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Ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak's health has seriously deteriorated and he may even be in a coma, according to reports in the Arab media.
Rumours are rife about the medical condition of the 82-year-old former leader, who is said to have been treated for cancer before.
Egyptian newspaper Masry al-Youm has reported that Mubarak went into a coma on Saturday.
Sameh Shoukry, Egypt's ambassador to the U.S., added some substance to the rumours yesterday in a TV interview but refused to be drawn on the details
He has been holed up in the Red Sea resort of Sharm al-Sheikh since he gave his last speech as Egypt's president on Thursday last week.
Locals claim his guards have told them that he is currently bedbound and unable to walk unaided.
'Mubarak is very sick – they say he has cancer,' a teacher called Ahmed told the Telegraph.
Sameh Shoukry, Egypt's ambassador to the U.S., added some substance to the rumours yesterday but refused to be drawn on the details.
He told NBC's Today show that he 'might have received some communication at a personal level indicating that (Mubarak) is possibly in somewhat of bad health'.
But he was quick to add: 'I really don't have sufficient information so I wouldn't like to speculate (on Mubarak's health).'
The coma reports were denied by pro-government newspaper Al-Gomhuria, but it admitted Mr Mubarak was 'in a severe psychological condition and is declining treatment, despite his illness'.
The former president had his gall bladder removed in March 2010 at a German clinic and since then doubts have increased over his health.
After losing power last week the Swiss government announced that his assets had been frozen. His family is understood to have built up a £25billion fortune during his 30 years in power.
'I can confirm that Switzerland has frozen possible assets of the former Egyptian president with immediate effect,' spokesman Lars Knuchel said.
He added: 'As a result of this measure any assets are frozen for three years.'
Scientists have identified the eight human papillomavirus (HPV) types responsible for more than 90 per cent of cervical cancer cases worldwide and say they should be the targets for the next generation of vaccines.
Drugmakers GlaxoSmithKline and Merck & Co. already make vaccines against HPV strains that cause many cases of cervical cancer, which is the second most common cancer in women worldwide and is expected to kill 328,000 this year.
In a large study looking at 60 years of data from 10,575 cases of invasive cervical cancer across 38 countries, an international team of scientists led by Silvia de Sanjose of the Catalan Institute of Oncology in Barcelona examined which types of HPV contributed most to the global incidence of the disease.
Their results, published in the Lancet medical journal on Monday, showed that eight HPV types — types 16, 18, 45, 33, 31, 52, 58, and 35 in descending order of frequency — were responsible for more than 90 per cent of cases.
GSK’s vaccine Cervarix and Merck’s Gardasil protect against HPV types 16 and 18, and, through cross-protection, partially also against HPV types 31 and 45.
Many wealthy countries have started HPV immunisation programmes with these shots for girls before they become sexually active, but the vaccines are generally too expensive and inaccessible for most people living in poorer nations.
De Sanjose said the study’s findings reinforced “the rationale for prevention of cervical cancer through use of existing vaccines” and would aid the development of second-generation vaccines against multiple HPV types.
Around 80 per cent of the world’s cervical cancer cases now occur in developing countries and the disease is caused by high-risk and sexually transmitted types of HPV.
Of the more than 118 different HPV types that have been identified, about 40 infect the genital tract and 12 are known to be cancer-causing, the scientists explained.
In their study, which involved cancer cases from Europe, North America, central South America, Africa, Asia, and Oceania, the researchers also identified several rare HPV types — types 26, 30, 61, 67, 69, 82, and 91 — which can also cause cervical cancer but account for only one per cent of cases worldwide.
In a commentary about the study in the Lancet, Cosette Wheeler of the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center in the United States described the research as “a Herculean effort that might be the benchmark for all time”.
The results “clearly support future directions for cervical screening and type-specific triage, establish the potential worldwide impact of current HPV vaccines, and set priorities for next-generation vaccines”, she wrote.
