While antibiotics are known to harm the gut microbiome, a new study showed that non-antibiotic drugs can also alter the microbiome and increase the risk of gut infections.

However, it has been unclear which of these disruptions might be readily tolerated and which disruptions increase the risk of health complications.

In the new study, researchers from Yale University in the US identified several common prescription, non-antibiotic drugs that altered the gut microbiome, and discovered that at least one of these drugs triggers mice to produce anti-microbial agents that target their own gut microbes.

Love to eat potatoes? Consume the starchy vegetable baked or boiled, but not as French fries, according to a study which showed that eating the popular snack item thrice a week may increase the risk of diabetes by 20 per cent.

The study, which tracked the diets of more than 205,000 adults over decades, however, showed that other forms of potatoes -- including baked, boiled, and mashed -- do not increase the risk of diabetes.

The study, published in the BMJ, also found that swapping any form of potato for whole grains may lower the risk of diabetes.

Are you someone who reaches for a cup of coffee every night? According to a new study, nighttime caffeine consumption can increase impulsive behaviour, potentially leading to reckless actions, especially among women.

The findings could have negative implications for shift workers, health care, and military personnel who consume coffee at night, particularly females, said a team of biologists from The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP).

The study, published in the journal iScience, examined how nighttime caffeine intake affects inhibition and impulsivity in fruit flies.

Drosophila melanogaster, the fruit fly species used in the study, is a powerful model to study complex behaviours due to its genetic and neural parallels with humans.

Diabetes continually weakens the immune system, leading to poor health and a high risk of death among patients with tuberculosis (TB), said experts on Tuesday.

The link between TB and diabetes -- two critical challenges to global health -- has long been established. TB and diabetes, both separately and combined, significantly affect individuals, communities, and healthcare systems worldwide.

India's TB burden remains a major public health challenge, with 28 lakh TB cases -- accounting for 26 per cent, the highest globally in 2024. The country also reported an estimated 3.15 lakh TB-related deaths, accounting for 29 per cent of the deaths globally.

Romania recorded 1,703 new cases of COVID-19 in July 2025, marking a 232 per cent increase compared to the previous month, according to data released by the National Institute of Public Health (INSP).

Of the total cases, 442 were reinfections, occurring more than 90 days after the initial diagnosis.

The INSP also reported seven COVID-19-related deaths in July, involving five men and two women. Four of the individuals were aged 70 to 79, and three were over 80. All had underlying health conditions.

Testing activity increased last month, with 860 RT-PCR tests and 14,750 rapid antigen tests performed, up 25.5 per cent from June. The overall positivity rate rose to 10.9 per cent, an increase of 6.8 percentage points.

Following a healthy diet to lose weight? Make sure it's minimally processed, suggests a study, which showed that reducing processing could help to sustain a healthy weight.

In a first, researchers from the University College London (UCL) nutritionally matched minimally processed (MPF) and ultra-processed (UPF) diets.

The results, published in the journal Nature Medicine, showed that participants lost twice as much weight eating minimally processed foods compared to ultra-processed foods.

“The primary outcome of the trial was to assess percentage changes in weight, and on both diets, we saw a significant reduction, but the effect was nearly double on the minimally processed diet,” said Dr Samuel Dicken, first author of the study from the UCL Centre for Obesity Research.

Chronic inflammation may be associated with an increased risk of frailty, social disadvantage, and cardiovascular disease (CVD), according to a study.

The study, published in the journal Communications Medicine, looked at 74 inflammation-related proteins in blood samples from more than 2,000 women aged between 37 and 84 years and explored how inflammation was linked to frailty, area-level social deprivation, and CVD risk.

The researchers identified 10 inflammatory proteins that were associated with both frailty and living in a deprived area.

Of these, four proteins that are involved in cellular signaling, growth, and movement (TNFSF14, HGF, CDCP1, and CCL11) were also linked to increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

The brain might become the target of new type 1 diabetes treatments and pave a better way for insulin management, according to a study.

