Experiencing daytime sleepiness is something that is usually perceived as a minor inconvenience, but for older adults, it could be an early warning sign of Dementia. This neurodegenerative disease leads to the progressive decline of brain cells. This eventually

affects memory, cognition, and personality, making everyday tasks more difficult. As one of the fastest-growing neurological disorders across the world, dementia poses a significant health threat to ageing populations.

Is Dementia Linked To Poor Sleep?

For this study, researchers followed 445 older adults (average age 76) over three years, aiming to determine whether poor sleep could increase the risk of mild cognitive impairment (MCI), which often leads to dementia. At the start, none of the participants had MCI, but by the end of the study, 36 individuals had developed the condition.

The researchers discovered that participants with poor sleep were more likely to develop MCI compared to those who slept well. However, when depression symptoms were taken into account, the link between poor sleep and MCI became less pronounced, suggesting that while sleep issues are a concern, mental health also plays a key role in dementia risk.

To assess sleep quality, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) was used, evaluating factors such as sleep duration, disturbances, and daytime alertness. Among these, "daytime dysfunction"—defined as excessive sleepiness and low energy during the day—was most strongly associated with an increased risk of MCI. Those experiencing daytime dysfunction were more than three times as likely to develop MCI as those who didn’t report such symptoms.

There are many types of dementia:

Dementia is not a specific disease. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it is an overall term that describes a decline in mental ability that interferes with daily life. People with dementia often have symptoms like trouble remembering, thinking, or making everyday decisions. These symptoms tend to get worse over time.

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia, and it mostly affects the elderly. Each form of dementia has a different cause. Though dementia mostly affects older adults, it is not a part of normal ageing. An estimated 6.7 million older adults have Alzheimer's disease in the United States. That number is expected to double by 2060, as per data from the CDC.

In 2022, 3.8% of men and 4.2% women in US were diagnosed with dementia. The percentage of people increase with age from 1.7% for those aged 65-74 to 13.1% for those aged 85 and older. Alzheimer's accounts for 60 to 80% of all dementia cases and it is most prevalent in California, Florida, and Texas, as these states have the highest number of people.

Almost 50 years after being eradicated, the vaccine-preventable diphtheria is causing infections in Australia.

The country’s health officials have reported outbreaks of diphtheria in the Northern Territory (NT) and Western Australia (WA).

As per the latest NT CDC report on April 22, 17 cases of respiratory diphtheria have been notified since 23 March 2026, and 60 cases of cutaneous diphtheria, which affects the skin, have been reported since May 2025.

As per figures published on WA’s notifiable disease dashboard in April, 34 cases have been reported in the state so far this year, including 29 in the Kimberley, two each in the Goldfields and Pilbara regions, as well as one case registered in metro Perth.

In the region, diphtheria cases have more than tripled since December 2025. The cases range in age profile, from 0–4 years to a resident aged 70–74.

Five of the initial reported cases were cutaneous, while two were respiratory, the first such cases to be notified in the state for more than 50 years.

"Clinicians are advised to be vigilant for patients presenting with clinically suspicious skin sores, infected wounds, or upper respiratory illness in or from the Kimberley, and potentially the Pilbara or Goldfields regions," the alert reads. Cases have also been found in Queensland (2) and South Australia (1) this year.

In response to the rising cases, the government has launched a contact tracing system, and at-risk people are being supported to get booster vaccinations, a State Government spokesperson told the ABC. One patient reportedly had a life-threatening case and was flown to Perth for treatment.

What Is Diphtheria? Why The Infection Is Rising in Australia After Five Decades

As per the WHO, Diphtheria is a disease caused by the Corynebacterium diphtheriae bacterium that affects the upper respiratory tract and, less often, the skin. It also produces a toxin that damages the heart and the nerves. While it is a vaccine-preventable disease, multiple doses are needed to produce and sustain immunity.

Diphtheria has remained a leading cause of childhood death globally. But vaccination has long prevented mortality among children.

Those who are not immunized remain at risk. WHO also mentions that diphtheria can be fatal in 30 per cent of cases, with young children at higher risk of dying if they are unvaccinated and are not receiving proper treatment.

In 2023, an estimated 84 per cent of children worldwide received the recommended 3 doses of diphtheria-containing vaccine during infancy, leaving 16 per cent with no or incomplete coverage.

