“I'm not great at the advice. Can I interest you in a sarcastic comment?”

This is what ‘Friends’ actor Matthew Perry’s character Chandler Bing was known for. He was known for being funny. However, he had his own struggles in his personal life and those struggles were acute depression. He was treating it with ketamine infusion therapy which is legal in the US and the UK.

What is Ketamine infusion therapy?

Ketamine is an anaesthetic used to treat depression, anxiety and pain under supervised and controlled medical settings. However, it does have its side effects, which can lead to distortion of sight, sound and time. It can also produce calming and relaxing effects.

Ketamine increases a person’s heart rate and blood pressure. If overdosed, it can leave users confused and agitated and can cause them to hurt themselves without even realising it. It can also lead to liver damage and bladder problems.

However, when used in moderation and under the supervision of medical doctors, it can treat depression where traditional antidepressants have failed.

Prof Rupert McShane, a University of Oxford psychiatrist who runs an NHS ketamine treatment clinic told BBC that ketamine “probably turns off the area of the brain that is involved in disappointment.”

Can Ketamine Infusion Therapy Kill Someone?

In simple terms, it cannot, be if the dosage is given in a controlled setting and as prescribed. Ketamine infusion therapy uses drugs in small doses than those used for anaesthesia. It acts faster than traditional anti-depressants, but the effects also wear off way quickly. Which is why it is important to monitor patients’ mental state for relapsing back into depression and discouraging them from overdosing on it.

There are ways of giving people ketamine. One of the ways is through “infusing”, which means to use an IV drip. However, injections, nasal sprays and capsules are also methods used to give people ketamine.

Since the dosage of ketamine used in the infusion treatment is small, it being the reason of actor Perry’s death was ruled out. The medical examiner also noted that Perry’s last ketamine infusion therapy session happened more than a week before his death, which means by the time he had died, it must have worn off.

So, What Happened To Perry?

Though Perry’s last session was more than a week before, his post-mortem showed that his blood contained a high concentration of ketamine. He had died of the “acute effects” of ketamine.

If it was not his session, then how did he get ketamine?

Prosecutors alleged that his assistant gave him at least 27 shots of ketamine in four days before his death, reported BBC.

Perry has been open about his personal struggles and this is what the doctors and dealers used against him. Martin Estrada, the US attorney for California’s Central District told the BBC that people took advantage of his condition. They charged him 165 times more than what vials of ketamine cost.

Names that have come up include Dr Salvador Plasencia, drug dealers “Ketamine Queen” aka Jasveen Sangha and Eric Fleming, and Perry’s live-in assistant Kenneth Iwamasa.

Who Are These Names And What Did They Do?

Ketamine Queen or Sangha supplied drugs that led to Perry’s death. Her home was a “drug-selling emporium,” said Estrada. More than 80 vials of ketamine, and thousands of pills including methamphetamine, cocaine and Xanax were allegedly found in her house known as the “Sangha Stash House.”

Sangha is known to deal with high-end celebs and was a “major source of supply for ketamine to others as well as Perry,” said Estrada.

Dr Plasencia called Perry a “moron” while charging him $2,000 for vials that cost only $12. He sold Perry 20 vials of ketamine between September and October 2023, costing $55,000.

He was the one who taught Iwamasa, who had no medical knowledge to inject the drug. This is after he knew that “Perry’s ketamine addiction was spiralling out of control,” as per what the investigators told the BBC.

Another dealer Fleming was told by Sangha to “delete all our messages.” While Fleming pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute drugs unlawfully, he also allegedly messaged Sangha: “Please call...Got more info and want to bounce ideas off you. I’m 90% sure everyone is protected. I never dealt with [Perry] only his assistant. So the assistant was the enabler.”

The court documents also revealed that he asked Sangha on whether the ketamine stays in your system or “is it immediately flushed out.”

Dr Pepper, Bots, Cans

The people who allegedly exploited Perry used coded language for ketamine and called it “Dr Pepper”, “bots”, or “cans.”

Selling overpriced drugs, taking advantage of Perry’s mental condition and falsifying medical records to make the drugs given to him look legitimate by Dr Plasencia is what took Perry’s life.

Iwamasa is said to have administered more than 20 shots of ketamine and three on the day Perry died. Whereas ketamine is only administered by a physician. Authorities also found that weeks before Perry’s death, Dr Plasencia allegedly bought 10 vials of ketamine and intended to sell to Perry.

