With the increase in monkeypox cases worldwide, the World Health Organisation has declared the outbreak an international public health emergency. There is now a recommended vaccine for its prevention or mitigation. Here is what we know about it and what the current recommendations are.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is still considering the approval of Hipra's SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. In mid-May, Hipra said it was ready to "have the vaccine available in a few days" following EMA approval, which it expected by the middle of this year, but which is being delayed until at least after July, as Elia Torroella, Hipra's R&D and Registration Director, explained at a breakfast briefing organised by the company today. 

Research published in the journal Hypertension has found an association between frequent naps and an increased risk of high blood pressure and stroke.

Today the World Health Organisation declared smallpox a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. The move was announced at a press conference by its director general, Tedros Adhanom, despite a lack of consensus in the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee.

Our landscapes urgently need proactive, adaptive, integrative management to enable rural development that is compatible in the medium and long term with biodiversity and ecosystem services. It is clear that unilateral and reactive management in the face of the challenges of global change is neither effective nor intelligent. And inaction is also a decision.

Worldwide, 236,000 people die each year from unintentional drowning in aquatic environments. In Spain alone, 260 people died as a result in 2021. To raise awareness of this problem, the UN General Assembly declared 25 July as World Drowning Prevention Day.

Climate change is causing a mass extinction of species, but for birds, this loss of biodiversity has wider implications. In research published in the journal Current Biology, researchers use statistical models to predict that this extinction will decrease morphological diversity among the remaining birds at a faster rate than species loss alone.

US researchers have designed an intranasal vaccination device that is capable of delivering immunising proteins through the mucosal surface. The research, published in Science Translational Medicine, shows that strong antibody responses against viruses such as HIV and SARS-CoV-2 have been achieved in mice and non-human primates.

The WHO's Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System recorded outliers for influenza illness in 16 countries, including Spain, in early 2020. This would mean an average of 13 weeks before the first reported covid-19 peak, according to research published in PLoS Medicine.

The high temperatures have led to an increase in cases of heat stroke, a serious disorder that requires urgent medical attention.