Doctors raise alarm over rise in brain tumour cases
On the eve of World Brain Tumour Day (June 8), doctors in Hyderabad have sounded an alarm over the rising cases of brain tumour, and urged the public to recognise early symptoms and seek diagnosis and treatment.
With over 40,000 new cases reported in India each year, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), medical experts say that delayed detection affects the outcome.
Brain tumours, which can be benign or malignant, often begin with symptoms such as persistent headaches, seizures, memory loss, limb weakness, or vision and speech disturbances. Despite the slow onset, the condition can escalate quickly, turning into a life-threatening emergency, say doctors.
Power of 3' campaign
Care Hospitals is reinforcing its commitment to neurological emergency response through its 'Power of 3' campaign, a pledge that ensures emergency calls are answered within three rings, ambulances are dispatched within 30 minutes, and patients receive immediate ER attention. 'In neurological cases like brain tumours, every minute counts. Our campaign is not just about awareness but delivering timely, and expert care,' said Dr. Arun Reddy, Senior Neurosurgeon.
As part of its campaign, Care Hospitals is focusing on symptom literacy, highlighting on warning signs like imbalance, seizures, or sudden memory issues that must not be ignored.
20% increase
Olive Hospital doctors say they have noticed a 20% increase in brain tumour consultations over the last one year. 'Brain tumours are deceptive. Symptoms may appear ordinary, like a nagging headache but they could be signs of something far more serious. Early detection improves both survival and quality of life,' said Dr. Mohammed Mahmood Ali, Senior Neurologist.
Breakthroughs in treatment
Parallelly, doctors are optimistic about the breakthroughs in brain tumour treatment. 'We are witnessing a revolution in brain tumour care. Advanced neuro-navigation, intraoperative imaging, stereotactic radiosurgery, and robotic-assisted interventions are now standard practices. Precision medicine, including targeted therapies and FDA-approved drugs like vorasidenib for low-grade gliomas, is also changing outcomes,' said Dr. V. Naveen Reddy, Consultant Neurosurgeon at Renova Hospitals.
Emerging strategies like immunotherapy, Tumour Treating Fields (TTFields), and even experimental mRNA vaccines are offering new hope. At the same time, Artificial Intelligence is being explored to assist with early, non-invasive diagnosis and treatment planning, he added.
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India Gazette
3 hours ago
- India Gazette
Healthy India can be ensured through healthy food habits and lifestyle: JP Nadda on World Food Safety Day
Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], June 7 (ANI): On the occasion of World Food Safety Day 2025, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, JP Nadda, delivered the keynote address at a special programme themed 'Stop Obesity by Eating Safe and Healthy' at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru on Saturday, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said in a release. JP Nadda said that a healthy India is necessary for Viksit Bharat, and that can be ensured through the right types of food, healthy food habits, and lifestyle. Organized by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India, the programme focused on the critical role of food safety and nutrition in preventing non-communicable diseases such as obesity, echoing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call to promote preventive health through traditional and wholesome dietary practices. Minister of Medical Education and Skill Development Department, Government of Karnataka, Dr Sharan Prakash R Patil, Members of Parliament, Lahar Singh Siroya and P C Mohan, Union Health Secretary, Punya Salila Srivastava and senior officers of the Government of India also attended the event. In his keynote address, Nadda reiterated the Prime Minister's emphasis on preventing obesity and prioritising wellness. Emphasizing the urgent need to address the rising burden of obesity and non-communicable diseases, Nadda stated that 'the awareness initiative to stop obesity is a timely step towards educating people about the health risks of poor dietary habits and encouraging them to embrace balanced, nutritious food' and underlined that 'for a Viksit Bharat, a healthy India is necessary and that can be ensured through the right types of food, healthy food habits and healthy lifestyle.' The Union Health Minister underlined the importance of safe, healthy, and nutritious food and the benefits of a balanced diet that can ensure increased immunity. Nadda reaffirmed