HEALTH BRIEFS

VAX TO PROTECT BABIES

Vaccinating pregnant women for group B streptococcus – strep B – could prevent more than 31,000 infant deaths and 23,000 stillbirths, say researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Their analysis used a computer model to estimate the health benefit and cost-effectiveness of strep B vaccines in pregnant women in 183 countries. They also found the programme could avert 127,000 early-onset and 87,300 lateonset infant cases of strep B, and almost 18,000 cases of moderate and severe neurodevelopmental impairment. The authors conclude that a global maternal strep B vaccine is likely to be a cost-effective intervention.

LONG COVID RISK

The Omicron variant is much less likely to lead to long Covid than the variant circulating at the start of the pandemic, according to new research being presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases in Copenhagen. The Swiss study found healthcare workers infected with the original virus were up to 67% more likely to report symptoms of long Covid than those who hadn’t had Covid. But healthcare workers whose first infection was Omicron were no more likely to report long Covid symptoms than those who’d never had Covid-19.

BEND AND STRETCH

Yoga could be used to help prevent frailty in older adults, say researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston who conducted a systematic review of 33 randomised controlled trials. The research encompassed data from 2384 people aged 65 or older, and found that yoga improved walking speed and lower body strength and endurance.