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Wednesday, April 23, 2025

'Rise of colon cancer in young linked to childhood exposure to bacteria: study'

A groundbreaking new study suggests that a gut-dwelling bacteria may be behind the recent surge in early-onset colorectal cancer cases.

The potential culprit? Colibactin, a toxin produced by certain strains of E. coli that thrive in the colon and rectum.

“We believe this exposure occurs very early in life — likely during the first decade — when children are infected,” Dr. Ludmil Alexandrov, senior study author and a professor at the University of California San Diego, told The Post.

An alarming surge

Once thought of as a disease that strikes later in life, colorectal cancer is now on the rise among young people in at least 27 countries.

In the US, the number of people under 55 being diagnosed has nearly doubled over the past decade, and more people are dying from the disease each year, according to the American Cancer Society.

“Until now, prior studies had not been able to identify a clear cause or even distinguish early-onset cases from those diagnosed later in life,” Alexandrov said. “Our study helps change that.”

A bug with a bite

In the study, Alexandrov and his colleagues examined cancer genomes from patients with both early and late-onset colorectal cancer across 11 countries.

The team found that this bacteria, colibactin, leaves behind a distinct DNA fingerprint on colon cells when kids are exposed to it. These mutations were 3.3 times more common in early-onset cases than in those diagnosed after the age of 70.

Colibactin-linked mutations show up at the early stages of tumor development, they found, often within the first 10 years of life.

“While the infection is transient, the damage it causes can persist for decades,” Alexandrov said.

“If someone acquires one of these driver mutations by the time they’re 10 years old, they could be decades ahead of schedule for developing colorectal cancer, getting it at age 40 instead of 60,” Alexandrov said.

Is this the only reason colorectal cancer is on the rise?

The jury is still out on whether colibactin is the main driver behind the rise of early-onset colorectal cancer cases, or just one factor among many.

“Colibactin likely plays a key role in driving early-onset colorectal cancer, though other factors — such as diet, inflammation and genetics — are also likely contributors,” Alexandrov said.

“Still, the scale of colibactin’s impact in our study was striking, and it stands as the first clearly identified factor linked to the rising of early-onset colorectal cancer,” he added.

Alexandrov explained that exposure to colibactin occurs “through colonization by E. coli — typically through the gut, and often without any obvious symptoms.”

Additionally, the study uncovered varying mutational patterns in colorectal cancers from countries like Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Russia and Thailand, suggesting local environmental exposures could influence cancer risk.

“It’s possible that different countries have different unknown causes,” said Marcos Díaz-Gay, study first author and a former postdoctoral researcher in Alexandrov’s lab.

“That could open up the potential for targeted, region-specific prevention strategies,” he added.

What this discovery means for catching cancer in the future

The study sets the stage for two key areas of research.

First, Alexandrov wants to develop a test that can detect colibactin-induced mutations in order to identify people exposed in childhood who might be at an increased risk for early-onset colorectal cancer.

“This could enable regular monitoring and earlier detection, improving their clinical outcomes,” he said. “We hope to have a working version of this test within two to three years.”

“While the exact causes are still unclear, possible factors include mode of birth, breastfeeding, antibiotic use and consumption of ultra-processed foods,” he said.

“We’re also investigating whether targeted probiotics could help prevent colonization by colibactin-producing bacteria.”

Both research efforts will take time, but Alexandrov is hopeful that they will make meaningful progress and develop more practical approaches within the next five years.

His final message: “What happens in early childhood can have lasting effects on our health many decades later.”

“In this study, we show how a childhood bacterial infection may increase the risk of developing colorectal cancer as a young adult. But this may be just one example,” Alexandrov said.

“It’s very likely that other early-life environmental exposures or infections could similarly leave long-term biological footprints with substantial impacts on long-term health.”

https://nypost.com/2025/04/23/health/early-onset-colon-cancer-breakthrough-scientists-find-new-cause/

Shipping customers canceled 30% of US orders from China amid tariff chaos, logistics giant says

Major shipping container company Hapag-Lloyd said its customers have canceled 30% of orders from China to the United States as President Trump’s stiff tariffs cause chaos at ports around the world.

Meanwhile, there has been a “massive increase” in demand for shipments from Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, the German shipping company, which is one of the largest in the world, told Reuters.

“We see these bookings rising significantly. But the market is smaller than the Chinese one – so the increase in South East Asia cannot compensate the cancellations from China,” a Hapag-Lloyd spokesperson told The Post.