Researchers had, over a decade ago, found that an acute complication of type 1 diabetes -- diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) -- can be resolved with the hormone leptin, even in the absence of insulin.

In the analysis, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, the team explained how leptin affects the brain and how it might be used in future therapeutics.

DKA happens when the body is unable to make insulin and begins to break down fat for fuel. This can lead to a life-threatening buildup of sugar (glucose) and ketoacids in the blood.

Doctors have typically administered insulin to address the complication. But evidence now shows that, when insulin is insufficient, the brain plays a key role in driving DKA, explained researchers from the University of Washington in the US

Corneal blindness, once considered a condition largely confined to the elderly, is now emerging as a significant threat among teenagers and young adults across the country, health experts said on Monday.

Corneal blindness, while serious, is a largely preventable cause of blindness. It occurs when the transparent front part of the eye, the cornea, becomes cloudy or scarred due to infections, trauma, or nutritional deficiencies.

Corneal opacities are now the second leading cause of blindness in India, affecting tens of thousands annually.

According to experts at the Indian Society of Cornea and Kerato-Refractive Surgeons’ (ISCKRS) three-day meet in New Delhi, India, records between 20,000 and 25,000 new cases of corneal blindness every year, and the number is growing.

Ahead of the UN treaty on plastics, a new report in The Lancet journal on Monday has warned that plastic pollution is an underrecognised threat to the health of both humans and the planet, which must be addressed immediately.

The report, led by a group of international experts, reviews the current evidence on how plastics -- including microplastics and plastic chemicals -- impact health.

“Plastics are a grave, growing, and under-recognised danger to human and planetary health. Plastics cause disease and death from infancy to old age and are responsible for health-related economic losses exceeding $1.5 trillion annually,” said corresponding author Prof Philip J Landrigan, from Boston College, US.

 Authorities in South Africa's Western Cape have confirmed new outbreaks of bird flu in the province, urging the public to "stay alert," but "not alarmed."

"The Western Cape Department of Agriculture wishes to alert poultry farmers and the general public to new outbreaks of high pathogenicity avian influenza, commonly referred to as bird flu," said the department in a statement released on Friday night.

Recent outbreaks have been confirmed in chickens in the North West and Mpumalanga provinces, along with a single outbreak in the Western Cape, detected in farmed ducks near Paarl in early July, the statement said, adding that the affected ducks, along with related flocks of chickens, were voluntarily and humanely culled to prevent further spread of the disease, news agency reported.

Children under the age of five with severe malnourishment could be at significant risk of developing antimicrobial resistant bacteria, according to an alarming study.

Globally, 45 million children under the age of five are estimated to be severely malnourished. These children are also at a higher risk of developing life-threatening infections such as tuberculosis or sepsis due to their weakened immune systems.

The new study led by researchers at the Ineos Oxford Institute for antimicrobial research (IOI) has found that antimicrobial-resistant bacteria are spreading rapidly among children being treated for severe malnutrition in a hospital facility in Niger.

Multiple sclerosis may begin far earlier than previously thought. Canadian researchers have decoded that the earliest warning signs of the immune system disorder may emerge more than a decade before the first classical neurological symptoms occur.

The findings, published in JAMA Network Open, challenge long-held assumptions about when the disease truly begins, offering the most comprehensive picture to date of how patients engage with a range of health care providers in the years leading up to a diagnosis as they search for answers to ill-defined medical challenges.

"MS can be difficult to recognise as many of the earliest signs -- like fatigue, headache, pain and mental health concerns -- can be quite general and easily mistaken for other conditions," said senior author Dr. Helen Tremlett, Professor of neurology at the University of British Columbia.

Scientists have found inflammatory pathways that contribute to asthma flare-ups in children that occur despite treatment.

Eosinophilic asthma is characterised by high levels of eosinophils -- a type of white blood cell involved in the body's immune response. While eosinophils typically help fight infections, in eosinophilic asthma, they accumulate in the lungs and airways, causing chronic inflammation, swelling, and damage to the respiratory system.

Eosinophilic asthma is driven by type 2 (T2) inflammation -- an immune response involving cytokines that promote the production and activation of eosinophils.

