Preventing infections in older people is hit and miss, says England’s chief medic
The medical profession must do more to prevent and manage infections in elderly people as the current methods are “hit and miss”, the chief medical officer for England has said.Writing in his annual report for 2025, Prof Chris Whitty said preventing and treating infections had led to “extraordinary improvements in life expectancy over the last 150 years”.But he stressed there had not been enough research into infections in elderly people, a growing segment of society.“Whilst we are very systematic about reducing infections and preventing infections in children and in young adults, in older adults it’s often a lot more hit and miss,” he said at a briefing to the press.Data for England from 2023 reveals that the vast majority of deaths from infectious diseases were among older adults, and in this group most were caused by respiratory infections or Covid.
Dr Thomas Waite, the deputy chief medical officer, defended the raising of the age at which older people are eligible for a Covid booster, and Whitty said the current priority was encouraging older people to take up other vaccinations, including the new jab against RSV.Whitty said the issue of infections among elderly people did not only relate to hospitalisation and severe disease.“Even quite apparently moderately important diseases like cellulitis can lead to very significant quality of life issues for older people,” he said, noting that such infections could lead to people becoming trapped in their homes and unable to socialise.In addition, he said, older people could face an increased risk of stroke after bacterial or viral infections, while some evidence suggested infections could also increase the risk of heart attack or other heart problems.Infections can also lead to delirium, and there is an association between severe infections and dementia – although Whitty noted it was not yet clear if this was causal or whether infections accelerated the onset.
Whitty said hand-washing, careful preparation of food, vaccination and encouraging people who had recently got an infection not to visit until they were well were among the actions individuals could take to protect themselves from infections.He said while it was important to maintain a “firm grip” on the prescribing of antibiotics to help tackle the threat of antimicrobial resistance, there should be a lower threshold for prescribing such medications in older people as the risks of an infection turning into sepsis were much higher.Prof Arne Akbar, of UCL, the chair of the British Society for Immunology’s immune ageing network, said preventing and better managing infections into older age had huge potential to enable people to enjoy a better quality of life for longer and alleviate pressure on health and social care systems.“We welcome the focus of the chief medical officer’s report on infections in older age and hope it will catalyse a renewed focus on researching how we can prevent disease and improve health outcomes from infection in this age group,” he said.The report does not focus only on elderly people.
Among other areas, it warns that the potential to achieve near elimination of cervical cancer could be threatened if HPV vaccination rates are not maintained.The report also highlights a decline in vaccine uptake among pregnant women and a drop in coverage of routine vaccinations in children, with the latter particularly pronounced in London and more deprived areas.“Some of the people who are keen to spread disinformation like to give the impression that the UK is becoming a vaccine-sceptical nation.Absolutely that is not true,” Whitty said, adding that much of the downward drift in childhood vaccinations was down to the practicality of getting hold of a vaccine.The report also reveals a rise in imported infections such as malaria over the past decade, something Whitty said highlighted the importance of maintaining the UK’s expertise in such areas.
And it looks to the future, noting situations such as pandemics are “entirely predictable”, even if their timing is not.“We need to keep our capacity to prevent and respond to infections up between events rather than wring our hands and wish we had done so when they occur,” Whitty wrote.