the commitment to this year's World Food Safety Day theme, 'Food Safety: Science in Action.' Recognising the alarming trend of rising obesity, citing the ICMR-India Diabetes (INDIAB) study, Nadda stated that 'from 2008 to 2020, obesity in urban India has increased by 39.6 per cent, while it has increased 23.1 per cent in rural areas.' He also cited another study that projects that by 2050, 1/3 of the country's population will be obese. Underlining the challenge of unhealthy foods and dietary habits, especially in urban areas, Nadda stressed that children are the most vulnerable group when it comes to adulterated foods, as they are attracted towards unhealthy foods and their advertisements. To meet this challenge, he called for ensuring awareness at a young age to bring a better impact. Highlighting the negative impact of ultra-processed foods on health, Nadda urged everyone to be careful of their food habits and adhere to nutritious food that brings healthy changes to one's mind and body. He further added that 'eating right is a right that one must exercise. Eating right and ensuring awareness about it is a collective responsibility of the government, industry, academia, and individuals.' Nadda urged all stakeholders to respond to the Prime Minister's clarion call and reduce oil consumption by 10 per cent and salt intake, which can be ensured through awareness of the right food habits. Nadda also commended the innovative behavioural change strategy i.e., the widespread promotion of Sugar and Oil Boards across schools, workplaces and public institutions, developed by FSSAI under the aegis of Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare that serve as powerful visual advocacy tools, displaying clear, relatable information about hidden sugars and fats in everyday food items. By embedding these messages in common spaces- canteens, corridors, meeting rooms- they subtly nudge individuals to make healthier choices. He also suggested that to make the initiative more effective, calorie intake should also be highlighted along with sugar, and he urged the incorporation of awareness in the curriculum. Emphasising the importance of traditional foods, Nadda urged all to 'go for traditional foods that include foods like millets and revive them to ensure health for all.' He further highlighted the importance of informed choices and lifestyle changes and remarked that food safety habits are a continuous process that needs to be made a part of our lives and turned into a movement to 'eat right' while adhering to food safety norms.' (ANI)
The Hindu
3 hours ago
- The Hindu
What is the COVID-19 situation in India?
The story so far: After a rise in COVID-19 numbers in Southeast Asia, India has started to show an uptick in the number of cases over the last couple of weeks. The numbers slowly grew to hit 5,755 cases (as of Saturday 5:30 pm) as per the Ministry of Health's COVID-19 dashboard. What is the medical advice? The same dashboard states that 5,484 people have been discharged. Even as the numbers rise, doctors and experts have repeatedly stated that seasonal spikes and dips in COVID-19 cases are to be expected, since it had moved from a pandemic to an endemic infection. The COVID-19 virus is co-circulating with other seasonal viruses, they point out, and currently the dominant strain is an Omicron sub-variant from which the subcontinent has adequate immunity. The cases have not been severe; from the point of transmissibility too, the R0 (reproductive number) is not that worrying to indicate a high contagion factor. What is the situation in the country today? As of now, the variants of COVID-19 doing the rounds in India are descendants of the Omicron variant, first reported in November 2021. The emerging sub-variants, NB.1.8.1 and LF.7, driving the current COVID-19 surge are descendants of JN.1, a sub-lineage of the Omicron BA.2.86 variant. In Kerala for instance, a senior health department official said that 'almost all of the samples sent for whole genome sequencing from the State have shown that the circulating virus variant is LF.1, one of the descendants of Omicron, the immune evasiveness of which is quite well-known.' Cases have mostly been mild, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The reported symptoms are those of the common cold or seasonal flu, including fever, cough, sore throat, runny nose, headache, fatigue, body aches, and loss of appetite. P. Senthur Nambi, senior consultant, Infectious Diseases, Apollo Hospitals, Chennai, said most of the COVID-19 patients he had seen so far have done well. 