Celebration: Megrahi returns to Libya with Gaddafi's son
The Lockerbie bomber refused chemotherapy in a Scottish prison in an attempt to make his condition deteriorate and force his release, it was claimed yesterday.
Abdelbaset Al Megrahi was believed to be terminally ill with prostate cancer when he was sent home to Libya on compassionate grounds exactly a year ago.
But since his release Megrahi has responded well to a similar treatment – which is available on the NHS – and there claims that he could live another seven years.
Regrets: Hilary Clinton has joined senior US voices calling for an investigation
Dr Andrew Fraser, the Scottish doctor responsible for assessing Megrahi's health a year ago, had assured the Government that the bomber was resistant to treatment – assumed to mean that body was not responding.
But in fact Megrahi chose to refuse the treatment, ITV have claimed. It is understood that Megrahi discussed the treatment with Scottish doctors but said he would only undergo it with support of his family, who were in Libya.
Notes of a meeting on July last year, which have been released by the Scottish Government, report that doctors told Megrahi that he needed to 'take his medication regularly' – suggesting that he had skipping doses that would have improved his health.
Just days later, his condition began to undergo such a dramatic deterioration that it appears to have been deciding factor in the release.
Last night's disclosure raises questions over whether Megrahi made a calculated risk to refuse his medication so he would appear more frail just weeks before the decision to release him was made.
Megrahi, 58, the only person convicted of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie that killed 270 people, was released from a life sentence after doctors said he had only three months to live.
Asked whether he had discussed Megrahi's refusal to be treated with Dr Fraser, Scottish first minister Alex Salmond said last night: 'It is not my job to raise issues with Dr Fraser. It was Dr Fraser's job to make the prognosis. It was then [Scottish justice secretary] Kenny MacAskill's job to act on any other information that he was receiving.'
Dr Fraser last night declined to comment. The revelations came as Libya appeared to have caved in to Western demands not to celebrate the first anniversary of Megrahi's release.
Diplomats had warned Tripoli that a repeat of the festivities that marked his return would be deeply offensive to the families of the victims of the attack.
A Libyan official said only 'quiet celebrations' would take place and that the country's leader Colonel Gaddafi did 'not wish to cause offence in other parts of the world, especially Britain and America'.
But the official added: 'The noisy fight between British and American governments is enough to remind Libyans and the rest of the world about our leadership's skills in scoring a big victory.'
Developing countries will bear 60 per cent of the world’s cancer burden by 2020 and 70 per cent by 2030, but are not prepared for the looming crisis, cancer experts warned in a report today.
These countries do not have the infrastructure in place to prevent cancer, diagnose it early or provide long-term treatment, according to CanTreat International, which comprises experts from leading international cancer organisations.
“Developed countries have been setting up plans and systems to cope with cancer all the time, but developing countries are not ready ... treatment, diagnoses are made very late or not at all, so the (death) toll is much, much higher,” Joseph Saba, a medical doctor and member of the group, said in an interview.
CanTreat stands for the Informal Working Group on Cancer Treatment in Developing Countries. Its report was unveiled during the World Cancer Congress in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.
There were 7.6 million cancer fatalities worldwide in 2008, making it a leading cause of death. The developing world made up 5.3 million, or 70 per cent. By 2050, low-income countries alone will account for three-quarters of all cancer deaths.
The economic impact of premature death and disability from cancer worldwide was US$895 billion (RM2.8 trillion) in 2008, excluding treatment costs, according to the American Cancer Society.
With changes in diet, worsening pollution, ageing populations, rising obesity rates, tobacco use and alcohol intake, developing countries are now saddled with more non-communicable diseases including heart problems, strokes, diabetes and cancers, in addition to infectious diseases.
There were 12.67 million new cases of cancer worldwide in 2008, with developing nations representing 56 per cent of the total. By 2020, there will be an estimated 15 million new cancer cases, 60 per cent of which will be in the developing world.
