It has been more than five years since the world was first hit by the COVID-19 virus, which seems to be resurfacing again with new variants, especially in Asian countries, including Singapore, Hong Kong, and Thailand. India too has reported over 1,000 active cases, while the new variant has also reached the US, killing over 300 people, as per the reports.

As the world yet again is gearing up against the COVID-19 virus, let us look back at how it all started in the first place. This brings us to the 'lab leak' theory propagated by the current US President, Donald Trump. This theory also sparked a fierce debate, and made many question 'Was it really the result of a catastrophic lab accident in Wuhan?' or 'Was it a natural spill over from animals sold in wet markets?'

What Is The Lab Leak Theory?

This controversial theory was championed by Trump in his first term, when he speculated that the virus may have been engineered as a biological weapon.

However, in 2023 by FBI Director Christopher Wray, who told the Fox News that it was his bureau's assessment that "the origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident."

This theory was yet again brought back in light in 2025, when fresh assessment by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) noted that the COVID-19 pandemic was in fact "more likely" leaked from a Chinese lab in Wuhan than transmitted by animals.

As per a spokesperson, a "research-related origin" of the virus "is more likely than a natural origin based on the available body of reporting," as reported by the BBC. In an interview with Breitbart News, CIA Director John Ratcliffe emphasized that it was his intention to shift the agency's stance on the virus origins.

“One of the things that I’ve talked about a lot is addressing the threat from China on a number of fronts, and that goes back to why a million Americans died and why the Central Intelligence Agency has been sitting on the sidelines for five years in not making an assessment about the origins of Covid,” he said. “That’s a day-one thing for me.”

A New Study Says Something Else

However, a new study published in the peer-reviewed journal Cell provides the strongest genetic evidence against the 'lab leak' theory of the COVID-19 origin.

This study analyzed 167 genomes of bat coronaviruses and involved experts from the University of Edinburgh and 20 other institutions from the US, Europe and Asia.

The team discovered that the closest known relatives of SARS-CoV-2—the virus that causes COVID-19—were circulating in bat populations in northern Laos and China’s Yunnan province. Their findings suggest that the virus’s most recent common ancestor likely emerged five to seven years before the first COVID-19 cases were identified in late 2019.

“The data clearly indicate that the progenitor of Sars-CoV-2 was circulating in bats thousands of kilometres away from Wuhan,” lead author Jonathan Pekar said in an interview with science news outlet EurekAlert. “This puts the virus’s evolutionary origins well outside the geographic scope of Wuhan’s research facilities.”

This account claims that COVID-19 contains biological features rarely seen in naturally occurring viruses and that researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) showed COVID-like symptoms in late 2019—before the outbreak was traced to the now-infamous wet market.

It also argues that if the virus had emerged naturally, clear scientific evidence would likely have been found by now.

A Different Narrative

However, the Edinburgh report points the direction of the COVID-19 origin to a whole different level. It looks at the human-driven activity of illegal wildlife trade, which the report suggests to likely be the factor of spread of the virus.

Researchers believe the virus’s most recent ancestor likely emerged around 2017. Its closest genetic relatives have been found in bat species from northern Laos—over 2,700 kilometers from Wuhan, well beyond bats' usual migration range.

This has led scientists to suspect that the virus reached humans through the movement of infected animals via illegal wildlife trade networks.

Emergency rooms are handing out significantly fewer opioid prescriptions to people experiencing lower back pain. Researchers reported in the Annals of Emergency Medicine on July 12 that the rate of opioid prescriptions for back pain in ERs dropped by more than half between 2016 and 2022.

Dramatic Decline in Opioid Prescribing

Just a few years ago, in 2016, almost one out of every three visits to the ER for back pain ended with a prescription for opioid painkillers. But by 2022, that number had fallen dramatically to just over one in ten visits. This big drop means that doctors are learning from the available information and changing the way they practice medicine, especially as more people become aware of the widespread problems caused by opioid addiction. It's a positive sign that medical professionals are actively working to curb the opioid crisis.

