Health News: 31 October 2026

Alder Hey Children's Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said 24 failures led to the death of 21-month-old Eleanor Hazel Aldred-Owen after routine skull surgery in Liverpool. A coroner concluded she died of misadventure, contributed to by neglect, after an abnormal chest X-ray was not flagged and a collapsed lung was not treated in time. The trust said her death should not have happened, and her father said the aim is to prevent families from trauma.

University of Milan researchers presented sweat samples from a 6-year-old girl with epilepsy, collected during and around seizures, to 30 untrained dogs unfamiliar with her. The dogs approached the seizure scent first 40 percent more often than expected by chance, with no signs of distress or fear. The findings suggest untrained dogs may have a spontaneous sensory reaction to the smell of a seizure.

Betsi Cadawaladr health board is consulting on closing urgent primary care centres at three hospitals in north-west Wales by 31 March 2027, citing financial pressures and recruitment difficulties. The centres provide same-day urgent care and are staffed by advanced nurse practitioners, GPs and physiotherapists. Objectors say closing them would shift patients to already stretched GP practices and emergency departments.

Pennsylvania has recorded more than 1,350 measles cases this year, with more than a third in Lancaster County, the epicenter of the nation's worst measles outbreak in 35 years. The state has recorded five measles-associated deaths, and community leaders say many cases go uncounted. Many in the Amish and conservative Mennonite communities are showing new openness to vaccines.

Democrats are trying to court Make America Healthy Again voters who have soured on the Trump administration. The party hopes to combine public health messaging with grassroots concerns about ultra processed food, chemical toxins and prevention, while distancing itself from anti vaccine and conspiracy elements. The effort comes in a midterm election in which public health is on the offensive and some candidates are doctors or nurses.

A woman recounts a mammogram appointment she had postponed for a year or two. After the mammogram was reported as fine, an echography revealed a darker patch that did not disappear, prompting the radiologist to recommend a biopsy. She says the experience was painful and caused anxiety, especially because almost every woman in her family has had breast cancer.

Kit de Waal, an international bestselling author, says a solicitor's reading recommendation changed her life after she left home at 16, struggled with drugs and was near a serious mental breakdown. She had disliked books, but a list of 10 novels, including War and Peace and Madame Bovary, started a lifelong reading habit. Reading later inspired her to write, though it took more than a decade of rejection before she was published.

Congo's Ebola outbreak has killed 5,026 of 10,351 infected people, according to the country's health ministry, as cases are recorded in other African countries. The Bundibugyo virus has no known vaccine or treatment, and the outbreak declared in mid-May has spread to 67 health zones in eight provinces. Health agencies say about 80% of new cases come from outside monitored contacts, raising fears of wider continental spread.

A University of Maryland School of Medicine study found that methadone and buprenorphine levels in umbilical cord tissue were not associated with severity of neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome. The study analyzed 92 pregnancies in which patients received at least 30 days of treatment before delivery. Researchers said lowering doses during pregnancy may not prevent severe withdrawal and may put mothers at risk of relapse or overdose.

MIT researchers developed a nanoscale particle based on a harmless M13 bacteriophage that can be coated with cancer antigens. By controlling the density of the antigens, they created a vaccine that prevented colon tumors in mice. The modular design could be adapted to carry different antigens for patient-specific cancer vaccines, according to the study in Advanced Healthcare Materials.

FAIR Health launched FAIR Health Atlas, a free online platform using commercial insurance claims to show chronic disease prevalence across all 50 states and Washington, DC. It lets users select from 45 chronic conditions and 32 social determinants of health for 2020 to 2025, with state or county prevalence per 100,000 commercially insured members. It aims to help policymakers and researchers understand disease trends and geographic variation.

University of Michigan researchers found that injecting the molecule norrin prevented vision loss in diabetic rats. Rats with diabetes had lower norrin levels and reduced vision, while treatment prevented retinal cell death and inflammation and reduced loss of vision-related nerve cells. Current anti-VEGF treatments require several injections and fail to fully manage half of treated patients, so the results point to a possible new therapy.

Shaoxing University researchers found that Huayu Wan, a traditional Chinese medicine formula, suppressed activity and growth of cisplatin-resistant esophageal squamous cell carcinoma cells in the lab. It induced ferroptosis, a programmed cell death involving iron and oxidative damage, by weakening antioxidant defenses and causing cancer cells to release internal iron stores. Greater effects appeared with larger doses or longer exposure.