Because of this, therapies targeting T2 inflammation are used to reduce eosinophil levels and prevent asthma flare-ups.

The phase III clinical trial for India’s 1st dengue vaccine has enroled 70 per cent participants, said Union Minister of State for Health, Prataprao Jadhav, in the Parliament on Friday.

In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Jadhav shared details on the Phase III clinical trial of the indigenous one-shot dengue vaccine, DengiAll.

“The trial involves over 10,000 participants, out of which more than 70 per cent enrolment has been completed,” Jadhav said. The trial is likely to be completed by October.

“The trial has been implemented in 20 sites across India. The approximate budget is Rs 1.3 to 1.5 crore per site for the trial,” he added.

A total of 1,704 centres dialysis centres are operational till June 30 in India, said Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Prataprao Jadhav on Friday.

In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Jadhav said that the dialysis centres, under the Pradhan Mantri National Dialysis Programme (PMNDP), are operational in 751 districts in 36 states.

"There is a total of 1,704 centres operational as of June 30,” Jadhav said.

He informed that the government has recommended setting up of haemodialysis centres in all the district hospitals initially and on saturation scale down till the Community Health Centres (CHCs) at the taluka level.

Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD) has been reported in cattle from 10 states in the country in 2025, the Centre informed the Parliament.

LSD is a transboundary animal disease that has gained significant attention in India due to its severe impact on cattle health and the dairy industry. The disease is characterised by the development of skin nodules across the body, fever, swollen lymph nodes, decreased milk yield, and difficulty in movement.

In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Union Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Prof. S.P. Singh Baghel, said that till July 24, “LSD has been reported in 10 states namely Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Mizoram, Maharashtra and Karnataka”.

Ayush sector has the potential to define India’s leadership in integrative medicine, said Prataprao Jadhav, Union Minister of State for Ayush, on Thursday.

Addressing the ‘Ayush Stakeholders Consultative Meeting 2025’ organised by FICCI, jointly with the Ministry of Ayush, Jadhav reaffirmed the government’s commitment to the holistic growth of the Ayush sector.

Emphasising the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat, he urged the industry to collaborate in elevating ayurveda, siddha, unani, sowa-rigpa, naturopathy, yoga, and homoeopathy to global prominence.

“We must collectively strive to make Ayush systems the first choice in preventive and therapeutic healthcare -- locally and globally,” Jadhav said.

One person died and six more were treated in hospital amid an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease in an inner-Sydney suburb, the South Eastern Sydney Local Health District (SESLHD) said in a statement on Thursday.

Seven people from Potts Point, an affluent inner-city suburb less than two km from the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House, have contracted Legionnaires' disease since May, News Agency reported.

The cases include a man aged in his 80s who became ill in late June and has since died.

The remaining six people were hospitalized for treatment. Five have been discharged and the sixth is recovering.

A drug designed to treat coeliac disease -- an autoimmune disorder primarily affecting the small intestine -- has shown promise for children affected with severe post-Covid syndrome, according to a small study.

Covid infection, although rare in kids, leads to multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) -- a serious condition that presents as high fevers, gastrointestinal symptoms, and life-threatening cardiac injury.

The trial results, published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, showed that larazotide supported children in returning to normal activities more rapidly following Covid.

"While our study is small, its results are powerful and have implications not only for MIS-C, but potentially for long Covid," said lead author Lael Yonker, co-director of the Cystic Fibrosis Center, at Mass General Brigham.

Common respiratory infections, including Covid-19 and influenza, can awaken dormant breast cancer cells that have spread to the lungs, setting the stage for new metastatic tumours, according to a new study.

The findings published in the journal Nature, based on mouse studies as well as meta-analysis of human patients, support research showing increases in death and metastatic lung disease among cancer survivors infected with SARS-CoV-2 -- the virus that causes Covid.

"Our findings indicate that individuals with a history of cancer may benefit from taking precautions against respiratory viruses, such as vaccination when available, and discussing any concerns with their health care providers," said Julio Aguirre-Ghiso, from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, US.