Understanding the Study and Patient Experience

To figure this out, researchers looked at records from nearly 53 million ER visits for low back pain that happened between 2016 and 2022. These records were gathered by a national health statistics centre. The study found that when people went to the ER for back pain, they were usually in a lot of discomfort, rating their pain at more than 7 out of 10. On average, they had to wait about 37 minutes before a doctor saw them and spent around four hours in the emergency room getting treatment.

Why Opioid Usage Is Risky For Patients

A 2023 study even found that opioids may not be as effective for back pain. Published in the JAMA network, a 2023 study conducted a trial on those who were experiencing back pain. The trial involved 347 adults who had been experiencing pain for up to 12 weeks. Everyone in the study received standard care, which included reassurance, advice to avoid bed rest, and encouragement to stay active. Half of the participants also received a combination of oxycodone and naloxone (an opioid), while the other half received a placebo (a dummy pill).

The study also revealed that while side effects were similar for both groups, there was a significant difference in the risk of opioid misuse. One year later, 20% of the participants who took opioids were at risk of misusing them, compared to only 10% of those who received the placebo. This suggests that even for short-term pain relief, opioids carry a greater risk of future misuse.

NSAIDs Emerge as Preferred Treatment

Now, when you go to the ER with low back pain, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, often called NSAIDs (like ibuprofen), are the most common painkillers prescribed. They're given to almost 29% of patients. It's not just about prescriptions either; fewer patients are actually given opioids while they are being treated in the ER. That number went down from 35% of cases in 2016 to less than 25% by 2020, showing a clear shift away from immediate opioid use during emergency care for back pain.

Next Issues People Must Tackle

Even though there's good progress with reducing opioids, ER doctors still have some areas where they could improve how they treat back pain. For example, many patients with back pain are still getting X-rays that they don't really need. In 2022, about 37% of patients had an X-ray, which is pretty much the same as in 2015. In fact, in 2021, almost 44% of cases involved an X-ray, which was the highest rate. It's tough to get this number down because deciding whether to order an X-ray can be complicated and depends on what both the doctor and the patient think is best.

Doctors may soon have a powerful new tool to help catch a serious eye disease caused by diabetes. Researchers have created an AI-powered retina tracker that is incredibly accurate at finding diabetic retinopathy, a condition that can lead to blindness. In a news release by the Endocrine Society, researchers detail how this new AI technology revolutionizes health and eye care, bringing it to the next level.

Fast, Accurate, and Accessible Eye Screening

This new program, called the Simple Mobile AI Retina Tracker (SMART), showed over 99% accuracy in its ability to screen for diabetic retinopathy. This impressive result was announced recently at a medical conference.

SMART uses advanced AI to quickly and accurately look at images of the retina – the light-sensing part at the back of your eye. What makes it truly special is that it can work on any device with internet access, even basic smartphones.

This means eye specialists can screen patients more easily and quickly. It also allows general doctors to include eye exams during regular visits. Most importantly, it helps bring high-quality eye checks to places where there aren't many eye doctors.

Tackling Diabetic Retinopathy

Diabetic retinopathy is a condition where tiny blood vessels in the eye leak and damage the retina. It's a major cause of blinedness that could be prevented, affecting over 100 million people worldwide.

To develop SMART, researchers trained the AI using thousands of retinal images from a diverse group of patients across six continents. When they tested the AI on new images, it could detect diabetic retinopathy almost every time, processing each image in less than one second. The tracker could also tell the difference between diabetic retinopathy and other eye conditions.

Symptoms And Issues Associated With Diabetic Retinopathy

According to the US National Eye Institute, Diabetic retinopathy is an eye problem that can affect anyone with diabetes. It happens when high blood sugar damages the tiny blood vessels in your retina, the light-sensing part at the back of your eye. Early detection and managing your diabetes are key to protecting your vision.

Diabetes harms blood vessels throughout your entire body. In your eyes, this damage begins when high blood sugar changes the tiny blood vessels that feed your retina. These changes make it harder for blood to flow, leading to some blood vessels getting blocked or starting to leak fluid or blood.