'Most of them had only an upper respiratory infection. These patients were managed based on their symptoms and most of them did not require any COVID specific antiviral medications. Prior exposure to the infection, the effects of the vaccines taken or a combination of both factors with vaccine-induced antibodies could be playing a protective role,' he explained. 'The key difference with these new strains,' said Sujan Bardhan, consultant (Tuberculosis and chest diseases), Narayana Hospital, R.N. Tagore Hospital, Kolkata, 'is their speed, not their severity. Hospitals are well-prepared and the healthcare system remains under no immediate strain. Nonetheless, the importance of basic preventive measures cannot be overstated.' What is the vaccine position? India launched the world's largest COVID-19 immunisation drive in January 2021. To date, over 220 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in the country as per the CoWIN dashboard. These were primarily of the two vaccines available then, AstraZeneca's Covishield and Bharat Biotech's Covaxin. Rajiv Bahl, Director General of ICMR, has said there is absolutely no need to initiate mass booster doses for COVID-19 vaccines at present, and neither is there a direction from the Central government on this. As cases rise, Dr. Bahl noted that individual doctors could recommend booster doses to patients on a case-to-case basis. He further explained that the need for mass vaccination, while not felt at present, could arise, with perhaps a mutation in the virus or its spread. 'For that, India already has the capacity to scale up production and provide for the general public. We have done this before and there is no need to panic,' he said. Since vaccines which were stocked and used in 2021 and 2022 have now fallen into disuse and expired, there are no stocks at present, a government official said. The official, however, added that the government could direct manufacturers to produce more stocks as and when necessary. Most States, including Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and West Bengal, have no stocks or supplies of the vaccine at present either in the government or private sector. Are vaccines needed at present? Doctors across the board say that at present they see no need for a mass vaccination drive. 'By the time Omicron ran its course, almost all of our population had been exposed to the virus. Even when this antibody protection wanes, the long-term immune memory remains. This innate immunity plus the vaccine-derived immunity through good coverage of the initial two doses means that most people have strong hybrid immunity against COVID-19,' the Kerala health department official said. Previous vaccines may not be very effective against the Omicron variants but would, however, offer protection against serious forms of the disease. Though two indigenously developed nasal vaccines specifically targeting the Omicron variant from Bharat Biotech and Indian Immunologicals, as well as another vaccine for the Omicron variant, were made available in the Indian market, the uptake was low, doctors said. Kiran Madala, a Hyderabad-based doctor, part of an international group of genetic epidemiologists under the COVID Treatment Exchange Organisation, said the current World Health Organization guidelines recommend vaccines primarily for individuals above 70 years of age, those who are immunocompromised, and patients with multiple co-morbidities. Children, especially those aged two to six years, do not need vaccination unless they have underlying health issues or are immunosuppressed. Dr. Nambi in Chennai said some patients, those who have travel obligations, have requested the vaccines, but none are available at present. 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Kerala has said it was 'not advocating for or against COVID booster shots' because of the lack of epidemiological data that booster doses offered enhanced protection against emerging immune-evasive variants. What next? The Delhi High Court, earlier this week, directed the Centre to submit a thorough status report detailing its actions regarding the policy for sample collection, collection centres, and transportation of samples. The court also stressed urgency to finalise and implement Standard Operating Procedures. As the virus continues to adapt, so must we, Dr. Bardhan pointed out. Staying informed and following trusted health sources, personal protection and hygiene measures such as hand washing, avoiding crowded places when possible or masking up, refraining from going outdoors when ill and maintaining a healthy, well-balanced lifestyle could help navigate this phase and any more to come. Compiled by Zubeda Hamid, with inputs from C. Maya in Kerala, Serena Josephine M. in Chennai, Bindu Shajan Perappadan in Delhi, Afshan Yasmeen in Bengaluru, Shrabana Chatterjee in Kolkata and Siddharth Kumar Singh in Hyderabad.