The nations are popular manufacturing alternatives to China, a key hub for the production of goods like electronics, toys and clothing, which have been slapped with a hefty 145% rate in Trump’s tariff war. China retaliated with a 125% tax on US imports.

Customers started canceling orders en masse when Trump on April 2 unveiled his so-called “reciprocal” tariffs, a slew of harsh rates on many nations, the shipping company told The Post.

The president has since put most of these tariffs on hold for 90 days, putting a 10% tax in place as global leaders meet for negotiations.

As trade tensions heat up, Hapag-Lloyd has been using smaller vessels in some cases to ship containers to the US, a spokesperson told Reuters.

Some US companies may pass along the added costs from the tax to consumers, hiking their prices, while small businesses warn they won’t be able to afford orders for the second half of this year.

Without a deal for lower rates, shoppers could start to see store shelves thinning out by the summer as firms scale back and cancel orders, industry experts told The Post.

Hapag-Lloyd, which has an approximately $27 billion market cap, warned in its 2025 forecast of a hit to earnings.

“The economic and geopolitical environment remains fragile,” CEO Rolf Habben Jansen said in a statement. “In this context, we anticipate earnings in 2025 to be lower than in 2024.”

Late on Tuesday, Trump gave investors and businesses hope for a reprieve, signaling that lower tax rates on China could be in the works.

The 145% rate on China is “very high, and it won’t be that high…No, it won’t be anywhere near that high. It’ll come down substantially,” Trump said.

He warned that “if they don’t make a deal, we’ll set the deal.”

The president also backtracked on his threat to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, and his administration hinted that US-China trade tensions may soon de-escalate, sending US stocks roaring back late Tuesday afternoon into Wednesday morning.

https://nypost.com/2025/04/23/business/customers-canceled-30-of-orders-from-china-says-shipping-giant/

Flight attendant reveals airport thieves are secretly hiding among us

You don’t want to be a victim of fly-way robbery.

Airports might seem like safe havens due to the abundance of security personnel. However, Argentine flight attendant Barbara Bacilieri revealed how thieves are robbing passengers and duty-free shops at will — and what flyers can do to prevent themselves from becoming a target.

The crewmember — who also goes by Barbie Bac online — spilled the beans on this disconcerting phenomenon in a series of videos that have collectively amassed over 2 million views on TikTok.

“Airports operate like small cities, and just like in any city, crime happens every single day — only here, it’s harder to see, and even harder to stop,” Bacilieri warned her over 4.9 million followers, per Jam Press.

The influencer, who hails from Argentina but works for Spanish budget carrier Vueling, said that robbers will purchase tickets so they can steal from passengers and stores without ever boarding a plane.

“[Criminals’] only goal is to pass through security, access the boarding gates, and rob passengers or duty-free stores, then disappear before the flight departs,” she cautioned.

Despite flight hubs’ stringent security measures, these airport pilferers rarely face severe punishment, according to Bacilieri. “Some of these thieves are repeat offenders, caught on camera, exposed on Instagram or TikTok, and yet they’re still there, walking through terminals like regular travelers,” the air hostess lamented. “Nobody stops them. No one follows up.”

Often, thieves aren’t even stealing physical belongings. Using the airport’s USB charging ports is a particularly risky proposition, as cybercriminals can hack them and access travelers’ bank details and other personal information.

Some flight hub burglars even use Near Field Communication (NFC) scanners to extract data from passengers’ credit cards as they brush by them.

This surreptitious card swiping often flies under the radar until days later, when said card’s owner spots an unauthorized transaction (often in a foreign country), which makes this crime extremely difficult to prevent.

Unfortunately, travelers also have to remain vigilant after boarding the plane.

“The [thieves] wait for the lights to dim, for passengers to fall asleep, and then quietly open overhead bins, unzip bags, and take what they want. Jewelry, cash, electronics,” declared Barbie Bac. “I’ve seen it happen. I’ve reported it. And the truth is, without cameras on board, there’s often nothing we can do.”

Fortunately, the content creator outlined a few ways that passengers can protect themselves against airport opportunists.

First and foremost, she advised flyers to never leave their bags, electronic devices, or any other valuables unattended at the airport.

To protect against cybercriminals, Bacilieri suggested that passengers bring their own USB charging ports and use special Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)-blocking wallets to prevent bad actors from skimming the info from their credit card chips.