He also injected Perry with a large dose, two days later. This caused him to “freeze up” and spiked his blood pressure.

When I Die, I Want Helping Others To Be The First Thing That’s Mentioned

Perry had always been open about his drug addictions, struggles with alcohol and his depression. He said that his openness would help others who are also struggling and wanted to be remembered by his quote which also is on the homepage of the Mattew Perry Foundation that helps others struggling with the disease of addiction: “When I die, I want helping others to be the first thing that’s mentioned.”

Five arrests have been made in the case so far.

Measles Outbreak In UK: A measles outbreak has been confirmed in London's north east area, noted the BMJ. As per the medical journal, the outbreak is among the unvaccinated children. The medical journal also noted that there have been 96 laboratory confirmed cases of measles in England between January 1 to February 9, 2026 and more than a third, which is 34 cases are from Enfield. BMJ also noted that Enfield is also the area with lowest vaccination rates.

As per the data by the UK Health Security Agency or the UKHSA, only 64.3% of 5 year-olds Enfield received both doses of the measles, mumps, and rubella or the MMR vaccine in 2024 and 2025. The majority (74 of 96, 77%) of measles cases confirmed in the UK so far this year were in children aged 10 and under. Some 64% of cases have been in London, 26% in the West Midlands, and 4% in the East Midlands.

Read: Unique Symptoms Of Measles In 2026 And How Long Does The Infection Last?

Measles Outbreak In UK: Previous Cases And How It Made A Comeback

Last month, the World Health Organization revoked the United Kingdom’s measles elimination status after the virus was found to be circulating continuously for over a year.

In 2025, a child in Liverpool died after contracting measles, prompting renewed pressure on the NHS and government to address its return. England recorded 959 laboratory-confirmed cases that year. Although lower than the 2,911 cases in 2024, it still marked the highest annual total since 2012.

Vaccine uptake has steadily declined over the past 12 years. Only 84.4% of children in the UK receive both doses of the MMR vaccine by age five, far below the 95% coverage needed for herd immunity.

Why Has Measles Return To The UK?

In late 2023, measles outbreaks were reported in the UK, which led to a surge in cases in 2024. Vaccination uptake at the end of 2024 was 92% for the first dose, however, for the second dose, it was below 82%.

Dr Vanessa Saliba, consultant epidemiologist at UKHSA said, "Infections can return quickly when childhood vaccine uptake falls - measles elimination is only possible if all eligible children receive two MMRV doses before school. The NHS is making vaccination easier, including offering the second MMRV dose earlier at a new 18-month appointment to boost uptake and support elimination goals."

Read: UK Loses Measles Elimination Status: Why Is This Disease Making A Comeback?

She also noted that children and adults must get vaccinated as NHS also offers catch-up jabs.

Dr Baharat Pankhania, from the University of Exeter, as reported by the BBC said, "Measles is an infection that can be prevented by vaccine - and it's extremely concerning that in the UK we now have pockets of low or no vaccine uptake. We urgently need to remedy this situation." Pankhania also noted that there is a need to make the access to GPs easier, and for an effort that could immunize babies in their homes and counter wrong information around vaccine safety.

The Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, JP Nadda, today launched two key national initiatives -- the Strategy for Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare for India (SAHI) and the Benchmarking Open Data Platform for Health AI (BODH) to boost the role of AI in the country's healthcare ecosystem.

The initiatives, launched at the India AI Summit at Bharat Mandapam, in the national capital, are aimed at promoting safe, transparent, and accountable AI in healthcare. It will also help strengthen the digital health ecosystem for equitable healthcare access.

What is SAHI and BODH?

SAHI is a national guidance framework to enable the safe, ethical, evidence-based, and inclusive adoption of AI across India’s healthcare system.

It aims to provide strategic direction on governance, data stewardship, validation, deployment, and monitoring of AI solutions, while supporting States and institutions in responsible adoption aligned with public health priorities.

"SAHI is not merely a technology strategy but a governance framework, policy compass, and national roadmap for the responsible use of AI in healthcare,” said Nadda.

He stated that SAHI will guide India in leveraging AI in a manner that is ethical, transparent, accountable, and people-centric. Nadda also emphasized that SAHI provides a structured framework for collaboration, ensuring that innovation flourishes while public interest remains paramount.

The second initiative, BODH, was developed by the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur in collaboration with the National Health Authority. It is a privacy-preserving benchmarking platform that enables rigorous evaluation of AI models using diverse, real-world health data without sharing underlying datasets.

