Billionaire philanthropist Melinda French Gates has taken CEOs and tech entrepreneurs to task for bragging about getting minimal sleep, claiming it maximises productivity. An interview with Vanity Fair ended with her calling the approach “so dumb.” She confided that she gets between seven and eight hours of sleep at night.

In the interview, French Gates identified the negative side of sleep deprivation, adding that “some of us didn’t want to be around them! Let’s be honest!” referring to CEOs, in her opinion, who advocate for a destructive and performative deprivation of sleep.

Physicians support this, highlighting the need for sufficient rest for optimal health. The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that adults aged 18 to 60 years should sleep for at least seven hours in a day.

Extreme sleep deprivation causes critical health conditions such as diseases of the heart and kidneys, high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, obesity, and depression.

French Gates’ comments come as a growing number of prominent figures, including Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Bill Gates, have acknowledged the importance of sleep and are prioritising it in their own lives.

“I’ve tried [to sleep] less… Even though I’m awake more hours, I get less done,” Musk told CNBC last year. “And the brain pain level is bad if I get less than six hours [of sleep].”

Research shows that getting enough sleep is essential for peak physical and mental performance, and sleep deprivation can even mimic the effects of being intoxicated.

According to CDC, insufficient sleep impairs cognitive performance, which can increase the likelihood of motor vehicle and other transportation accidents, industrial accidents, medical errors, and loss of work productivity that could affect the wider community.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a health advisory concerning a significant rise in cases of parvovirus B19, commonly known as the Fifth Disease or “slapped cheek” illness due to the characteristic reddening of the cheeks it causes. This illness can be especially hazardous for pregnant women, according to the agency.

The CDC examined individuals with IgM antibodies, which indicate a recent infection, and found that the greatest increase occurred among children aged 5-9, with cases rising from “15% during 2022-2024 to 40% in June 2024.” Across all age groups, the prevalence of these antibodies increased from 3% during 2022-2024 to 10% in June 2024, the People reported.

The CDC states that parvovirus B19 is “highly transmissible in respiratory droplets.” Symptoms such as fever and malaise typically develop about a week after exposure. During the second week, the distinctive facial rash appears, often accompanied by body pain.

While most people only need supportive care, pregnant women face a risk of “adverse fetal outcomes,” including fetal anaemia, non-immune hydrops (which can strain the heart), or fetal loss. The risk is greatest if a pregnant woman contracts parvovirus between weeks 9 and 20 of pregnancy.

One case highlighted by NBC News involves Abby Parks, a teacher from Springfield, Illinois, who contracted parvovirus B19 at 18 weeks pregnant, resulting in fetal anaemia. She was hospitalized and received blood transfusions, which she believes were “lifesaving” for her fetus. “If that anaemia had persisted, with that low blood count, the baby could have died,” Parks said.

The CDC has received reports from clinicians observing “more than the expected number” of pregnant individuals with parvovirus B19, including cases of severe fetal anaemia requiring transfusions or resulting in pregnancy loss.

The agency advises that pregnant individuals seek medical care if exposed to parvovirus B19. However, the patient is no longer contagious once the characteristic facial rash appears.

Now at 30 weeks, Parks says she and her fetus are under close monitoring, describing the illness as “truly the most difficult experience to go through.” She adds, “He wasn’t guaranteed to come through the fetal anaemia.”

A health alert has been issued in the state of Arizona, in the United States, after a rodent-borne hantavirus killed four people. The virus spreads to humans through droplets from the urine, saliva, or faeces of the rats.

From January to July, the Arizona Department of Health Services documented seven instances of Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome, a serious and occasionally lethal respiratory disease.

Two cases related to this deadly virus have also been found in California. The virus, primarily carried by deer mice in the Grand Canyon State, causes symptoms such as fever, headache, and muscle pain, which can rapidly progress to difficulty breathing. While hantavirus is not spread from person to person, it can occur in various regions and is not limited to a specific area.

According to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), hantaviruses are a family of viruses spread mainly by rodents and can cause varied disease syndromes in people worldwide. This can cause hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) and hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS), the CDC website says.

Symptoms:

Hantavirus symptoms start with fatigue, fever, muscle aches, headaches, chills, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. Late symptoms include coughing and shortness of breath, with a 38% mortality rate for hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) symptoms appear 1-8 weeks post-exposure, causing headaches, pain, fever, chills, nausea, and blurred vision. Severe cases may lead to low blood pressure, shock, vascular leakage, and kidney failure. Recovery can take weeks or months.

Treatment:

The CDC says there is no specific treatment, cure, or vaccine for hantavirus infection. However, if the infected are recognised early on and are provided medical care in an intensive care unit, they may do better. In intensive care, patients are intubated and given oxygen therapy to help them through the period of severe respiratory distress.

Prevention:

According to the Centres for Disease Control, rodent control is the primary necessity to prevent hantavirus infections. Contact with rodent urine, droppings, saliva, and nesting materials should be avoided when cleaning rodent-infested areas.