Medical Bulletin 21/October/2023

Here are the top medical news of the day:

Can pollution increase breast cancer risk by 28%?

Women living and working in places with higher levels of fine particle air pollution are more likely to get breast cancer than those living and working in less polluted areas. The results of the study are presented at the ESMO Congress 2023 in Madrid, Spain.

In the study, home and workplace exposure to pollution in 2419 women with breast cancer was compared to that in 2984 women without breast cancer over the period 1990-2011. The results showed that breast cancer risk increased by 28% when exposure to fine particle (PM2.5) air pollution increased by 10 µg/m3 – approximately equivalent to the difference in PM2.5 particle concentration typically seen in rural versus urban areas of Europe. Smaller increases in breast cancer risk were also recorded in women exposed to high levels of larger particle air pollution (PM10 and nitrogen dioxide).

Reference: ESMO

New trivalent vaccine offers protection against multiple highly pathogenic coronaviruses

In a significant leap forward in the battle against deadly coronaviruses, a team of researchers has unveiled a trivalent vaccine designed to protect against not one, not two, but three highly pathogenic human coronaviruses.

Existing SARS-CoV-2 vaccines have been instrumental in mitigating the spread of COVID-19 and reducing the severity of the disease. However, they primarily target the specific strain of the virus responsible for the ongoing pandemic, SARS-CoV-2, leaving potential gaps in protection against other related viruses. These vaccines do not offer defense against other sarbecoviruses or merbecoviruses.

Reference: Martinez et al., Vaccine-mediated protection against Merbecovirus and Sarbecovirus challenge in mice, Cell Reports (2023), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2023.113248

Does COVID-19 infection increase the risk of Guillain-Barré?

Having a COVID-19 infection is associated with an increased risk of developing the rare disorder called Guillain-Barré syndrome within the next six weeks, according to a study published in the online issue of Neurology. The study also found that people who received the mRNA vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech were less likely to develop the disorder in the next six weeks than people who did not receive the mRNA vaccine.

Guillain-Barré syndrome is a rare autoimmune disorder in which the immune system attacks nerve cells. Symptoms start with weakness in the hands and feet and may progress to paralysis.

Reference: AMERICAN ACADEMY OF NEUROLOGY, Neurology