As a digital public good under the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission, it is designed to strengthen trust, transparency, and quality assurance in Health AI deployment.

"The collaboration between Government and academia has led to the development of BODH -- the Benchmarking Open Data Platform for Health AI -- which provides a structured mechanism for testing and validating AI solutions before deployment at scale,” said Nadda.

Nadda reiterated that AI solutions must be rigorously evaluated for performance, reliability, and real-world readiness. Together, SAHI and BODH represent India’s commitment to building a trustworthy, inclusive, and globally competitive health AI ecosystem grounded in innovation, responsibility, and public trust.

AI An Indispensable Enabler to Viksit Bharat

Earlier, delivering the keynote address at a session themed “Innovation to Impact: AI as a Public Health Game-Changer”, at the Summit, Anupriya Patel, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, highlighted AI as an "All-Inclusive Intelligence".

She also emphasized AI's potential in addressing "health inequities across the country".

Patel called technology -- particularly AI "an indispensable enabler" in India's race towards the vision of a Viksit Bharat by 2047.

She highlighted the potential role of AI on India’s vast and diverse population, the rural–urban divide, and the dual burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases, which present unique challenges.

She also noted that AI has been integrated across the entire continuum of healthcare -- from disease surveillance and prevention to diagnosis and treatment.

While the national capital is seeing a significant rise in H3N2 Influenza A cases, experts explained that it's not just the common cold and people must not try to self-medicate.

Speaking to Health And Me, multiple experts stressed the need to treat the virus properly, as its symptoms can last longer and potentially lead to pneumonia.

What Is The H3N2 Virus?

H3N2 is a subtype of the Influenza A virus that causes seasonal flu. The symptoms are often stronger and more persistent, with many patients reporting prolonged fatigue, cough, breathing difficulty, and slower recovery.

It is highly contagious, spreading via respiratory droplets (coughing/sneezing) and contaminated surfaces. The symptoms usually last 5–7 days, with treatment focusing on rest and symptom management.

Dr. Mohit Saran, Consultant - Internal Medicine and Diabetologist, Manipal Hospital, Gurugram, told this publication: “H3N2 is not just a common cold. While symptoms may not appear instantly, they can lead to high fever, constant cough, body pain, and breathing issues. In some people, this can also increase the risk of pneumonia or the need for hospitalization if not managed early.”

The experts attributed the surge in the disease to factors such as changing weather, fluctuating temperatures and reduced immunity.

Who Is At The Highest Risk For H3N2?

Children, youngsters, senior citizens, pregnant women and people with low immunity or with conditions such as asthma, diabetes, or heart problems are more vulnerable to H3N2. Health care professionals and people who are exposed to crowded places may also be affected by this disease.

Dr. Atul Gogia, Head of Infectious Diseases, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, told Health and Me that the H3N2 virus "predominantly affects elderly people and those who have comorbid illnesses".

"We need to be especially careful because this illness predominantly affects individuals with comorbid conditions, the elderly, and those who are more vulnerable to developing complications that may require hospitalization,” he said.

Why Does H3N2 Last Longer Than The Common Flu?

Symptoms of H3N2 infection can last for two to three weeks, with a lingering dry cough and fatigue being common.

The virus often affects the lower respiratory tract, leading to more intense coughing and breathing discomfort. Young children, older adults, and individuals with chronic health conditions are at higher risk of complications.

"H3N2 is considered more infectious because of its ability to mutate quickly and adapt to the human host. This high mutation rate allows the virus to evade the immune system more effectively and can lead to more severe outbreaks. It spreads easily through respiratory droplets, direct contact, and contaminated surfaces,” explained Dr. Manisha Arora, Director - Internal Medicine at the CK Birla Hospital(R), Delhi told HealthandMe

"Frequent changes in its surface proteins, a process known as antigenic drift, make it harder for the body to recognize and fight the virus, which can result in more hospitalizations and, in severe cases, increased mortality,”

How Can The Disease Be Prevented?

H3N2 can be prevented through regular handwashing, wearing masks in crowded places, avoiding close contact with people who are sick, and avoiding self-medicating. Flu vaccination, timely medical consultation for long-term fever, and adequate rest help reduce the risk and further spread of the condition.

The experts recommended that all adults above 18 consider annual flu vaccination ideally in August or September, unless they are currently experiencing flu-like symptoms.

Maintaining good hygiene, eating nutrient-rich foods, staying hydrated, and following healthy habits can help boost immunity.