Health Highlights: Jan. 26, 2017

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Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:

Nations Must Alert for Bird Flu: WHO

All countries should monitor for bird flu outbreaks in poultry flocks and immediately report any human cases, the World Health Organization says.

The warning is in response to a number of bird flu cases and deaths among people in China, The New York Times reported.

Several strains of bird flu are spreading in Asia and Europe, but the greatest concern is over an H7N9 strain that has circulated in China the past few winters.

Since September, there have been more than 225 human cases. In the last four years, China has had more than 1,000 human cases, with a 39 percent death rate, according to WHO Director General Dr. Margaret Chan, the Times reported.

“All countries must detect and report human cases promptly,” she urged. “We cannot afford to miss the early signals.”

Since November, nearly 40 nations have found potentially dangerous bird flu strains in wild birds or poultry flocks. That includes the H5N1 strain, which has a 60 percent death rate in people and has caused nearly 400 confirmed deaths since 2003, the Times reported.

Since the worldwide swine flu epidemic in 2009, “the world is better prepared for the next influenza pandemic, but not at all well enough,” Chan said.

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TV Icon Mary Tyler Moore Dies at 80

Mary Tyler Moore, best known for her namesake television show of the 1970s as well as the 1960s hit “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” died Wednesday at age 80 in Greenwich, Conn.

Moore’s family said her death was caused by cardiopulmonary arrest after contracting pneumonia, according to The New York Times.

The Oscar-nominated actress also did charity work for the JDRF, formerly the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, which raises funds and awareness for type 1 diabetes. Moore was diagnosed with the illness at age 33, ABC News reported.

Over her long career Moore won six Emmy Awards — four for the “Mary Tyler Moore Show,” one for “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” and one for the 1993 TV movie “Stolen Babies.”

Moore also was nominated for an Academy Award as best actress for the 1980 movie “Ordinary People.”

Moore’s portrayal of the single career woman Mary Richards in the ’70s show that bore her name coincided with the emergence of the women’s movement, making her a role model for many women.

In a 1995 interview with the Times, she said that “I’ve come to the point in my life where I don’t have to work. I work because I enjoy it. I only enjoy doing things that frighten me a little bit. And I am an actress. I think I am an actress as well as a personality. And I’ve got to keep the actress in me happy.”

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