Tesla launches cheaper version of Model 3 in Europe amid Musk sales backlash
Tesla has launched the lower-priced version of its Model 3 car in Europe in a push to revive sales after a backlash against Elon Musk’s work with Donald Trump and weakening demand for electric vehicles.Musk, the electric car maker’s chief executive, has argued that the cheaper option, launched in the US in October, will reinvigorate demand by appealing to a wider range of buyers.The new Model 3 Standard is listed at €37,970 (£33,166) in Germany, 330,056 Norwegian kroner (£24,473) and 449,990 Swedish kronor (£35,859). The move follows the launch of a lower-priced Model Y SUV, Tesla’s bestselling model, in Europe and the US.The cheaper Model 3 and Model Y cars drop some premium finishes and features of the more expensive versions, but still offer driving ranges above 300 miles (480km)
Russia blocks Snapchat and restricts Apple’s FaceTime, state officials say
Russian authorities blocked access to Snapchat and imposed restrictions on Apple’s video calling service, FaceTime, the latest step in an effort to tighten control over the internet and communications online, according to state-run news agencies and the country’s communications regulator.The state internet regulator Roskomnadzor alleged in a statement that both apps were being “used to organize and conduct terrorist activities on the territory of the country, to recruit perpetrators [and] commit fraud and other crimes against our citizens”. Apple did not respond to an emailed request for comment, nor did Snap Inc.The Russian regulator said it took action against Snapchat on 10 October, even though it only reported the move on Thursday. The moves follow restrictions against Google’s YouTube, Meta’s WhatsApp and Instagram, and the Telegram messaging service, itself founded by a Russian-born man, that came in the wake of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022
Google’s AI Nano Banana Pro accused of generating racialised ‘white saviour’ visuals
Nano Banana Pro, Google’s new AI-powered image generator, has been accused of creating racialised and “white saviour” visuals in response to prompts about humanitarian aid in Africa – and sometimes appends the logos of large charities.Asking the tool tens of times to generate an image for the prompt “volunteer helps children in Africa” yielded, with two exceptions, a picture of a white woman surrounded by Black children, often with grass-roofed huts in the background.In several of these images, the woman wore a T-shirt emblazoned with the phrase “Worldwide Vision”, and with the UK charity World Vision’s logo. In another, a woman wearing a Peace Corps T-shirt squatted on the ground, reading The Lion King to a group of children.The prompt “heroic volunteer saves African children” yielded multiple images of a man wearing a vest with the logo of the Red Cross
Chatbots can sway political opinions but are ‘substantially’ inaccurate, study finds
Chatbots can sway people’s political opinions but the most persuasive artificial intelligence models deliver “substantial” amounts of inaccurate information in the process, according to the UK government’s AI security body.Researchers said the study was the largest and most systematic investigation of AI persuasiveness to date, involving nearly 80,000 British participants holding conversations with 19 different AI models.The AI Security Institute carried out the study amid fears that chatbots can be deployed for illegal activities including fraud and grooming.The topics included “public sector pay and strikes” and “cost of living crisis and inflation”, with participants interacting with a model – the underlying technology behind AI tools such as chatbots – that had been prompted to persuade the users to take a certain stance on an issue.Advanced models behind ChatGPT and Elon Musk’s Grok were among those used in the study, which was also authored by academics at the London School of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Oxford and Stanford University
Irish authorities asked to investigate Microsoft over alleged unlawful data processing by IDF
Irish authorities have been formally asked to investigate Microsoft over alleged unlawful data processing by the Israeli Defense Forces.The complaint has been made by the human rights group the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) to the Data Protection Commission, which has legal responsibility in Europe for overseeing all data processing in the European Union.It follows revelations in August by the Guardian with the Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine and the Hebrew outlet Local Call that a giant trove of Palestinians’ phone calls was being stored on Microsoft’s cloud service, Azure, as part of a mass surveillance operation by the Israeli military.The ICCL alleges that the processing of the personal data “facilitated war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide by Israeli military”. Microsoft’s European headquarters are located in Ireland
HyperVerse promoter ‘Bitcoin Rodney’ accuses Australian Sam Lee in US court of duping him with ‘elaborate deception’
A key promoter of an alleged global $3bn Ponzi scheme claims in newly filed US court documents he was trapped by an “elaborate” fraud orchestrated by Australian Sam Lee, and should be released from custody.Rodney Burton – known as Bitcoin Rodney – was charged in the US in early 2024 for his alleged part in the HyperVerse scheme, which swept the globe from 2020 and allegedly defrauded investors of US$1.89bn (A$2.9bn at current rates).Burton’s lavish lifestyle was regularly flaunted in his promotional videos, including his fleet of luxury cars and branded Lamborghini, diamond-encrusted watches and meals of steak and sausages enrobed with real gold
Financial markets now certain the RBA will hike interest rates in 2026
UK first-time buyers in best position to snap up property in a decade, data shows
Home Office admits facial recognition tech issue with black and Asian subjects
Another Cloudflare outage takes down websites including LinkedIn and Zoom
Steve Smith on top again after he resumes Ashes rivalry with Jofra Archer | Geoff Lemon
Wayward England pace attack fumble their golden chance to strike with new ball | Simon Burnton