To the moon and back

A modeling study led by researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, has predicted that at current levels of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination and screening, cervical cancer could be eliminated (i.e. have cases reduced to fewer than four per 100,000 women) by 2038-2043 in the US. However, the researchers found that this process could be expedited by 10-13 years if screening coverage was increased to 90 percent. This scenario would avert over 1,000 additional cervical cancer cases every year. Reporting in The Lancet Public Health, the team used two independent disease modeling platforms to compare nine different combinations of HPV vaccination and cervical cancer screening coverage with the “status quo” (current levels) of the practices. Although a rise in …

After weeks of speculation, scientists have some sense of how long the novel coronavirus 2019-nCoV, now officially called SARS-CoV-2, might survive on surfaces and inanimate objects waiting to infect an unsuspecting host. A new review suggests that SARS-CoV-2 – not to be confused with the newly-named COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus – could survive on surfaces and remain infectious at room temperature for up to nine days. Promisingly, the research also suggests that disinfecting agents such as ethanol (alcohol), hydrogen peroxide (bleach), and sodium hypochlorite (another bleaching agent) are generally very effective against coronaviruses. Reporting in the Journal of Hospital Infection, virologists from Ruhr-Universität Bochum in Germany reached these conclusions by evaluating 22 previous studies on other members of the coronavirus family, which …

If you’re an American made sick by air pollution, pushing your state to clean up its act seems the logical response. However, this will only take you so far because half the early deaths caused by unclean air are the result of toxins that blew across state borders, according to new research, creating a co-ordination problem of the sort the world is generally bad at solving. The cost of air pollution in human lives and damaged health is as eye-watering as living downwind of a power station. An estimated 3 million to 4.5 million people die each year as a result. On an economic basis alone, clean air legislation pays for itself many times over. Yet so much damage is tolerated because those who benefit the most …