Warning Signs

In its early stages, you usually won't notice any problems with your vision. However, some people might notice subtle changes, like difficulty reading or seeing things far away. These changes might even come and go.

As the condition gets worse, blood vessels in your retina can start to bleed into the jelly-like fluid that fills your eye. If this happens, you might see dark, floating spots or streaks, almost like cobwebs. Sometimes these spots clear up on their own, but it's crucial to get medical help right away. If left untreated, scars can form at the back of your eye, or the bleeding might start again or get worse.

Who Will This New AI Help?

Developing this new AI has the potential to make eye care available to a vast number of people globally, simply by using mobile technology. Experts believe this innovation could screen billions worldwide, significantly cutting down vision loss from diabetic retinopathy. It could also completely change how healthcare is provided.

Anyone with diabetes can get diabetic retinopathy, whether they have type 1, type 2, or gestational diabetes (diabetes that develops during pregnancy).

Your risk goes up the longer you've had diabetes. In fact, over half of people with diabetes will develop diabetic retinopathy eventually. The good news is that you can significantly lower your risk by keeping your blood sugar levels under control.

Women with diabetes who become pregnant, or those who develop gestational diabetes, are at a higher risk. If you have diabetes and are pregnant, you should get a full eye exam with dilated pupils as soon as possible.

This research highlights how AI can be a positive force, helping to bridge gaps in medical care and offering hope to millions who are at risk of losing their sight.

It is not uncommon for doctors to misidentify a health condition or misdiagnose due to lack of information or conflicting symptoms. However, many times these mistakes can lead the patient to get the wrong treatment, and cause problems like prolonged treatment, more health problems as well as patients feeling unheard.

A new report suggests that doctors are often missing a common, hormone-related reason for high blood pressure. This overlooked condition, called primary aldosteronism, could be affecting a significant number of people with high blood pressure without them even knowing. According to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, most doctors fail to identify this condition, even though it is the most common cause of high blood pressure.

More Common Than Thought

Research shows that as many as 30% of high blood pressure patients seen by heart specialists, and 14% of those seen by general doctors, actually have primary aldosteronism. This condition occurs when the adrenal glands (small glands located on top of your kidneys) produce too much of a hormone called aldosterone.

Despite how common it might be, many people with high blood pressure are never given a simple blood test to check for primary aldosteronism. In other cases, they might finally be tested years after their high blood pressure diagnosis. By this time, the condition can already lead to serious health problems.

Misdiagnoses in other health problems are also very common. According to a 2023 study published in the JAMA journal, every year, a staggering number of people—around 795,000—either die or are left with permanent disabilities because of mistakes in their diagnosis or related issues in healthcare. Even with a more conservative estimate, the number is still very high, at about 549,000 people harmed.

Why Is It Important to Diagnose?

People with primary aldosteronism face a higher risk of heart and blood vessel problems compared to those with regular high blood pressure.

Aldosterone helps control the balance of sodium (salt) and potassium in your blood. When aldosterone levels are too high, your body can lose too much potassium and hold onto too much sodium, which directly leads to higher blood pressure. Studies have shown that individuals with primary aldosterosteronism are:

• Nearly 2.6 times more likely to have a stroke.
• Twice as likely to experience heart failure.
• 3.5 times more likely to develop an irregular heartbeat.
• 77% more likely to end up with heart disease.

A simple and inexpensive blood test could help identify more people with primary aldosteronism, ensuring they get the right treatment.

New Guidelines and Treatment Options

The new report suggests that everyone diagnosed with high blood pressure should have their aldosterone levels checked. If primary aldosteronism is found, specific treatments for that condition should be given.

There are prescription medications available to treat primary aldosteronism. These include drugs like spironolactone and eplerenone, which help lower blood pressure and increase potassium levels in the body.

Doctors might also recommend surgery to remove one of the two adrenal glands if only one gland is making too much aldosterone. Patients are also usually advised to follow a balanced low-sodium diet and try to lose weight to help manage the condition.