According to the CanTreat report, while a breast cancer patient has an 84 per cent chance of surviving for at least five more years in the United States, it is only 12 per cent in Gambia.
Cure rates for childhood cancer are 75 per cent in high-income countries but 10 to 15 per cent in low-income countries.
“We need centres for early diagnoses, trained doctors and nurses, follow-up mechanisms,” Saba said.
Saba urged health experts to learn from the experience of managing HIV/AIDS in the last 30 years: people will only come forward for screening if there are proper treatments in place.
“If you don’t have proper treatment, why do you want early detection if you can’t do anything about it? Treatment becomes the engine of cancer control,” he said.
Their report comes days after a group of scientists said in The Lancet journal that many cancers in developing countries could be treated using drugs that are off-patent and manufactured generically at affordable prices.
The U.S. Capitol is seen in the background as flags fly at half-staff at the Washington Monument in Washington, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2009, in honor of the passing of Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass
Alex Gahl, left, and her friend Rylee Thomas, both 2, accompany Rylee's mother April, top, of Marstons Mills, Mass., to pay their respects to Sen. Edward Kennedy outside the Kennedy compound, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2009, in Hyannisport, Mass
The front pages of newspapers announce the death of Sen. Edward Kennedy at a newsstand in Harvard Square in Cambridge, Mass., Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2009.
Newspaper vender Curtis Thomas displays the front page of Chicago Tribune as he yells the news about the death of U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2009 in Chicago. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, the last surviving brother in a political dynasty and one of the most influential senators in history, died Tuesday night at his home on Cape Cod after a year-long struggle with brain cancer. He was 77
A news ticker in New York's Times Square announces the death of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., on Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2009. The last surviving brother in a political dynasty and one of the most influential senators in history, died Tuesday night at his home on Cape Cod after a year-long struggle with brain cancer. He was 77
Suzanne Norton, of Oak Hill, Va., left, and Shirley Shiflett, of Springfield, Va., look at at a newspaper article remembering Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., at a display outside the Newseum in Washington, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2009. Kennedy, the last surviving brother in an enduring political dynasty, died Tuesday night at his home on Cape Cod after a yearlong battle with brain cancer. He was 77
Madelynne Norton, 12, of Oak Hill, Va., looks at at a newspaper article remembering Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., at a display outside the Newseum in Washington, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2009. Kennedy, the last surviving brother in an enduring political dynasty, died Tuesday night at his home on Cape Cod after a yearlong battle with brain cancer. He was 77
Madelynne Norton, 12, of Oak Hill, Va., left, and her grandmother Shirley Shiflett, of Springfield, Va., look at at a newspaper article remembering Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., at a display outside the Newseum in Washington, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2009. Kennedy, the last surviving brother in an enduring political dynasty, died Tuesday night at his home on Cape Cod after a yearlong battle with brain cancer. He was 77
Meagan Manning, a staff member for Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., answers phone calls in Kennedy's office on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2009. Kennedy, the last surviving brother in an enduring political dynasty, died Tuesday night at his home on Cape Cod after a yearlong battle with brain cancer. He was 77
In Kennedy's Office Business cards for Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., sit atop a desk in Kennedy's office on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2009. Kennedy, the last surviving brother in an enduring political dynasty, died Tuesday night at his home on Cape Cod after a yearlong battle with brain cancer. He was 77
Henry Sanford, staff assistant for Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., takes a seat while waiting in Kennedy's office on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2009. Kennedy, the last surviving brother in an enduring political dynasty, died Tuesday night at his home on Cape Cod after a yearlong battle with brain cancer. He was 77
A flag flies at half-staff at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2009, in honor of Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., the last surviving brother in an enduring political dynasty, who died Tuesday night at his home on Cape Cod after a yearlong battle with brain cancer. He was 77
The Lincoln Memorial is seen in the background as flags fly at half-staff at the Washington Monument in Washington, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2009, in honor of the passing of Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.
