IN NUMBERS

40% OF US COVID CASES

At the start of January, more than 40% of US COVID cases were thought to be caused by XBB.1.5. This makes it the dominant strain in the country. Just one month earlier, at the beginning of December, it accounted for only % of cases. COVID hospital admissions have been rising in the US and the government restarted its free testing programme.

192 PEOPLE 22 UK SITES

A world- first NHS trial has begun to assess whether proton beam therapy can help certain breast cancer patients.

The study, which includes 192 people at 22 UK sites, will compare the treatment with standard radiotherapy for those at higher risk of long-term heart problems. Every year roughly 30,000 UK breast cancer patients are offered radiotherapy following surgery.

A children’s emergency unit has seen twice as many children as it would normally at this time of year, it is reported.

More than 100 children a day were attending the unit at Milton Keynes Hospital in January and overflow areas have been used to cope with numbers. The increase is thought to be due to flu, Strep A and respiratory viruses, among other viruses and conditions.

At the start of this year, China’s o cial COVID death toll had risen by six deaths since it abandoned “zero-COVID” policies in early December. This would take China’s total fatalities caused by COVID-19 to 5241 for the entire pandemic. However, modelling by the UK health analytics firm Airfinity estimates that there were 110,000 COVID-19 deaths in China since the beginning of December and 11,000 people a day were dying from the disease.

213 ,100

In the final week of December, the O ce for National Statistics (ONS) estimated that the number of people testing positive for COVID-19 in Scotland increased to 213,100. The figure is roughly the equivalent of one in 25 people – 4.05% of the population – up from 2.49% the previous week. This is the highest rates have been since July 2022, said the ONS.

ULCERATIONS

US researchers have identified a new feature indicative of the chance of recurrence of gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GISTs).

Clinicians currently rely on examining the prognostic features of location, size and mitotic activity.

But researchers have now identified mucosal ulcerations as a potential fourth feature that could play a role in indicating the chance of recurrence.

“Our findings indicate that ulceration is an independent predictor of the three known features experts use in risk stratification of GISTs,” said

Martin McCarter, lead author. “This finding is significant because it’s new information that might change the future of treatment of this tumour.” bit.ly/3QrxshQ

The team examined a database of patients diagnosed with GISTs and completed a chart review to determine the occurrence rate of ulcerations in addition to the other pathological indicators.

Of 310 patients reviewed, 85 had mucosal ulceration with their GIST. Researchers found that patients with ulcerated GIST were more likely to experience disease progression.

INFECTIOUS DISEASES