Every third Indian is affected by some metabolic dysfunction, said Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh, while proposing a mass campaign for the prevention of Type 2 diabetes in the young.

Addressing the Foundation Day ceremony of the Research Society for Study of Diabetes in India (RSSDI), Singh expressed concern that India continues to be labelled the “diabetes capital of the world”.

“Every third Indian is affected by some form of metabolic dysfunction,” he said.

Salt warning labels on menus in restaurants may help diners rethink over high-salt meals and make healthier choices, according to a study.

It may also be a key strategy to fight cardiovascular diseases as well as kidney damage caused by a high-salt diet.

In a first-of-its-kind research, a team from the University of Liverpool in the UK compared people ordering at a restaurant after seeing salt warnings with those who received a menu without warnings.

The findings, published in the journal The Lancet Public Health, showed that warning labels are perceived by consumers as effective in discouraging the selection of high-salt items. Warning labels also prompted greater awareness of salt content when ordering, and significantly reduced the amount of salt actually ordered.

Your favourite chips, cookies, soda -- ultra-processed foods -- can trigger addictive behaviours that meet the same clinical criteria used to diagnose substance-use disorders, warned a study.

Researchers argued that failure to recognise this in diagnostic systems is a dangerous oversight with grave consequences for global public health.

"People aren't becoming addicted to apples or brown rice," said lead author Ashley Gearhardt, Professor of psychology at the University of Michigan, US.

"They're struggling with industrial products specifically engineered to hit the brain like a drug -- rapidly, intensely and repeatedly," Gearhardt added.

Mongolia's measles death toll has reached ten after two more related deaths were registered, according to the country's National Center for Communicable Diseases (NCCD).

Meanwhile, 109 people remained in hospital, including six critically ill children, the NCCD said in a statement on Monday.

The NCCD advised parents to protect their children from a potentially severe disease by getting them two doses of the measles vaccine.

Measles is a highly contagious viral disease transmitted by respiratory droplets and direct contact, news agency reported.

A 26-year-old man from northwest Cambodia's Siem Reap province has been confirmed positive for H5N1 human avian influenza, raising the number of cases to 14 so far this year, the Ministry of Health said in a statement on Tuesday.

"A laboratory result from the National Institute of Public Health showed on July 26 that the man was positive for the H5N1 virus," the statement said.

"The patient has the symptoms of fever, cough, sore throat, stomach ache, and breathing difficulty, and is currently being treated by a team of doctors," it added.

The victim lives in Kravann village of Siem Reap city.

Adopting tobacco-style warning labels on alcohol bottles can be a key measure to prevent the rising burden of cancer in India, said experts on Tuesday.

A recent paper, published in the journal Frontiers in Public Health, called for strong, evidence-based warning labels on alcohol products, building on India’s success with tobacco warnings.

Alcohol, like tobacco, is a proven carcinogen linked to several cancers, including liver, breast and colon, yet awareness remains low.

“Cancer warning labels on alcohol bottles are a low-cost, high-impact intervention that can raise awareness, influence consumption habits, and prevent long-term health harm,” lead author Dr Abhishek Shankar, Assistant Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi, told.

The Union government has informed that Parliament has approved 297 new day care cancer centres across the country for FY26.

In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Prataprao Jadhav stated the measures undertaken by the government in tackling cancer incidences in the country.

In the Union Budget announced in February, the government had proposed that “all district hospitals will have day care cancer centres. About 200-day care cancer centres will be established in 2025-26".

The day-care centres are aimed at providing chemotherapy -- an important part of cancer treatment -- to cancer patients.

To prevent the rising burden of cervical cancer and related deaths in India, more than 10.18 crore women aged 30 years and above have been screened for the condition across the country at the Ayushman Arogya Mandirs (AAMs), the government informed the Parliament during the ongoing Monsoon session.

India accounts for 25 per cent of global cervical cancer deaths -- largely due to delayed diagnosis.

“Till July 20, data from the National NCD Portal indicates that 10.18 crore women out of an eligible population of 25.42 crore females aged 30 years and above have been screened for cervical cancer,” Jadhav said.