Time of India
8 hours ago
- Time of India
Egg recall expands to 9 states after Salmonella outbreak leaves dozens ill, officials urge caution
Egg recall expands to 9 states after Salmonella outbreak leaves dozens ill, officials urge caution : A serious Salmonella outbreak has led to an urgent egg recall across 9 U.S. states, with health officials warning people to stop using specific cartons of eggs that may be contaminated. As of June 6, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 79 people have fallen ill, and 21 have been hospitalized due to Salmonella Enteritidis infections. The eggs under recall were sold under various brand names, and were distributed by the August Egg Company based in Hilmar, California. No deaths have been reported yet, but the risk is high, especially for young children, older adults, and those with weakened immune systems. According to the FDA, the affected eggs were sold in several popular supermarkets including Walmart, Raley's, Safeway, FoodMaxx, and Smart & Final. This is not a small recall—it's already affecting consumers in Arizona, California, Illinois, Indiana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, Washington, and Wyoming. What eggs are being recalled, and how can you check if yours are part of the Salmonella outbreak? The egg recall involves brown cage-free and certified organic eggs packed under multiple brands, including: by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 5 Books Warren Buffett Wants You to Read In 2025 Blinkist: Warren Buffett's Reading List Undo Clover First Street Nulaid O Organics Marketside Raley's Simple Truth Sun Harvest Sunnyside If you have a carton of eggs in your fridge, check the side of the package for the plant codes P-6562 or CA-5330. Also look for Julian dates between 032 and 126 and sell-by dates ranging from March 4 to June 4, 2025. These are clear signs that the eggs may be part of the ongoing recall. The FDA confirmed that the Salmonella found in these eggs matches the genetic strain of the bacteria found in the sick patients, after lab testing was done using Whole Genome Sequencing. Live Events The eggs were packaged in fiber or clear plastic cartons, so shoppers are advised to check both types of packaging. How did the Salmonella outbreak start and what's being done? The CDC and FDA say the outbreak was linked to eggs produced by the August Egg Company in California. The company is now fully cooperating with the investigation and has already pulled all impacted products from grocery store shelves. Instead of being sold, the remaining eggs are being diverted to a breaking facility, where they'll be pasteurized to kill any bacteria. So far, illnesses have been reported in seven states: California, Arizona, Kentucky, Nebraska, New Jersey, Nevada, and Washington. The reported cases began between February 24 and May 17, according to CDC tracking. Out of 30 sick individuals who were interviewed, 27 said they had consumed eggs or food made with eggs. Health officials urge everyone to double-check their egg cartons, and if they match the recall codes, either throw them out or return them to the store. It's also important to clean any surfaces or utensils the eggs may have touched to avoid spreading bacteria. What are the symptoms of Salmonella infection and who is at risk? Salmonella is no joke. It can cause a lot of discomfort and even lead to hospitalization. Common symptoms include: Diarrhea Fever Stomach cramps Symptoms usually begin between 12 to 72 hours after eating contaminated food. Most people recover within a few days, but in some cases, especially in young kids, the elderly, or people with weakened immune systems, the infection can become severe. If you've eaten any of the recalled eggs and feel sick, it's best to call your doctor right away. Even if your symptoms are mild, it's still smart to get checked out—especially with this confirmed outbreak spreading in multiple states. Why is this egg recall coming at such a sensitive time? This recall comes while the U.S. egg industry is already under pressure. Back in March, the Department of Justice started investigating major egg producers for possibly inflating prices during times of supply shortages. According to The Guardian, egg prices had surged earlier in the year, but dropped by 12.7% in April—the biggest single-month drop since 1984. Now, the Salmonella outbreak adds another layer of concern for shoppers and the food industry. With summer approaching, egg-heavy meals like potato salad, deviled eggs, and baked goods are common—so public health officials want people to be extra cautious during this time. What should you do right now? If you live in any of the nine states listed, here's what you need to do: Check your eggs: Look for the plant codes P-6562 or CA-5330 and Julian dates 032 to 126. Throw them out or return them: Don't take any risks. Clean your kitchen: Sanitize any surfaces, containers, or utensils that may have come in contact with the recalled eggs. Wash your hands thoroughly: Especially after handling raw eggs. Stay updated: Visit or for the latest news.
