(In the weekly Health Matters newsletter, Ramya Kannan writes about getting to good health, and staying there. You can subscribe here to get the newsletter in your inbox.)
This week, we go after the ubiquitous microscopic, unicellular living organisms that were among the first life forms to appear on earth – bacteria. We go after them, only in a manner of speaking, because some bacteria have gone after the human race, from time immemorial, inflicting harm, causing disease, death or disability, even as others have silently been termed ‘good bacteria’. The world has begun to discover the huge impact that gut microbiota has on different aspects of human health, and new discoveries are revealed regularly with a mixture of awe and joy about peeling away the layers of an organism that is part hero, part villain.
There is no doubt that the surge of bacterial infections in Europe and the United States is worrying. This past week, Europe suffers its largest diphtheria outbreak in 70 years. Diphtheria is caused by a toxin-producing bacterium called Corynebacterium diphtheriae. In 2022, there was an unusual surge in Corynebacterium diphtheriae in several European countries, particularly among recently arrived migrants, according to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine. That year 362 cases were recorded by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Patient samples from 10 countries showed that 98 percent of the cases were in males with an average age of 18. Almost all had recently migrated. There is no doubt that changing global dynamics will have an impact on the cesspool of pathogens and how they behave as well. This calls for a re-orientation to the way we have been looking at things, from a global health perspective.
More not-so-good news on this front from America. Salmonella outbreak tied to eggs sickens dozens across 7 states in US. Symptoms of salmonella poisoning include diarrhoea, fever, severe vomiting, dehydration and stomach cramps. Most people who get sick recover within a week. Infections can be severe in young children, older adults and people with weakened immune systems, who may require hospitalisation. According to the CDC, this particular outbreak was caused by contaminated eggs. Salmonella disease is from a bacteria often found in contaminated foods. Manaswini Vijayakumar wrote about Nanoplastics, and how they can make E. coli infections worse, as per a study. E.coli is a group of bacteria that live in your gut, and again, going by the bacteria rule, some strains cause disease – bloody diarrhoea, eroding the lining of the intestine. Again, it comes from eating contaminated food, and unlike other food-borne infections, even ingesting a small portion will lead to disease. In the study, researchers have proved that the presence of nanoplastics actually aggravate e.coli infections. E. coli bacteria have a negative charge on their outer membranes. This can attract positively charged nanoplastics and increase the stress on the bacterium, making it produce more toxins, leading to disease. No doubt this is worrisome, given that research has established that micro- and nano-plastics are all pervasive, even in our bloodstream, tissues, and in newborns as well. Their build-up has many toxic effects, including damage to cells and the genetic material inside. In fact the theme of this year’s Environment Day (June 5) was controlling plastic pollution.
Now, on to the flip side, the good face of the bacteria. Researchers found thermophile bacteria in the Rajgir hot spring lake in Nalanda district of Bihar, one group in the Actinobacteria group, that are known producers of antimicrobial compounds. (Well-known drugs like streptomycin and tetracycline were first discovered as the products of Actinobacteria.) Mohit Nikalje reports on this development. Discovering antibiotic-producing bacteria has become more pressing in the era of antimicrobial resistance.
We can’t miss pointing to Gayatri Saberwal’s article, Using bacteriophages to combat antimicrobial resistance to bring up the tail here. Bacteriophages are ‘good viruses’ that naturally prey on bacteria. They are all around us, in the water, in the soil, in our gut, on our skin, etc. There are believed to be 10 times as many phages as bacteria on the earth. Phages were beginning to be used against bacterial infections about a century ago, but antibiotics superseded them once they were discovered. Unlike an antibiotic, which may be able to kill many species of bacteria, phages may only kill a few strains of a particular bacterium.
Turning our attention to climate change, which hogs the limelight more than ever, in health columns these days. One of the key learnings this week was Dr. Kalpana Balakrishnan’s piece explaining how Exposomics facilitates better environmental health published for World Environment Day. The exposome is defined as the measure of all the exposures of an individual in a lifetime and how those exposures relate to health. Traditional environmental health studies include hypothesis-driven methods which have focused on one or a class of environmental exposures at a few time points. These fail to account for the complex interactions of exposures across the lifespan, on human health. Exposomics aims to bridge this gap by understanding how external exposures from physical, chemical, biological and psycho-social environments interact with diet and lifestyle and internal individual characteristics such as genetics, physiology, and epigenetics to create health or disease.
In this story, Zubeda Hamid discusses whether air pollution could be a factor for increasing number of cancer cases in India, while this article discusses how Wildfire smoke exposure may shorten lung cancer survival. For those who have not even thought of this, apparently climate change related events might cause a resurgence of leprosy in pockets of the country. Aditya Ansh explains, here.
