2 months ago
UAE Doctors Warn Of ‘Rat Fever’ Risks During Travel After Indian Expat Dies Of Leptospirosis In Kerala
Doctors urge caution over rainy-season travel, floodwater and rat-infested surroundings Dubai: The family of an Indian expat in Dubai, who died last week during a vacation in Kerala, has confirmed that final laboratory results show he had contracted leptospirosis, commonly known as rat fever, highlighting risks of infection during rainy-season travel and from rat-infested surroundings. Teejo George, 48, a senior sales supervisor with a Dubai-based engineering consultancy, died at a hospital in Kannur on August 8, two days after being admitted with diarrhoea and body pain that doctors initially attributed to suspected rat fever. His family has since told Gulf News that further lab test results confirmed the diagnosis was leptospirosis, a bacterial disease spread through water, soil or food contaminated by the urine of infected animals, particularly rodents. The tragedy has struck close to his community in the UAE, where he lived and worked for nearly three decades, and highlighted the risks expats face while travelling to flood-prone areas during the rainy season and at rat-infested houses and surroundings anywhere in the world. Speaking to Gulf News, Dr Bashirat L. Giwa, infectious disease consultant at Burjeel Medical City, Abu Dhabi, said “rat fever” is a loose term. “‘Rat fever’ […]
2 months ago
Dubai Fitness Challenge returns with 30 minutes of daily activity for a month
Dubai Fitness Challenge is back with its 10th edition to encourage residents and visitors to make physical activity an integral part of daily life. This year’s edition will run from October 31 to November 29, 2026, Dubai Media Office announced. The month-long initiative will once again invite participants to complete 30 minutes of activity every day for 30 days, turning the city into a hub of fitness, wellness and community participation. Set to be its largest and most community-focused edition yet, DFC 2026 will build on the impact of its first nine editions, helping reshape attitudes towards physical activity and make active living an integral part of life in the city. The milestone edition will invite residents and visitors of every age, ability and fitness level to commit to 30 minutes of physical activity every day for a month. It will also harness digital innovation to connect with more people in new ways and further strengthen Dubai’s global profile as a destination for sport, wellness and active living. Organised by the Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism and the Dubai Sports Council, the 2026 programme will feature the flagship Dubai Run, Dubai Ride, Dubai Stand Up Paddle and Dubai Yoga […]
2 months ago
UAE to expand organ transplants to include face, hand, uterus, intestine
The UAE plans to expand its organ transplant programme to include procedures involving the face, hands, arms, uterus and intestine, as part of the next phase of the country’s transplant services. The Ministry of Health and Prevention said future plans under the National Programme for Donation and Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues, known as Hayat, include widening the types of organs and tissues that can be donated and transplanted. Among the planned procedures are intestine and uterus transplants, as well as what are known as vascularised composite tissue transplants. These can involve complex body parts such as the face, hands and arms. The expansion would take the UAE’s transplant programme into highly specialised areas that require several medical teams and careful coordination before, during and after surgery. The Hayat programme also plans to expand tissue donation to include corneas, bones, skin and heart valves. Another area being developed is donation after circulatory death, or DCD. This refers to organ donation after a person’s heart and blood circulation have permanently stopped. The Ministry said that expanding these pathways could help increase the availability of organs and tissues for patients who need life-saving or life-changing treatment. The plans form part of […]
2 months ago
Trump Signs Executive Order Calling For Spacing Out Childhood Vaccines
Authored by Jackson Richman via The Epoch Times, President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Aug. 10 calling for spacing out childhood vaccines. The order recommends administering the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine in three shots in separate visits. “The Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine Recommendations also recognize that the combined measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine should be administered in three separate single-disease shots once such products are domestically available and that, to the maximum extent feasible, all childhood immunizations should be administered at separate medical visits,” the order states. The executive order calls for the attorney general to take “appropriate measures to further meritorious legal actions challenging state laws that conflict with states’ constitutional and Federal statutory obligations related to parental authority, religious freedom, disability accommodations, and equal protection under the law, including, to the extent applicable under Federal law, States’ obligations to provide religious and medical exemptions from childhood and adolescent immunization requirements.” Public health experts say that vaccination delays could increase the chances that children are infected with diseases that vaccines can prevent before they return for their next appointment. States, not the federal government, have the authority to require vaccinations for schoolchildren – even though […]
2 months ago
Fauci Privately Flagged Miscarriage Risk Before Telling Pregnant Women There Were ‘No Red Flags’
