Tsunami reports Just over 3 years ago, many communities in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and India were devastated by the Indian Ocean tsunami. Some charities, including UNICEF and Oxfam, have recently published activity reports that detail what they have been doing with the large amounts of money donated from around the world. Public-health measures such as distributing mosquito nets and improving water and sanitation faci-lities feature prominently.

Perplexing prion More than 100 Britons have died of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). All have a methionine at position 129 of the prion protein. Now a woman with valine 129, who died of CJD in 2000, is reported in Archives of Neurology. This could be a new form of prion, but the implications for future variant CJD cases are unknown.

Increased smoking Despite the introduction of a public-smoking ban in January, 2007, Hong Kong residents have been smoking up to 12 million more cigarettes per month. The South China Morning Post reported that figures from the Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department showed about 289·67 million cigarettes were consumed per month in 2007, compared with 277·65 million per month in 2006.

Overdose rescue kits Nasal naloxone kits, given to people with opiate addiction to use on companions who overdose, have been credited with reversing 2642 overdoses in a recent US audit. Overdose is a more common cause of death in this population than assault, hepatitis, or HIV. Over 20 000 of the easy-to-use sprays, which cost US$9·50, have been distributed.

Drug-resistant tuberculosis Health officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are hunting for passengers across 17 US states who were potentially exposed to multidrug-resistant tuberculosis by an infected woman travelling from New Delhi to Chicago in December. About 44 people in close contact with the patient must be tested for infection, since the flight was longer than the 8-h duration required for transmission.

Defibrillation Patients who do not receive defibrillation within 2 minutes of experiencing a cardiac arrest in hospital are significantly less likely to survive to discharge than those who receive the treatment within the crucial time frame, according to a retrospective analysis in the NEJM.

Cancer hospital blaze Care of cancer patients at the UK’s Royal Marsden Hospital in west London was severely disrupted last week after a serious fire closed several wards. Patients are returning to the hospital this week, while repairs continue over the next few weeks.

Racial bias Patients from ethnic minorities who are in pain are still less likely than white patients to be prescribed opioids in US hospital emergency departments. The JAMA study of more than 156 000 pain-related hospital visits found that 31% of white patients received an opioid, compared with 23% of black patients, 24% of Hispanic patients, and 28% of Asian or other patients.

Cutting the junk UK communications regulator, Ofcom, has introduced a ban on junk-food commercials aimed at children younger than 16 years. This move is the latest in a series of crackdowns made by Ofcom in an effort to curb childhood obesity, and will cost an estimated £39 million in advertising revenue.

Sex scandal Malaysia’s health minister quit his post last week after videos of him having sex with a female friend began circulating in his home state of Johor. After initially refusing to resign over the scandal, 61-year-old Chua Soi Lek, a former doctor who is married with three children, stepped down on Jan 2, to spare the govern-ment further embarrassment in an election year.

Troublesome genes A couple from England, who arrived in America in 1630, could be responsible for colorec-tal cancer in thousands of Americans. A study in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology traced a genetic mutation, which is especially prevalent in two large families in Utah and New York. The genetic fingerprint firmly pointed at this couple.

Virtual teaching Thanks to the latest 3D technology and some clever people at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and the Glasgow School of Art, wannabe surgeons need no longer practise on patients but can operate on virtual bodies with virtual scalpels instead. And all this for a mere snip at £10 000. Patients everywhere breathe a collective sigh of relief.

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