According to Australia’s Department of Health, between 1926 and 1935, more than 4,000 Australians died from diphtheria. Vaccination started in Australia in the 1930s, and the disease has rarely been seen since the 1950s. But vaccine coverage has waned since the COVID pandemic, leading to a rising number of cases.

Read: Indigenous Td Vaccine Rollout In India To Boost Immunity In Children, Adults, Say Experts

Diphtheria: Signs And Symptoms

Within 2 to 5 days after exposure to the bacteria. The symptoms include

• a sore throat,
• fever,
• swollen neck glands,
• weakness.

Severe cases happen as a result of the diphtheria toxin and its effects.

Diphtheria: How the Disease Is Treated

It is usually treated with diphtheria antitoxin as well as antibiotics. Antitoxin neutralizes the circulating toxin in the blood. Antibiotics stop bacterial replication and thereby toxin production, speed up getting rid of the bacteria, and prevent transmission to others.

Also read: UK Parliament Bans Smoking For People Born After 2008: Know All About It

How To Prevent Diphtheria

Diphtheria can be prevented by vaccines and routine immunization. The vaccine is given most often combined with vaccines for diseases such as tetanus, pertussis, Hemophilus influenzae, hepatitis B, and inactivated polio.

A US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study that shows the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine has been blocked from being published in the agency’s flagship scientific journal, according to a media report.

The findings revealed that the COVID vaccine reduced emergency department visits and halved hospitalizations among healthy adults last winter.

The study, previously delayed by the head of the federal agency Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, was ultimately rejected for publication in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, The Washington Post reported, citing officials familiar with the decision.

Also Read: Heatwave in India: Delhi Govt Issues Advisory For Schools, Urges Hydration And Reduced Outdoor Activity

The CDC initially delayed the publication based on concerns about "the observational method used in the study to calculate vaccine effectiveness".

Now, Andrew Nixon, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, was quoted as saying that “the MMWR’s editorial assessment identified concerns regarding the methodological approach to estimating vaccine effectiveness and the manuscript was not accepted for publication”.

What Is This Concerning?

According to current and former officials that The Post spoke to, the information about the vaccine’s benefits is being downplayed because it conflicts with the views of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.. Kennedy has been an outspoken critic of the vaccine. He once referred to COVID-19 shots as the “deadliest vaccine ever made.”

Notably, the CDC study had cleared the agency’s scientific-review process, which includes dozens of scientists, The Post reported. Stopping an MMWR report at that stage is highly unusual, former CDC officials were quoted as saying.

“I cannot recall CDC stopping an MMWR report in the publication phase after scientific clearance and editorial review. On rare occasions, we shifted the timing slightly to better align communications plans with competing or reinforcing pieces,” said Michael Iademarco, who was the director of the CDC center with oversight of the MMWR from 2014 to 2022.

The agency has to apply the “highest standards of scientific rigor” to the information it publishes, a CDC official said in response to a query from CIDRAP News.

“Responsible science requires careful review. Taking time to ensure analyses are methodologically sound and clearly communicated is always preferable to risking error,” the official added.

The rejected study used a methodology that has long been used by the CDC to evaluate vaccine effectiveness for respiratory viruses, including influenza.

Importantly, a study about flu vaccine effectiveness conducted using the same methodology was published in the MMWR a week earlier. Similarly, another study using the same methodology was conducted to gauge COVID vaccine effectiveness in children. It was published in MMWR in December.

Also read: A Year After RFK JR Promised To Make America Healthy Again, What Actually Happened?

The Post quoted an HHS official as saying that Bhattacharya met with scientific staff and that the study's authors did not want to adjust their methodology.

The cancellation of the report appears to be “cherry picking based on the bias of the director and others at HHS who don’t fully understand the importance of the methods used to assess the added benefit of vaccines in preventing poor outcomes,” Demetre Daskalakis, the former director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said in an email to CIDRAP News.

HHS under Robert F Kennedy Jr

Robert F Kennedy Jr took charge of America's health as the Secretary of Health and Human Services in 2025.

Read: Who is Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Controversial Nominee for U.S. Health Secretary?

No area defined Kennedy’s first year more than vaccines. He clearly did state during election debates that he is not against vaccine but planned to reshape a system he said had failed many families for decades.

