Explore Business Standard
The National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has clarified claims made in a study published in The Lancet, which reported a high prevalence of multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) among Indian patients undergoing ERCP procedures, saying the findings reflect colonisation, not infection. They also stated that the data pertained to a high-risk clinical cohort rather than the general population. The international, multicentre cross-sectional study, conducted across tertiary care centres in the Netherlands, India, Italy, and the USA, reported that 83.1 per cent of Indian ERCP patients were colonised with at least one MDRO. "Careful interpretation of the findings and data reflects colonisation, not infection," official sources at NCDC said. "However, colonisation indicates only the presence of organisms and does not imply clinical infection or treatment failure," an official clarified. NCDC officials noted that "these findings pertain to a highly specific group of patients who alread
Human-caused PM2.5 pollution was responsible for more than 17 lakh deaths in India in 2022 -- up by 38 per cent since 2010 -- with use of fossil fuels contributing to 44 per cent of the deaths, according to a global report published by The Lancet journal. Use of petrol for road transport contributed to 2.69 lakh deaths, the '2025 Report of The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change' said. Estimates also suggest that premature mortality in 2022 due to outdoor air pollution in India translated into a financial loss of USD 339.4 billion -- about 9.5 per cent of the country's GDP. An international team of 128 experts from 71 academic institutions and UN agencies, led by University College London, was involved in producing the ninth edition of the report. Published ahead of the 30th UN Conference of the Parties (COP30), the report provides the most comprehensive assessment to date of the connections between climate change and health, the authors said. The findings assume ...
People in India each experienced nearly 20 heatwave days in 2024 on average, of which about six-and-a-half days would not be expected were it not for climate change, according to a new global report published by The Lancet journal. Estimates suggest that an exposure to heat in 2024 resulted in a loss of 247 billion potential labour hours per year -- a record high of nearly 420 hours per person -- and 124 per cent more than that during 1990-1999. The agriculture sector accounted for 66 per cent, and construction sector for 20 per cent of the losses in 2024, according to the '2025 Report of The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change'. A reduced capacity of labour due to the extreme heat is associated with a potential loss of income of USD 194 billion in 2024, it said. An international team of 128 experts from 71 academic institutions and UN agencies, led by University College London, were involved in producing the ninth edition of the report. Published ahead of the 30th UN ..
About half of the world's population may not be able to access healthy food, clean environment or earn a living wage, indicating inequities in human health that have been made worse by geopolitical conflicts and climate change, according to a new Lancet report. Further, the world's food system -- contributing to 30 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions -- is the main driver of challenges the planet faces by impacting climate, biodiversity, land use change, among others, it said. The crisis of inequity in access to conditions required for good human health and environmental harm due to global food systems threatens human health and the resilience of planet Earth, authors said in the '2025 EAT-Lancet Commission on Healthy, Sustainable, and Just Food Systems'. Launched in January 2019, the 'EAT-Lancet Commission' outlines recommendations for a 'planetary health diet' -- favouring fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes and small portions of meat and dairy -- and targets for achieving a ...
A study that looked into trends of the respiratory infection HMPV that broke out in India early this year has found that children were the most affected, with highest diagnoses among those aged 1-2. Published in The Lancet Regional Health Southeast Asia journal, the study also found most HMPV-positive cases presented with symptoms similar to those of acute respiratory illness or influenza, with fever and cough being the most common. However, researchers from Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) institutes and the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Government of Tamil Nadu, noted no "recent change in the epidemiological features of HMPV". The outbreak in India was linked to seasonal one in China triggered in late 2024, attracting significant attention due to an increase in cases and potential impact. Studies estimate the Human Metapneumovirus (HMPV) was responsible for over six per cent of respiratory illnesses and five per cent of hospitalisations in ...