The air hostess also recommended that travelers lock their carry-on — even aboard the plane — and to also “be cautious of overly friendly strangers, both in terminals and on board.”

“If something feels off, report it to the crew immediately,” she advised.

Unfortunately, crew members have been found guilty of airport robberies as well.

In 2023, a security officer at a Philippines airport was caught allegedly shoving $300 in bills into her mouth after snatching the dough from a tourist.

https://nypost.com/2025/04/23/lifestyle/flight-attendant-warns-about-airport-thievery-and-how-to-stop-them/

FDA asks Novavax for post-marketing data pledge amid stalled COVID shot review

Despite the FDA missing its deadline to decide on a potential approval for Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine at the start of the month, the company remains confident that its protein-based shot is worthy of a traditional green light.

Now, however, Novavax says the FDA has been in contact, but is asking the company to commit to generating additional post-marketing data on the vaccine, should it gain approval.

As it stands, Novavax’s COVID-19 shot—which uses a more traditional protein-based platform compared to Pfizer-BioNTech’s and Moderna’s mRNA vaccines—is available in the U.S. under an emergency use authorization (EUA), which is a more limited form of use than a full approval.

In a Wednesday press release, Novavax said it looks forward to working with the FDA on the matter and hopes to “expeditiously” address the new data request in a bid to “move to approval as soon as possible.”

The FDA was expected to grant Novavax’s COVID shot a full, traditional approval on April 1, as other COVID vaccines have been over the past few years after their initial EUAs, though that date came and went with little clarity from the agency on exactly why it had missed its decision deadline.

Novavax believes its vaccine was approvable then and still is today, based on discussions with the U.S. regulator, the company stressed in its release this week.

The FDA’s failure to meet its decision deadline at the start of the month has compounded concerns about the effect of mass Health and Human Services layoffs on the ability of the regulator to carry out its core duties. At the same time, fears that HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is spearheading an anti-vaccine agenda from within the country’s federal health apparatus are mounting.

While Novavax’s shot looked slated for a thumbs up earlier this month, senior FDA leaders allegedly changed their tune after determining they needed more data on the vaccine, The Wall Street Journal reported at the time.

Politico separately reported that the FDA’s principal deputy commissioner, Sara Brenner, M.D.—who was tapped to lead the agency as acting commissioner shortly after President Donald Trump’s inauguration—was the one to intervene in the approval process. The move would have been highly unorthodox, given that political appointees at the FDA typically follow the advice of career staff to avoid partisan bias, Politico pointed out.

Meanwhile, COVID vaccines in general may face additional pressures in the U.S. after a long-delayed meeting of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) last week hinted that restrictions on coronavirus boosters could be coming down the pike.

In the committee’s first meeting under HHS Secretary RFK Jr., the panel appeared poised to recommend reduced use of vaccines for both COVID-19 and human papillomavirus (HPV), the latter of which can, in some cases, cause cancer in those infected with certain types of the virus.

On COVID shots specifically, the advisers seem eager to narrow their recommendations for booster doses to incorporate a risk-based approach versus a universal one, analysts from Leerink Partners and Citi wrote in separate investor notes in early April.

A shift away from a universal COVID shot recommendation could pressure sales from Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna both this year and next, the Leerink team said. The issue will likely extend to Novavax, too, if the company scores a traditional approval for its shot.

ACIP is scheduled to vote on both COVID and HPV recommendations in late June.

Elsewhere, agency insiders have been sounding the alarm about the FDA’s diminished ability to operate following thousands of staff cuts and multiple high-profile departures at the regulator since the second Trump administration’s arrival in office this year.

On a recent call with analysts at BMO Capital Markets, a “former director” at the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER)—who resigned in March—warned that the mass downsizing at the agency could hamstring the regulator’s ability to review drugs beginning in 2026 or 2027.

While staffers who were spared by the layoffs remain committed to meeting the FDA’s established drug review timelines, meddling in the process by political appointees at the agency could lead to delays, increased evidence benchmarks for approvals and, ultimately, a greater number of rejections, the former director warned.

The BMO team never outright identified the expert it interviewed, though signs point to it likely being Peter Marks, M.D., Ph.D., who announced his departure as head of the CBER in late March. CBER oversees the evaluation of vaccines, blood products, and certain biologics in the U.S., including cell and gene therapies.

https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/fda-calls-post-marketing-data-novavax-continues-anticipate-full-approval-covid-vaccine

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