Newly disclosed text messages show Dr. Anthony Fauci privately entertained the possibility that the COVID-19 vaccine could trigger first-trimester miscarriages, months before he told the public there was no risk. The messages come from a trove that Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) released, containing more than 34,000 texts and 522 voicemails the Senate Homeland Security Committee pulled from Fauci’s government-issued phone. Among the trove is a January 2021 text chain between Fauci, Dr. Vivek Murthy and Dr. Rochelle Walensky, who went on to serve as the Biden administration’s surgeon general and CDC director, in which the three officials worked through how the vaccine’s risks might interact with pregnancy. On Jan. 25, Murthy opened the thread with a question. “For pregnant women considering getting the vaccine, are you aware of any data or theoretical reason why vaccinating early vs late in pregnancy would be preferred? And any sense of when there will be more robust data on vaccine risk in pregnant women?” Walensky noted that more than 15,000 pregnant women had already enrolled in the CDC’s V-safe vaccine safety monitoring system. Fauci wrote there “are no data or theoretical reason to believe that vaccinating early versus later […]
2 months ago
SFDA Warns Against Consuming Certain Ginseng Coffee And Chocolate Products
RIYADH — The Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) has issued a public warning against consuming three coffee and chocolate products containing ginseng after laboratory analyses revealed that the affected products contain Nortadalafil, a substance prohibited for use. The warning applies to all batches of Parsa Coffee (coffee with ginseng), Parsa Choco (dark chocolate with ginseng), and Bintan SKY (coffee with ginseng), all packaged in 100g sachets. The SFDA urges consumers to immediately stop using these products and safely dispose of any units in their possession, as they may pose health risks, particularly for individuals with chronic diseases. The authority confirmed that it is taking all necessary regulatory measures to recall and withdraw these items from markets. Comprehensive monitoring will continue to ensure the safety of food products incirculation. Reaffirming its commitment to consumer health, the SFDA stated that it will not tolerate any violations that compromise the safety of citizens and residents. Legal proceedings are currently underway against the importing companies. Violation of the Food Law and its Executive Regulations can result in a fine of up to SR10 million, imprisonment for up to 10 years, or both. The SFDA urged the public to report any food product violations […]
2 months ago
“This Is Going To Surprise Some People”: Leading Biden COVID-19 Figure Embraces The Lab Leak Theory
Former Biden White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha this weekend became the latest denier of the lab theory to do a 180-degree turn. During the interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, Jha admitted that he now believes that the most likely explanation is a lab leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. As pundits and politicians quietly admit that the natural mutation theory is not as credible, the courageous scientists who were blacklisted for years remain persona non grata in higher education. “This is going to surprise some people. You know, when I went into the White House, my view was, ‘This was almost surely a natural outbreak, maybe a lab leak.’ Based on information I learned and based on information I’ve seen, I have come to conclude that it is more likely to have been a lab leak.” I commend Jha for publicly addressing his change. Indeed, everyone in academia, myself included, has had their views evolve. What should not evolve is the willingness of the scientists and academics to accept dissenting viewpoints. One of my long-standing complaints against figures like Anthony Fauci is that they held prominent positions during the pandemic, but said nothing about the cancel […]
2 months ago
You’ll Never Guess Which Nation Drinks The Most Tea Or Coffee
With a global market valued at more than $300 billion in 2026, tea is said to be the second most consumed hot beverage in the world. As the United Nations notes, the tea industry provides “a major source of income and export earnings for some of the poorest countries and, thanks to its high labor requirements, generates numerous jobs, particularly in remote and economically disadvantaged areas.” Statista Consumer Insights surveyed 32 countries around the world to find out more about global tea drinking habits. As Statista’s Katharina Buchholz details below, the survey found that while tea was a popular choice for many adults, coffee is consumed by a higher share of people in almost every country included in the survey, except for Asian tea strongholds China, India and Japan. However, the difference to the share of respondents consuming coffee was just 2-4 percent for China and Japan and 9 percent for India. Coffee-loving nations, on the other hand, shun tea to a higher degree. This applies to Finland, famously a nation of coffee drinkers, where 74 percent said they drank coffee regularly and just 36 percent said the same about tea. But countries like this also exist in Asia, the continent most associated with […]
2 months ago
Study Finds Daily Marijuana Use Surpasses Daily Alcohol Consumption Among US Adults
Authored by Bryan Hyde via American Greatness, Daily or near-daily marijuana use has surpassed daily alcohol consumption in the United States, reaching 20.9 million to 21.4 million daily users compared to roughly 17.2 million daily or frequent alcohol drinkers. Fox News reports that new data from the 2025 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), reveals that daily marijuana users outnumber the the 19.9 million people who smoke cigarettes and the 17.2 million who consume alcohol. While tobacco and alcohol use has been plummeting, down 28 percent and 24 percent since 2021, daily pot use — including smoking and edibles — surged 21 percent. According to SAMSHA, the biggest jump occurred between 2021 and 2022 with an increase of roughly 2.8 million users. Between 2021 and 2025, the number of adults 18 and older using marijuana daily or almost daily increased about 22%, from 17.2 million to 20.9 million. A Modern Health survey of 1,000 full-time employees in April 2026 found that 63% of the workforce engages in at least one form of self-medication after the workday, while 52 percent have self-medicated during the workday. According to Fox News, Gen Z is the […]
