Health News

Prevalence of undiagnosed HIV infection low among state prison entrants

Date: Dec-03-2013
An analysis indicates that the prevalence of undiagnosed human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection among state prison entrants in North Carolina was low, at 0.09 percent, according to a study appearing in JAMA. "A substantial proportion of individuals infected with the human immunodeficiency virus in the United States enter a correctional facility annually. Therefore, incarceration presents an opportunity for HIV detection.

Disability, distress in rheumatoid arthritis patients cut in half over last 20 years

Date: Dec-03-2013
New research reveals that patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) today have an easier time with daily living than patients diagnosed two decades ago. According to results of the study published in Arthritis Care & Research, a journal of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR), anxiety, depressed mood and physical disability have been cut in half over the last 20 years. Researchers believe a reduction in disease activity is partly responsible for this positive change.

Drug improves remission of Crohn disease among children and adolescents

Date: Dec-03-2013
Among children and adolescents with Crohn disease not responding to treatment, use of the drug thalidomide resulted in improved clinical remission after 8 weeks of treatment compared with placebo, according to a study appearing in JAMA. As many as 1.2 million people in Europe and more than half a million in the United States are estimated to have Crohn disease, a chronic inflammatory disease involving the digestive system. Its incidence is increasing globally.

Induced hypothermia does not improve outcomes for patients with severe bacterial meningitis; may be harmful

Date: Dec-03-2013
In a study of adults with severe bacterial meningitis, therapeutic hypothermia (reduction of body temperature) did not improve outcomes, and it may even have been harmful, according to a study appearing in JAMA. Among adults with bacterial meningitis, the case fatality rate and frequency of neurologic complications are high, especially among patients with pneumococcal meningitis. In animal models of meningitis, moderate hypothermia has shown favorable effects, according to background information in the article. Bruno Mourvillier, M.D.

No need to delay introduction of food allergens to high-risk babies, paediatricians advise

Date: Dec-03-2013
Babies who are at high-risk of developing a food allergy can be exposed to potential food allergens as early as 6 months of age, according to a joint statement by the Canadian Paediatric Society (CPS) and Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (CSACI). "Delaying dietary exposure to potential allergens like peanuts, fish or eggs will not reduce your child's risk of developing a food allergy," said Dr. Edmond Chan, paediatric allergist and co-author of the statement.

Alcohol key to 'king hit' deaths in Australia

Date: Dec-03-2013
A nation-wide study into king-hit deaths in Australia found alcohol was a major contributing factor to the violent fatalities, and not necessarily in combination with the use of other drugs.Detailed in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence, researchers from Monash University and the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine reviewed 90 king-hit cases resulting in death, cited in coroners' reports over a 12-year period to December 2012.

Experts gather to take practical steps to protect healthcare in conflict

Date: Dec-03-2013
Health experts are meeting on Tuesday 3 December in London to establish practical ways to protect healthcare workers and facilities in conflict and emergency, in the first such international gathering in the UK.Attacks on healthcare are an unacknowledged humanitarian crisis, which affects hundreds of thousands each year in the world's conflict zones because doctors have fled, hospitals have been damaged or ambulances have been targeted by hostile fire.

New genetic links found to most common type of leukaemia

Date: Dec-03-2013
Researchers have identified four new regions of the genome linked with an increase in susceptibility to chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL). The findings suggest that this common type of blood cancer may develop partly as a result of faults in telomeres, sections of DNA that are vital to healthy cell division. Scientists at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, analysed the genomes of 1,739 patients with CLL and 5,199 healthy adults. The study linked four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), small inherited differences in DNA, with susceptibility to CLL.

Respiratory expert warns that staff who refuse flu vaccine 'risk patient lives'

Date: Dec-03-2013
A leading respiratory expert based at Southampton's teaching hospitals has warned NHS staff who refuse to have a flu vaccine are "risking the lives" of chronically ill and frail patients. Dr Ben Marshall, a consultant respiratory physician at Southampton General Hospital, said the failure of more than half of all frontline staff in England to take up the vaccination was "unacceptable". "Influenza can be a troublesome infection for the average healthy person but it can be life-threatening for patients with chronic illnesses, immunodeficiency or frail conditions," he explained.

Health disparities between nations could be eliminated within a generation

Date: Dec-03-2013
For the first time in human history, our generation has the financial and technical capacity to eliminate health disparities between poorer and wealthier nations, according to a major new report, Global Health 2035: A World Converging within a Generation, published in The Lancet. Through an ambitious, but feasible, investment plan, authors show how governments and donors could achieve a "grand convergence" by bringing preventable infectious, maternal, and child deaths in all countries down to the levels currently seen in the best-performing middle-income countries, within a generation.