Credits: Instagram
Birthdays are exciting for everyone. There's celebration, a cake, and balloons. But what if it goes wrong? This is what happened with Giang Pham, from Vietnam, who was celebrating her 33rd birthday on February 14, when a hydrogen balloon in her hand touched the flame from the candle on the cake and exploded on her face.
This incident was also captured on camera. The footage clearly shows how the balloon blew up as soon as it touched the flame. Her friends were shocked and can be heard gasping in the background as they saw this.
In the days following the incident, she also shared photos on her Instagram showing her bandaged face, and revealed the first-degree burns on her hand and second-degree burns on her face. However, the good news was that her vision was unaffected, though for her face to recover, it would take months.
She is now also warning others about the risks of using highly inflammable hydrogen balloons. The other alternative could be a helium balloon, which you could fly higher and they remain on the ceiling.
She revealed that her doctor estimated up to six months for her skin to recover. She would still have to go to the hospital for dressing and treatment. Another such case happened with a woman named Tine from Australia, when on her son's 7th birthday, the balloon exploded and "shook her house". Her son was burned in the forearm.
Such incidents happen because decorators want to save the cost by replacing helium with hydrogen, which is highly inflammable.
Giang shared that she experienced second-degree burn on her face and first-degree burn on her hands. As per John Hopkins Medicine, first degree burns affect only the epidermis, or the outer layer of skin. The burn site becomes red, painful, dry, however, there are no blisters. A mild sunburn could be an example of such a burn. This is also called superficial burns.
Whereas, second degree burns involve the epidermis and part of the dermis layer of the skin. The burn site appears red, blistered and could also be swollen and painful. This is also known as partial thickness burn.
Then comes the third degree burns, also known as full thickness burn. This destroys the epidermis and dermis and could also damage the underlying bones, muscles, and tendons. However, when the bones and muscles are burned, it could be referred to as a fourth degree burn. The burn sit appears white or charred and there is no feeling in the area since the nerve endings are destroyed.
The right way to treat a burn depends on its depth and how much of the body it covers. While minor, superficial burns can be managed at home, deeper or larger burns may need medical attention. Keep these essential guidelines in mind:
Knowing these simple steps can make a big difference in burn care and healing.
Credit: AI generated image
The Supreme Court of India has urged the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to set up an expert panel
to examine how brain death is certified in India.
The apex Court has sought to know whether additional tests, such as electroencephalogram (EEG) and angiogram, are needed to declare a person brain dead.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta was hearing a petition filed by Kerala-based medic and activist S Ganapathy, alleging malpractices in brain death certification, Times of India reported.
Ganapathy alleged that patients who may not be brain dead are sometimes declared so to facilitate organ donation. The petition also questioned the reliability of the apnea test—the standard method used to confirm brain death—calling it subjective and claiming that the legal requirement of video graphing the procedure is often not followed.
Brain death, technically referred to as brain-stem death, is the irreversible end of all brain activity.
In India, according to the Transplantation of Human Organs (THO) Act, 1994 (Subsection 6 of Section 3), 'brain stem death' refers to the stage at which all functions of the brain stem have permanently and irreversibly ceased.
This is to be certified by a 'Board of Medical Experts' consisting of:
(1) The medical superintendent (MS)/In-Charge of the hospital in which 'brain stem' death has occurred,
(2) a specialist,
(3) a neurologist or a neurosurgeon nominated by the MS, from a panel approved by the Appropriate Authority, and the doctor under whose care the 'brain- stem' death has occurred.
Amendments in the THO Act 2011 have allowed the selection of a surgeon/physician and an anesthetist, if an approved neurosurgeon or neurologist is unavailable.
“Brain stem death has to be certified by a panel of four independent doctors, including a neurologist or neurosurgeon, and confirmed twice with a minimum gap of six hours. The process is carried out with due diligence and seriousness,” Dr Manjari Tripathi, head of neurology at AIIMS, was quoted as saying.
“While the guidelines require the team of doctors to meet and declare brain death at least twice, we end up doing it sometimes three times for the patients. The current guidelines require various bedside tests for the declaration of brain death. It does not specify the need for tests such as an EEG or angiogram,” added Dr. Tripathi.
Experts said additional tests could add to the system burden. EEG is not routinely recommended for brainstem death certification, while an angiogram is used only in select cases where the apnea test cannot be performed. Globally, the apnea test remains the gold standard. These criteria are clearly laid down and cannot be altered, said experts.
The Indian Express reported that the lack of knowledge even among physicians is a significant challenge in India.
This leads to several patients never being officially declared and asked to be organ donors.
An AIIMS-led study, published in the journal Neurology India last year, found that more than half the doctors — including neurosurgeons, neurologists, and critical care specialists who are most commonly included in the certification process — did not receive any training on brain death certification at the time of their graduation.
