Social behavior

WHO declares mpox outbreaks in Africa a global health emergency as a new form of the virus spreads The World Health Organization has declared the mpox outbreaks in Congo and elsewhere in Africa a global emergency. AP News

LONDON (AP) — The World Health Organization declared the mpox outbreaks in Congo and elsewhere in Africa a global emergency on Wednesday, with cases confirmed among children and adults in more than a dozen countries and a new form of the virus spreading. Few vaccine doses are available on the continent.

Healthy pre-COVID lifestyle may protect against severe infection A University of Oxford-led study links a healthy pre-infection lifestyle to a 36% lower risk of long COVID, a 41% lower odds of death, and 22% lower chance of hospitalization. CIDRAP

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The researchers assessed the association of modifiable lifestyle factors (eg, smoking, alcohol use, body mass index, physical activity, time spent in sedentary activities, sleep duration, diet) with long COVID, death, and hospitalization among 68,896 adults in the UK Biobank cohort who tested positive for COVID-19 from March 2020 to March 2022.

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Climate change is ending the Sun Belt boom For decades, Americans streamed from North to South. No more. AOL Staff AOL

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Since the widespread adoption of air conditioning in the 1970s, Americans have moved in droves from cold northern climes to sunny southern ones. That has led to booming populations in states such as Florida, Texas and Arizona, and a shift in economic activity from north to south.

Learning from the COVID pandemic: On the effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical interventions against pathogens In the years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the effectiveness of government-ordered measures to contain the pandemic, such as regular testing and the wearing of medical masks, was repeatedly called into question. Science X Medical Xpress

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