The SMC team produces explanatory articles on topical issues to answer society’s questions, with the necessary context and depth.
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.
The high temperatures have led to an increase in cases of heat stroke, a serious disorder that requires urgent medical attention.
Communicating outbreaks of infectious diseases is not easy, especially when they affect population groups that may face discrimination. Cases of monkeypox among men who have sex with men remind us of the importance of reporting without stigma.
The UK has detected "circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2" in residual samples collected between February and June. Although no symptomatic cases have been found so far, the finding underlines the importance of keeping the population vaccinated.
Following the detection of several cases of people infected with the simian smallpox virus in the UK, health authorities are concerned that there may be EU-wide transmission with undetected infections, both within and outside the country. In Spain, the Community of Madrid has identified 23 possible cases of infection.
"The level of alcohol consumption that does not harm health is zero," says a review of dozens of studies conducted in recent years on the effect of light drinking. The 20 or so authors of the paper, and other experts, insist that "alcohol is carcinogenic from the first drink". In their view, this message should be conveyed more clearly to the public.
Studies have shown that the coronavirus has caused life expectancy to fall in many parts of the world in recent years, although differences between countries and regions are considerable. The latest WHO estimates are close to 15 million deaths worldwide between 2020 and 2021.
On 27 April, the WHO reported 151 cases of salmonellosis in 11 countries, caused by the consumption of 'kinder eggs' or other contaminated products of the same brand. In Spain, two cases have been confirmed.
In recent weeks, several countries have detected unusually severe cases of hepatitis of unknown origin in healthy children. Some of the patients have required transplantation and at least one of them has died. Researchers are working on several hypotheses around an adenovirus, but the matter is still shrouded in uncertainty.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is meeting between 21 March and 1 April to approve the study on measures to curb the climate crisis, on which more than 200 authors from all over the world have been working for three years. The text will be published on 4 April.