Major polio epidemic hits Yemen, 22 infected
A polio epidemic has infected 22 children in Yemen, and the paralyzing virus is threatening to spread further, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.
The United Nations agency, which reported four cases around the Red Sea port city of al-Hudaydah last week, said 18 more children had contracted the disease in the poor Arab state.
It is the latest setback to the WHO’s campaign to wipe out transmission of polio worldwide by year-end. An epidemic that originated in Nigeria has swept across Africa since mid-2003.
Calcium and vitamin D fail to reduce fracture risk
Calcium and vitamin D supplements given to elderly, community-dwelling women at high risk of fracture does not appear to reduce their risk, according to the results of a new study published in the British Medical Journal
Though commonly prescribed to prevent the bone-thinning disease Osteoporosis, which often develops in middle and old age, this report is the second one this week showing the supplements to be of little benefit. Researchers who conducted a similar study, published in The Lancet, came to the same conclusion.
Influenza vaccine safe at any stage of pregnancy
Women in the second and third trimester of pregnancy can safely be immunized against influenza, according to a new study.
The influenza vaccine is “widely underused in all populations and age groups, and yet, it is one of two vaccines that is routinely recommended for pregnant women in the US (tetanus is the other one),” Dr. Flor M. Munoz from the Baylor College of Medicine told Reuters Health.
To reaffirm the safety of the vaccine, particularly when administered in the second and third trimester, Munoz and colleagues in Houston analyzed data from five influenza seasons (1998 to 2003).
U.S. navy hospital ship ends Indonesia mission
A U.S. navy hospital ship will leave Indonesia’s quake-hit Nias island on Saturday, marking a final farewell by U.S. troops involved in Indonesian disaster relief work, the U.S. embassy said.
The 270-metre (890-ft) Mercy arrived in Indonesia with the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln after the December 26 Indian Ocean tsunami that left more than 160,000 Indonesians dead or missing.