Credit: iStock/Merck
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Merck's Idvynso (doravirine/islatravir), a new, once-daily pill for the treatment of HIV-1 infection in adults.
The two-drug single tablet replaces the current antiretroviral regimen in those who are virologically suppressed (HIV-1 RNA <50 copies per mL).
The single tablet contains 100 mg doravirine and 0.25 mg islatravir. The FDA has approved it for adults on a stable antiretroviral regimen with no history of virologic treatment failure and no known substitutions associated with resistance to doravirine.
“IDVYNSO combines islatravir, a next-generation NRTI with multiple mechanisms of action, including translocation inhibition, with doravirine, an NNRTI with an established efficacy and safety profile,” said Dr. Eliav Barr, senior vice president and chief medical officer, Merck Research Laboratories, in a statement.
The approval is based on data from two randomized, active-controlled, noninferiority trials. In the double-blind Trial 052, participants were randomly assigned to stay on Glilead's Biktarvy (bictegravir/emtricitabine/tenofovir alafenamide; 171 individuals) or switch to Idvynso (342 individuals).
Results showed that 1 per cent of participants in both groups had a viral load of ≥50 copies/mL at 48 weeks.
In the open-label Trial 051, participants were randomly assigned to stay on their oral antiretroviral therapy (ART) regimen (185 individuals) or switch to Idvynso (366 individuals).
Results showed that 1 per cent of participants who were switched to Idvynso had a viral load of ≥50 copies/mL at week 48 versus 5 per cent who continued on ART.
"As the only two-drug, non-integrase strand transfer inhibitor, tenofovir-free regimen, Idvynso expands therapeutic diversity beyond the currently available oral treatment options," Barr said.
"As the health needs of adults living with HIV change over time, Idvynso gives clinicians a new choice for HIV treatment."
What Is IDVYNSO? How Does It Work?
IDVYNSO is a fixed-dose combination of two medicines, doravirine with islatravir.
Doravirine is a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) that inhibits HIV-1 replication by non-competitive inhibition of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase.
Islatravir is a potent, next-generation nucleoside analog reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI) that blocks HIV-1 replication by multiple mechanisms, including:
According to the latest data from UNAIDS, 40.8 million people globally were living with HIV in 2024. Of these, 39.4 million were adults (15 years or older) and 1.4 million were children (0–14 years).
While 1.3 million people became newly infected with HIV in 2024, 630,000 died from AIDS-related illnesses.
About 87 per cent of all people living with HIV knew their HIV status, and 5.3 million people did not know that they were living with HIV.
Credit: AI generated image
The US eliminated measles in 2000, but since 2025, the highly infectious disease has spread to 45 states. As of early May 2026, the US has recorded 1,814 confirmed measles cases this year across 36 states. This follows a record-high 2,288 cases in 2025.
Now, the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has warned about additional measles cases ahead of the travel season.
The CDC urged public health agencies across the US to be prepared for more measles cases in the coming months.
"With continued measles transmission in areas across North America and expected increases in international and domestic travel and large events during spring and summer, additional measles cases are anticipated in the coming months," the agency said.
The guidance advised public health agencies to document and report details of each case of measles, including close contacts and locations visited while a person was infectious.
Active surveillance should be conducted to identify any additional suspected cases and quickly transport specimens for laboratory confirmation, the guidance said.
The agency also encouraged outreach to under-vaccinated communities and suggested using state-based syndromic surveillance systems to detect changes in health care–seeking behavior for fever and rash illnesses or signs of vitamin A toxicity.
Measles is a highly contagious virus that spreads through direct contact or through the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes. It is a vaccine-preventable disease that can cause devastating complications, including blindness, pneumonia, encephalitis, and long-term immune dysfunction.
Also read: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Denies Link To Measles Outbreak At Senate Hearing
So far, there have been 24 new outbreaks reported in 2026, and 93 per cent of confirmed cases (1,688 of 1,814) are outbreak-associated (415 from outbreaks starting in 2026 and 1,273 from outbreaks that started in 2025).
In 2025, 48 outbreaks were reported, and 90 per cent of confirmed cases (2,065 of 2,288) were outbreak-associated.
According to researchers at Boston Children's Hospital, the US has missed four of the seven criteria for measles elimination status, which could put the country off track. More are at risk, they said.
In a Correspondence published in The Lancet, the researchers explained the missed indicators of measles elimination status in the US.
Read More: India Concerned Over Measles Outbreak, Action Underway: Dr N K Arora| Exclusive
The researchers believe these findings make a strong case for vaccinating children to protect them from a young age.
"Viral infections aren't all benign, and a measles infection, even when cleared, can result in lifelong problems," said Maimuna Majumder, from Boston Children's.
"Babies less than a year old are among those at greatest risk for severe complications, and the full impact on children exposed during the current outbreak may only show up years later," Majumder added.
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