Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

E-cigarette firms probed over health concerns by U.S. House panel

Four dominant e-cigarette manufacturers face a probe into the health impacts of their products, as the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee asked on Wednesday about the firms' research and marketing practices. The committee sent letters to Juul Labs Inc, 35% owned by Marlboro maker Altria Group Inc , Fontem Ventures, Japan Tobacco Inc, and Reynolds American Inc, a unit of British American Tobacco Plc .

Oklahoma judge to rule on Monday in opioid lawsuit against J&J

An Oklahoma judge will rule on Monday on whether Johnson & Johnson should be held liable in a lawsuit by the state's attorney general who argues the drugmaker should be forced to pay $17 billion for fueling the opioid epidemic. Judge Thad Balkman in Norman, Oklahoma, will deliver his decision from the bench after presiding over the first trial to result from thousands of lawsuits by state and local governments against opioid manufacturers and distributors, the court said.

AstraZeneca Imfinzi combination fails advanced lung cancer study

A combination of AstraZeneca's lung cancer drug Imfinzi and an experimental treatment failed to extend the lives of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and high levels of gene mutations, the drugmaker said on Wednesday. The late-stage clinical trial was testing Imfinzi, chemically known as durvalumab, along with another treatment tremelimumab and compared the combination to platinum-based chemotherapy to treat patients whose cancer had spread beyond the lungs.

With cancer risk timeline, middle-aged women recognize need for cervix screening

(Reuters Health) - When middle-aged women realize their cervical cancer risk from HPV lasts decades, more of them decide to get screened for this cancer than when they only know HPV has a role in cancer, without an explicit timeline, a small study found. Human papillomavirus can cause cervical cancer up to 30 years after infection. Older women may think their sexual activity levels today don't put them at risk - so uncoupling their risk perception from their current sex lives could encourage middle-aged women to understand they still need cervical cancer screening, the study authors write in the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections.

Nigeria's three-year milestone takes Africa towards polio eradication

Nigeria marked three years free of endemic wild polio on Wednesday, with health officials saying the nation's progress in fighting the crippling viral disease could result in the whole of Africa being declared polio-free early next year. The three-year milestone sets in motion a continent-wide process to ensure that all 47 countries of the World Health Organization's African region have eradicated the virus, the officials said.

U.S. imposes sanctions on three Chinese accused of fentanyl trafficking

The U.S. Treasury on Wednesday imposed sanctions on three Chinese men accused of illegally trafficking fentanyl, acting three weeks after President Donald Trump accused Beijing of reneging on pledges to stem a flood of the highly addictive synthetic opioid into the United States. The trio included a father and son indicted in Ohio last year on charges of producing and smuggling fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances. The third man was indicted on similar charges in Mississippi in 2017.

Spain issues international alert as listeria cases hit 150

Spain's health ministry issued an international alert over the country's biggest ever listeriosis outbreak on Wednesday as the number of people affected rose to 150, including one fatality. Amid concerns over possible infection among the more than 80 million tourists who visit Spain annually, the ministry said it was checking another 523 suspected cases.

Marijuana may undermine fertility treatment success

Women undergoing fertility treatment who smoke marijuana may have more success if they quit, recent research suggests. Among more than 400 women undergoing treatment with assisted-reproduction technology (ART), the small fraction who reported using cannabis at the time were more than twice as likely to lose a pregnancy than those who had never smoked marijuana, or who had only used it in the past, Dr. Jorge E. Chavarro of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston and his colleagues found.

Cutting back on vegetable protein tied to unhealthy aging

Older adults who cut back on the amount of vegetable protein in their diets may be more likely to experience age-related health problems than their peers who increase the amount of plant protein they eat, a Spanish study suggests. Researchers examined data on 1,951 people aged 60 and older who completed dietary surveys and questionnaires to detect four types of unhealthy aging: functional impairments; reduced vitality; mental health issues; and chronic medical problems or use of health services. Participants provided this information in three waves: from 2008-2010, in 2012 and again in 2017.

HHS to provide $23 million to Merck for Ebola vaccine production

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said on Wednesday it will fund the manufacturing of Merck & Co Inc's investigational Ebola vaccine called V920, in response to the outbreak of the deadly virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The Ebola hemorrhagic fever has killed at least 1,900 people in Congo over the past year, the second biggest death toll in the disease's history, after a 2014-16 outbreak in West Africa that killed 11,300 people.