A commonly used type 2 diabetes medication in the US -- Glipizide -- may be linked to a higher rate of heart-related conditions, claimed a study.

Researchers from Mass General Brigham examined nationwide data from nearly 50,000 patients treated with different sulfonylureas. They found that glipizide was linked to a higher incidence of heart failure, related hospitalisation, and death compared to dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors. The findings are published in JAMA Network Open.

“Patients with type 2 diabetes are at heightened risk of adverse cardiovascular incidents such as stroke and cardiac arrest,” said corresponding author Alexander Turchin, Division of Endocrinology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH).

“While sulfonylureas are popular and affordable diabetes medications, there is a lack of long-term clinical data on how they affect cardiac health in comparison to more neutral alternatives like dipeptidyl peptidase 4 inhibitors,” he added.

Hepatitis B drugs are being vastly underused, and boosting early treatment against the deadly hepatitis B virus (HBV) could save many lives over time, argued scientists in a new paper published in Lancet Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

HBV kills over 3,000 people every day, or over 2 people every minute. Of the people who do not clear the infection and go on to develop a chronic HBV infection, between 20 and 40 per cent will die if they do not receive treatment.

The experts noted that even though the currently available drugs do not cure people, they are safe, effective, and relatively inexpensive.

"These medications are good drugs that are being badly underused," said John Tavis, Professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at Saint Louis University School of Medicine.

Regular exposure to air pollution, including that coming from car exhaust emissions, can increased your risk of dementia, according to an analysis of studies published on Friday.

Dementias such as Alzheimer's disease are estimated to affect more than 57.4 million people worldwide, a number that is expected to almost triple to 152.8 million cases by 2050.

The study, published in the journal The Lancet Planetary Health, showed that for every 10 micrograms per cubic metre of PM2.5, an individual's relative risk of dementia would increase by 17 per cent.

For each 1 micrograms per cubic metre of soot as found in PM2.5, the relative risk for the cognitive condition increased by 13 per cent. Soot comes from sources such as vehicle exhaust emissions and burning wood.

A group of scientists from the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Calicut has developed a new highly sensitive, low-cost, and point-of-care device with an electrochemical biosensor that could rapidly diagnose deadly sepsis infections and boost treatment outcomes.

Sepsis is a serious medical condition caused by an infection that can lead to multiple organ failure, shock, and even death. Early and accurate diagnosis is crucial for timely therapeutic intervention and improving patient outcomes, which in turn directly impact mortality rates.

Early diagnosis is possible with the precise and sensitive detection of specific biomarkers. Endotoxin, a toxic component of the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria, acts as a key biomarker, signalling the presence of an infection that could lead to sepsis.

 Just 7,000 daily steps can be key to reducing your risk of developing a range of chronic diseases like cancer, diabetes, and cognitive issues like depression, dementia, as well as death, according to a new study published in the journal The Lancet Public Health on Thursday.

The comprehensive review, including 57 studies, analysed data from over 160,000 adults, and found that walking approximately 7,000 steps per day is associated with reductions in the risk of several serious health outcomes.

The 7,000 steps aided in reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease (by 25 per cent), cancer (by 6 per cent), type 2 diabetes (by 14 per cent), dementia (by 38 per cent), depression (by 22 per cent), and falls (by 28 per cent). The all-cause mortality was cut down by nearly 50 per cent.

Older adults with high blood pressure may benefit from drinking beetroot juice, claimed a study on Wednesday.

The blood pressure-lowering effect of nitrate-rich beetroot juice in older individuals may be attributed to specific changes in their oral microbiome, according to a study led by researchers at the University of Exeter in the UK.

Nitrate is crucial to the body and is consumed as a natural part of a vegetable-rich diet.

In the study, when the older adults drank a concentrated beetroot juice ‘shot’ twice a day for two weeks, their blood pressure decreased. However, the effect was not observed in the younger group, as revealed by the findings published in the journal Free Radical Biology and Medicine.