Season of birth linked to dust-mite asthma
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There appears to be an association between birth month and sensitization to house dust mites in asthmatic children, Korean researchers report.
Early exposure to high levels of allergy-triggering substances is key to the development of hypersensitivities, Dr. Young Yull Koh, of Seoul National University Hospital and colleagues write in the medical journal Allergy.
Parents often OK with teens’ medical privacy
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A majority of parents seem to accept that their teenagers have a right to medical privacy—and those who are resistant to the idea can often be persuaded to change their minds, a new study suggests.
Doctor-patient confidentiality is a standard of medical care, even when the patient is an underage adolescent. But some parents object to that idea, wanting to know about any health issues—such as smoking, drugs and sex—their children have.
Ten people dead as mystery virus hits Toronto home
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Ten people have died from a mystery viral outbreak at a Toronto nursing home and another 40 are in hospital, public health officials said on Tuesday as they raced to contact anyone who visited the home recently.
The outbreak, an unidentified respiratory virus, has sparked memories of the SARS outbreak two years ago that killed 44 people in Canada’s largest city.
WHO sees ‘global epidemic’ of chronic disease
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Developing countries can tackle a “global epidemic” of chronic disease by adopting cheap measures that have helped cut heart disease deaths in some rich nations by up to 70 percent, the World Health Organization (WHO) said.
In a report published on Wednesday, the WHO said nearly half of all deaths from heart disease, cancer, respiratory infections, strokes and diabetes—to which about 35 million people will succumb this year—were preventable.
Elderly with diabetes run risk of falling
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Diabetes may substantially raise the risk of falls among elderly adults living in nursing homes, new research shows.
In a study of 139 nursing home residents, researchers at Columbia University in New York found that men and women with diabetes were four times more likely than those without the disease to suffer a fall—a major cause of disability and death among the elderly.
Breast cancer drug move gives hope to UK patients
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Women diagnosed with early stage breast cancer are to be tested to see if they are suitable for treatment with the drug Herceptin, made by Switzerland’s Roche Holding AG, Britain said on Wednesday.
The move could mean that the lives of 1,000 women a year in England could be saved - the same number saved by the national breast screening program, the Department of Health (DOH) said.
Germany reports sharp rise in HIV infections
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The number of confirmed HIV infections in Germany rose sharply in the first half of this year, which the government said was a worrying trend that indicated the deadly virus was not being taken seriously enough.
The number of HIV infections jumped to 1,164 in the first half of 2005, a 20 percent rise over the first half of 2004, the Robert Koch Institute, the government’s central disease control centre, said in a statement.
MS drug may raise risk of miscarriage
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Pregnant women being treated with beta-interferon, a drug used to fight multiple sclerosis and other diseases, face an increased risk of miscarriage or having a low birthweight baby, according to two new reports.
Dr. Gideon Koren, from The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, and his colleagues studied interferon’s reproductive effects in 16 women with 23 pregnancies exposed to beta-interferon, comparing them with 18 similar but unaffected women with 20 pregnancies.
Screening could improve pancreas cancer survival
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Screening patients who have a high risk of developing pancreatic cancer could treble survival rates of the deadly illness, British scientists said on Tuesday.
Pancreatic cancer affects about 216,000 people worldwide each year. Because it is often detected late, only about 2 percent of patients are alive five years after diagnosis.
Breast milk shows cavity-causing potential
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Though breastfeeding is sometimes seen as a way to protect against early cavities, a new study using rats suggests that breast milk may cause more cavities than cow’s milk does.
However, researchers stress, breast milk appears no more likely to contribute to cavities than commonly used infant formulas—and the animal findings should not be seen as a strike against breastfeeding.
After first melanoma, a second is quite common
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Some people with melanoma are at increased risk of developing the skin cancer again in the future, especially if they have a family history of the disease, say researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.
But second melanomas, if caught early, are easily cured, said Dr. Daniel G. Coit. “The first melanoma is kind of the wake-up call, the second melanoma becomes very much of a curable thing.”
Oregon doctor sued for sex treatment for back pain
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An Oregon woman whose doctor convinced her that he could cure her lower back pain by having sex with her is suing him and his medical clinic for $4 million, according to legal documents obtained on Monday.
The doctor, Randall Smith, who was 50 at the time, was stripped of his license and sent to jail for 60 days last year for charging the state’s Oregon Health Plan $5,000 for his 45-minute “treatments” involving the woman.
Obesity rates in Canadian children double - study
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Children in the Canadian province of Ontario may be the first generation to die younger than their parents, doctors said on Tuesday.
A report released by the Ontario Medical Association found obesity rates in children across Canada nearly doubled between 1981 and 1996. The percentage of overweight boys between 2 and 16 increased to 29 percent from 15 percent, while overweight girls in the same age group rose to 24 percent from 15 percent.
Flu shot clinics seek ill, elderly
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As the flu season officially begins, health officials are asking residents to wait a few weeks for their shots so that those in high-risk categories can get inoculated first.
The Ann Arbor-based Michigan Visiting Nurses will offer flu vaccination clinics beginning Monday in Washtenaw and Livingston counties. Health departments in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties have received some vaccine and more is on the way, but the departments won’t be operating clinics until at least mid-October.
Australians win Nobel for finding ulcer cause
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Two Australians won the Nobel Prize in medicine Monday for a discovery that defied decades of medical dogma and revolutionized the treatment of ulcers. They showed that bacterial infection—not stress—causes ulcers in the stomach and intestine.
The 1982 discovery by Drs. Barry Marshall and Robin Warren eventually transformed peptic ulcer disease from a chronic, frequently disabling condition to one that can be cured by a short regimen of antibiotics and other medicines, said the Nobel Assembly of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.
