Migrating geese could carry bird flu out of Asia
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The spread of avian flu virus among migrating geese and other birds at a wildlife refuge in China means the birds could carry the devastating virus out of Asia, scientists reported on Wednesday.
This makes avian flu even more of a global threat than it already is, the scientists said in reports published jointly by the journals Science and Nature. Health officials fear avian influenza could cause a pandemic of human disease.
Bird flu crisis needs more money, quick response-UN
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Global health experts unveiled a plan on Wednesday for Asia to avert a pandemic of avian flu and raised to a quarter of a billion dollars the funding needed to fight the virus for the next two years.
A meeting of potential donor countries would be held by December to raise $150 million to protect humans from the disease, on top of the $100 million for animal care sought earlier by the three UN health agencies meeting in Malaysia.
US says Cyprus ties could suffer over GMO plan
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A plan by Cyprus to put genetically modified food on separate supermarket shelves angered the United States on Wednesday, as Washington warned the move could harm bilateral ties.
The U.S. had sent a letter to the Cypriot parliament warning that the move by the European Union country would stigmatise biotech goods and could contravene Cyprus’ obligations as a World Trade Organisation member, deputies said.
Under EU legislation, each state is free to display biotech food as it wishes.
BioSante says hot flash gel study is positive
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Drug maker BioSante Pharmaceuticals Inc. on Wednesday said its experimental drug relieved hot flashes better than a placebo, and that it will soon file with U.S. regulators for approval.
Shares rose about 6 percent on the American Stock Exchange in opening trade.
Among 484 patients followed for 12 weeks on three doses of the investigational compound, patients experienced a drop in the frequency and severity of hot flashes by week 5, and as early as week 4 with higher doses.
War, prostitution fuel AIDS epidemic in Ivory Coast
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“Love me”, says the slogan above a red heart emblazoned on Kati Soro’s T-shirt, “with a condom”.
A foot soldier in a second battle raging alongside Ivory Coast’s civil war, she is on the front line fighting AIDS.
Soro, 20, became a member of her local AIDS awareness association in the northern town of Ferkessedougou last year, “because the problem is getting worse”.
Yes, quitting before surgery is a good idea
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Contrary to previous paradoxical findings, quitting smoking in the weeks before chest surgery does not increase the likelihood of suffering complications, according to a new report.
An earlier study found that postoperative lung complications were more common among patients who quit smoking within 4 weeks before surgery. In fact, “recommendations have been made that surgery should be delayed for 8 weeks after smoking cessation,” according to the article in the medical journal Chest.
Drug curbs BP boost from cocaine, methamphetamine
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A calcium channel blocker, isradipine, reduces the dangerous rise in blood pressure (BP) caused by taking cocaine or methamphetamine, according to researchers.
“Both cocaine and methamphetamine have powerful effects on blood pressure that are associated with strokes and heart failure,” Dr. Bankole A. Johnson, of the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, told Reuters Health.
“Importantly,” he added, isradipine reduces these effects, “thereby lowering the risk of heart failure and stroke in cocaine or methamphetamine addicts.”