Just a note to sign this segment off: In Delhi, the temperature shoots to 49°C; and an orange alert is issued amid a heatwave.
Every year, June 8 is observed as Brain Tumour day, in order to summon attention to the most vital organ of the body: the brain. This week, we had a bunch of articles focussing on the brain and the mind. Dr. Boopesh Pugazhendi wrote that Brain tumours are on the rise in India: and further discussed what the future holds in terms of treatment. Enhanced diagnostic and treatment options have made things better for patients, he argues. Dr. Anurag Saxena wrote on the story of a 12-year-old boy battling multiple seizures, and how it was resolved for him. Athira Elssa Johnson argued that Not all cognitive decline is dementia and not all dementia is Alzheimer’s stress clinicians this brain awareness month (June), while here is everything you need to know about Alzheimer’s disease.
Chapal Mehra and Vashita Madan examined the impact of everyday hustle on mental health of the youth, what with advocates for long hours of work grabbing headlines, from time to time. Siddharth Singhal in Bridging health cover, mental healthcare in India turned the attention to the situation following the passing of the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 and a subsequent IRDAI directive, when mental health is now covered at par with physical illnesses across health insurance plans in India. Hit the link for more information, in case you want to insure yourself. Dr. Jaideep Mahendra, in a fascinating story, decoded the link between neuropsychiatric disorders and periodontal health.
Have you wondered, ever, if When you want to move, does your brain know before you’ve decided? Then, this article by Reeteka Sud might have a few answers. Hysell V. Oviedo in The Conversation describes how your left and right brain hear language differently.
As a follow up to the evolving COVID-19 situation in the country, we had a number of articles this week, including explainers:
Bindu Shajan Perappadan reported that the Centre asked States to ensure supply of medical oxygen, isolation beds, ventilators
Most cases mild, say officials as COVID-19 tally reaches 6,132
What is the COVID-19 situation in India?
As COVID-19 cases register an uptick in India, a look at the vaccine stock position
In the In Focus podcast, What do you need to know about the Covid-19 spike in India?
An increasing awareness of the importance of diets and food standards is thankfully gaining ground, and naturally, reflects in the content we provide as well. Dr. N. Gopalakrishnan tells you what is the ideal level of Potassium on your plate; Here, we have a story on Experts urging the Centre to implement mandatory warning labels on packaged foods, while Pawan Agarwal focuses on Maintaining India’s progress in food safety standards. As part of The Hindu-Naruvi Hospitals partnership, a webinar was held on how Diet is both cause and cure for MASLD, a liver condition.
I wrote last week about a worrisome move by the government to wind down the National Polio Surveillance Network centres in India in phases. Experts have stressed that the work is not done yet in polio eradication, given our neighbours still harbour polio cases, and the timing of the tail off exercise could not have come at a worse time. They’ve called for a reassessment of this plan, which they say might be disastrous in case wild virus strains or vaccine-derived polio strains find their way into the country.
We are recording some key advances in the health sector last week, which show promise for patients. For instance, reports projected a new treatment nearly halves the risk of disease progression or death from a less common form of breast cancer that hasn’t seen major drug advances in over a decade.
In other news, IISc researchers developed a novel nanozyme which prevents excess clotting, while N. Ravi Kumar reported that Dr. Reddy’s and Alvotech will co-develop, market biosimilar of Merck’s cancer drug Keytruda.
In our tailpiece column for the week, we chose Dr. K. Ganapathy’s important piece demystifying what a good death is. As doctors get wrapped up in the immediacy of their cases and the emergencies of their patients, even the routine quotidian of treatments and diagnosis, it’s important to consider what a good death means, and when to let go. As important as it is to live a good life, it is important to have a good death, he argues.
In our explainers section, we have for you:
Meenakshy S. on How six years of gender clinics in Tamil Nadu have improved access to healthcare for transpersons
Dr. Srinivasan Vijay and Dr. Sathish M.S. explain the science of onco-physiotherapy – the need to embed exercise into cancer care
Dr. Venkat P. and Dr. Priya Kapoor take you through the latest advances: How robotic surgeries are offering safer, quicker, more precise care for gynaecological cancers
Stress and strokes: the twain do meet
Also read:
Serena Josephine M. on the changing gender scenario in gynaecology and orthopaedics: Challenging gender norms, one specialty at a time
R. Prasad writes that Chewing tobacco increases oral cancer risk by over 19 times in elderly people
In Chennai, this government healthcare institution has been serving pregnant women for 145 years
Science Quiz | On allergies
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Published – June 10, 2025 03:12 pm IST