Health News Roundup: Poland reports outbreaks of African swine fever in wild boar, WOAH says; Medical tourism looking sickly as patients watch their spending and more

The market disruption triggered by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic prompted Syneos to abandon those sale deliberations, according to four sources familiar with the discussions. Lucira's home test for flu and COVID-19 gets U.S. FDA nod for OTC use Lucira Health said on Monday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had granted emergency use authorization for its combination diagnostic test for COVID-19 and the flu, making it the first to be available over-the-counter.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Exclusive-Syneos Health eyes sale of company as contract backlog shrinks-sources

Syneos Health Inc is making a new effort to sell itself after a reduced backlog of contracts for providing clinical research to drug developers led to a 52% plunge in its shares over the past year, according to people familiar with the matter. Reuters reported in March 2020 that Syneos was working with investment bank Centerview Partners LLC to explore a sale. The market disruption triggered by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic prompted Syneos to abandon those sale deliberations, according to four sources familiar with the discussions.

Lucira's home test for flu and COVID-19 gets U.S. FDA nod for OTC use

Lucira Health said on Monday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had granted emergency use authorization for its combination diagnostic test for COVID-19 and the flu, making it the first to be available over-the-counter. The test — called Lucira COVID-19 & Flu Home Test — is a single-use, at-home rapid test kit that provides results from self-collected nasal swab in about 30 minutes.

Court revives challenge to New York law protecting workers who get abortions

A U.S. appeals court on Monday revived an anti-abortion crisis pregnancy center's challenge to a New York state law that prohibits retaliation against employees for getting abortions or making other reproductive health decisions. A panel of the Manhattan-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the state law violates Evergreen Association Inc's constitutional right to freedom of association by forcing the nonprofit, which counsels patients against getting abortions, to employ people who go against its message.

Poland reports outbreaks of African swine fever in wild boar, WOAH says

Poland has reported outbreaks of African swine fever (ASF) in five wild boar in the northern part of the country, the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) said on Monday citing Polish authorities. The deadly hog disease has been spreading in eastern Europe with outbreaks found in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Moldova, North Macedonia and Romania, WOAH said in a separate report on the disease.

White House: No definitive conclusion in US government on COVID origin

There has not been a definitive conclusion and consensus in the U.S. government on the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said on Monday. Kirby made the remarks when asked by reporters about media reports from Sunday. The Wall Street Journal first reported on Sunday that the U.S. Energy Department had concluded the pandemic likely arose from a Chinese laboratory leak, an assessment Beijing denies.

Medical tourism looking sickly as patients watch their spending

Attila Knott has an empty dental hospital in Hungary. The foreigners with bad teeth he was counting on never arrived, deterred first by COVID-19 and now by a cost-of-living crisis that has left the medical tourism industry struggling to recover even after the lifting of pandemic travel restrictions.

Fleeing drought, Somalis face malnutrition and cholera in Kenya

When her three-month-old baby fell sick from malnutrition, Dool Abdirahman Ismael left her village in Somalia and walked for three days through swirling dust and scorching heat to the Dadaab Refugee Camp just across the border in Kenya.

Ismael, 26, said she had hoped Dadaab would be free of the hunger and sickness she fled in Somalia, where the worst drought in decades and surging food prices have left millions of people in need of aid.

After Turkey's earthquake, a grave mental health toll looms

It has been three weeks since Tugce Seren Gul's aunt and grandmother were killed in Antakya when a devastating earthquake struck Turkey's southeast. And yet every night, she waits until 4.17 am in the morning, the exact time that the disaster hit, to try to go to sleep. "I keep thinking another disaster will strike at that time and just wait for it to pass," said Gul, 28, who managed to run out of her family house with her mother moments before the walls of her house collapsed during the tremors.

Viruses in Cambodian bird flu cases identified as endemic clade

The viruses that infected two people in Cambodia with H5N1 avian influenza have been identified as an endemic clade of bird flu circulating in the country, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said. The cases reported last week had raised concerns they were caused by a new strain of H5N1, clade 2.3.4.4b, which emerged in 2020 and has caused record numbers of deaths among wild birds and domestic poultry in recent months.

Shionogi sees COVID pill reaping $2 billion in annual sales upon U.S. approval

Japan's Shionogi & Co Ltd believes its COVID-19 pill will easily garner $2 billion in annual sales if it secures U.S. approval, which the company expects to receive in late 2024, its chief executive said. Xocova, a protease inhibitor like the COVID treatments developed by Pfizer Inc and Merck & Co, was granted emergency approval by Japanese regulators in November, making it the nation's first domestically produced oral treatment for COVID.

(With inputs from agencies.)