Nigeria recorded its first Ebola case of the current outbreak, researchers linked hormone therapy to extra weight loss on semaglutide, an Australian study described a body-clock form of depression, the UK Covid inquiry criticised the protection of care homes, and two television comedians spoke frankly about their health.
Nigeria confirms an Ebola case in Abuja as the outbreak reaches West Africa
Nigeria has confirmed an Ebola case in the capital, Abuja, in a woman who travelled there through Uganda, making it the first West African country to record an infection linked to the outbreak that began in Congo in May. Health Minister Muhammad Ali Pate said laboratory tests confirmed the diagnosis and that 44 close contacts were being traced. According to the World Health Organization, the woman fell ill on 7 October, four days after arriving, and she is being treated in isolation.
Uganda’s health ministry said the woman had been on a business trip to eastern Congo and only passed through Uganda without symptoms, adding that the country has no confirmed active cases. Kenya has now recorded nine infections. Africa CDC chief Jean Kaseya warned of an extremely serious threat, saying the Bundibugyo strain, which has no approved vaccine or treatment, had spread further than any previous Ebola outbreak. More than 9,500 people have been infected and over 4,600 have died.
Nigeria faced Ebola once before, in 2014, when a Liberian-American traveller, Patrick Sawyer, fell ill on arrival in Lagos and died five days later. That outbreak, part of the larger West African epidemic that began in Guinea, caused 20 confirmed cases and eight deaths in the country. Officials monitored all of Sawyer’s contacts and tightened checks at entry points, and the WHO declared Nigeria free of Ebola on 20 October 2014, calling its response a spectacular success.
Hormone therapy linked to slightly greater weight loss with semaglutide after menopause
Postmenopausal women who combined menopause hormone therapy with semaglutide lost slightly more weight than those taking the drug alone, according to research presented at the annual meeting of The Menopause Society. Mayo Clinic researchers reviewed records for about 2,400 women on semaglutide and 1,500 on tirzepatide. After around two years, semaglutide users on hormone therapy had lost about 25 pounds, compared with 23 for those without it, while tirzepatide results showed no meaningful difference.
Lead author Regina Castaneda, a postdoctoral fellow, said oestrogen may dampen the brain’s food reward system and strengthen the appetite effect of the drug, though the observational design cannot prove cause and effect. Women on tirzepatide lost more weight overall, about 35 pounds after 15 months. Castaneda said hormone therapy should not be started just to lose weight, and stressed protein intake and resistance training because weight loss on these drugs also removes some muscle.
Semaglutide imitates the gut hormone GLP-1 and is sold as Ozempic and Rybelsus for type 2 diabetes and as Wegovy for weight management. It was first approved in the United States in 2017, followed by Canada, the European Union and Japan in 2018. The higher-dose Wegovy injection was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for long-term weight control in adults in June 2021. Its most common side effects are nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain and constipation.
Study describes a circadian form of depression affecting almost a quarter of patients
Researchers at the University of Sydney say about 23 per cent of people with severe, recurrent depression have a form linked to a disrupted internal body clock. The study, published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, used clinical and genetic data from 11,380 Australians. Participants were placed in the group if they showed at least three of six signs, including a seasonal pattern, late sleep timing, sleeping longer when depressed, being a night owl, waking exhausted and very different weekday and weekend sleep.
Lead author Emiliana Tonini said those affected had more severe symptoms, an earlier onset, more episodes and more suicidal thoughts, and higher genetic risk for ADHD and metabolic and inflammatory markers. Co-author Ian Hickie said standard antidepressants worked less well and caused more side effects in this group, and a trial of melatonin and daylight routines is planned. Independent experts welcomed the work but said it needs replication beyond participants of European ancestry before the subtype is formally recognised.
A circadian rhythm is a natural cycle in living things that repeats roughly every 24 hours, and the word comes from Latin terms meaning around a day. Although generated inside the body, these rhythms are adjusted by outside cues such as light and temperature. In mammals the main clock sits in the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus, which receives information about light through the eyes. Irregular rhythms have long been associated with depression, bipolar disorder and some sleep disorders.
Covid inquiry finds care homes were left exposed early in the pandemic
The UK Covid inquiry’s sixth report says action to protect people in care homes came too late and had devastating consequences. More than 43,000 deaths involving Covid were recorded in care homes between March 2020 and July 2022. The 287-page report rejects the claim by Matt Hancock, then health secretary in England, that a protective ring had been placed around them, saying care was treated as an afterthought and shortages of protective equipment forced staff to improvise with bin bags.
The inquiry said patients moved from hospitals into care homes without enough testing should have been isolated, and early guidance in England, Wales and Northern Ireland failed to ask for this. It found visiting bans were justified at first but later went too far, harming residents’ wellbeing, and highlighted blanket do-not-resuscitate orders, which rose from 16,800 to 26,500 in nine months. It also described the deep distress of staff, some of whom moved into homes to protect residents.
The UK Covid-19 Inquiry is an independent public inquiry examining how the United Kingdom prepared for and responded to the pandemic. Boris Johnson announced it in May 2021, the former judge Heather Hallett was named chair that December, and public hearings began in June 2023. Its remit covers England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and includes preparedness, lockdowns, hospitals, care homes, equipment procurement and financial support, while Scotland also runs a separate inquiry of its own.
Bob Mortimer and Paul Whitehouse speak about their health before a new Gone Fishing series
Comedians Bob Mortimer, 67, and Paul Whitehouse, 68, say they are sicker than they appear as a new series of their BBC fishing programme approaches. Whitehouse said he has been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, takes medication, has cut almost all sugar from his diet and limits his drinking. Mortimer said he now follows an exercise routine with kettlebells and weights at home, after years in which heart trouble and a return of rheumatoid arthritis affected his health.
Mortimer said he had dismissed breathlessness while playing football with his sons in his early fifties as a sign of age, warning that the decade carries a high risk of heart attacks. He was taken to hospital while filming in 2022. Separately, Whitehouse’s wife said he was targeted by a mugger at a cash machine in Islington, London, last week while collecting medication for her, and fought back to recover his card. The ninth series begins on Sunday.
Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing first aired on BBC Two in June 2018 and follows the two friends on fishing trips around Britain as they reflect on life after serious heart problems. Mortimer had emergency triple heart bypass surgery in 2015, and Whitehouse, whose own heart condition was found late, invited him fishing during his recovery. The outings later inspired the programme, which has been recommissioned every year and has included a Christmas special since 2020.