However, in the first year, he fired members of a CDC advisory panel, replaced them, sometimes with skeptics, and cut the list of routinely recommended childhood vaccines from 17 to 11.

Several vaccines, including flu and hepatitis A, were removed from routine recommendations. He also directed the CDC to stop recommending the vaccine for healthy pregnant women and children.

Within days of Kennedy’s swearing-in, thousands of employees across CDC (including the Director), FDA and NIH were fired in a sweeping reorganization aimed at shrinking the department by about 20,000 workers.

Meanwhile, measles deaths returned after a decade. It puts the country at risk of losing its measles elimination status this year.

Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana said the gap in trust over vaccines has worsened during the past year “due to false statements about safety and efficacy of vaccines for preventable diseases like measles”, US News reported.

But as per Kennedy, the US has done better at controlling the measles outbreak “than any country in the world.”

He also deflected responsibility for the situation, noting that “it started before I came to office” and saying most children infected with measles are over 5 years old, “meaning their decision not to vaccinate predated my appointment.”

“We have a global pandemic,” Kennedy said. “It has nothing to do with me.”

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Tzield (teplizumab-mzwv), for use in children at stage 2 of type 1 diabetes (T1D) ages one and older.

The drug was first approved in the US in November 2022 to delay the onset of stage 3 T1D in adults and children eight years and older diagnosed with stage 2 T1D.

Also Read: US CDC Study Showcasing COVID Vaccine Benefits Blocked From Publication

The FDA has now expanded its use to children as young as one year of age to delay the onset of stage 3 T1D. This means that children at risk for advancing to stage 3 T1D, which is when insulin therapy is required, can get an average of two extra years without T1D.

"This approval opens an important new chapter in diabetes care for young children with stage 2 type 1 diabetes and their families,” said Kimber Simmons, MD, MS, Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the Barbara Davis Center, Colorado, US.

“This is especially important because these children are often at the highest risk of progressing quickly and without warning. Delaying the onset of stage 3 type 1 diabetes during the years when management is often most difficult because of a child’s small size and dependence on caregivers could have a truly meaningful impact for families," Simmons added.

What is Tzield? How Its Administered?

Developed by drugmaker Sanofi, Tzield is a CD3-directed monoclonal antibody and is the first disease-modifying medicine in T1D.

It is a 14-day, once-daily intravenous (IV) infusion treatment designed to delay the onset of Stage 3 type 1 diabetes in adults and children (aged 8+) with Stage 2 diabetes.

Each dose is administered over at least 30 minutes, usually in a clinical setting, to stop the immune system from destroying insulin-producing beta cells.

Stage 2 T1D is defined by the presence of two or more T1D-related autoantibodies and abnormal blood sugar levels (dysglycemia).

Tzield has also been approved in the EU (under the name Teizeild), the UK, China, Canada, Israel, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, and Brazil to delay the onset of stage 3 T1D in adults and children eight years and older.

The FDA is also reviewing Tzield for a potential indication to delay the progression of stage 3 T1D in patients eight years of age and older who have recently been diagnosed with stage 3 T1D.

The new approval was granted under a priority review process and is supported by one-year data from the PETITE-T1D Phase 4 study, which evaluated safety and pharmacokinetics in young children.

What Is Type 1 diabetes?

Around 2 million Americans have type 1 diabetes, which typically develops in childhood or early adulthood. It occurs when the immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys the islet cells in the pancreas. Without these cells, the body cannot produce insulin.

The progressive autoimmune disease develops in four stages:

The stage 1 T1D is presymptomatic, where the autoimmune attack on the beta cells has started, and this can be detected by the presence of two or more T1D-related autoantibodies in the blood. In this stage, the blood sugar levels are in a normal range.

Stage 2 is also presymptomatic, but blood sugar levels become abnormal due to the progressive loss of beta cells.

Stage 3 (also known as the clinical stage) sets in once a significant portion of the beta cells have been destroyed. At this point, rising blood sugar levels reach the point of clinical hyperglycemia (which defines diabetes), and many people will start to experience the classic symptoms such as:

• increased thirst,
• frequent urination
• unexplained weight loss
• blurred vision
• generalized fatigue.

Stage 4 is defined as long-standing autoimmune T1D, often accompanied by evidence of chronic diabetic complications, where little to no beta-cell function remains.