Morning Briefing

"In a newly released clinical study, conducted in India" and published in the Lancet on Thursday, "hundreds of seriously ill infants who received zinc -- an essential micronutrient for the immune system and human growth -- as well as antibiotics, responded better and more quickly to treatment than those who did not," IRIN reports, adding, "This finding is the first proof that zinc supplements may boost infant survival from infections." According to the news service, "More than 300 infants no older than 120 days (four months), hospitalized in New Delhi, the capital, for suspected meningitis (an infection of the brain or spinal cord lining), pneumonia (a lung infection) or sepsis (blood poisoning), were given zinc in addition to antibiotics" and "were found to be 40 percent less likely to experience 'treatment failure' -- needing a second antibiotic within one week of the first treatment, or intensive care or death within 21 days -- than those given a placebo."