Cheap, sweetly flavoured drinks could kill kids: Experts

Wellington, May 7 (ANI): Two bottles of cheap, sweetly flavoured drinks contain enough alcohol to kill kids, claim health experts.

At a conference in Manukau Liquor, licensing Inspectors Institute president Murray Clearwater held up two 1.25-litre bottles of a raspberry lemonade called Big Foot, which he bought at a price of “15 dollars for two”.

And he has warned parents to keep their children away from this drink, which is eight per cent alcohol – double that of a standard beer.

“That”s enough to kill someone, let alone a child,” nzherald news quoted him as saying.

“Twenty standard drinks [the two bottles combined] could create gross intoxication in an adult, let alone a young person, and puts them at greater risk of walking in front of a car or alcohol poisoning. A thousand people die a year directly related to alcohol,” he said.

He said such cheap, sweet drinks were clearly aimed at young people and should be banned.

“Mum and dad don”t understand that their kids can buy that sort of product at that sort of price. There needs to be a social impact statement where people manufacturing this type of product need to identify that it was designed for an adult market. This was not,” he added. (ANI)

Minister says Icelandic volcanic ash cloud will not affect Scot human health

Edinburgh (Scotland), Apr.19 (ANI): Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond has said that dust from the volcanic ash cloud coming from Iceland presents no risk to health, agriculture or the environment of his country.

He said ongoing analysis of dust samples by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) had identified no current danger to human health.

But, according to The Scotsman, health experts have advised those with respiratory conditions, such as asthma, to keep medication to hand when they are outdoors.

Environmental monitoring, using information from the network of 75 air and 25 radioactivity-monitoring sites across Scotland, is set to continue.

Yesterday, Salmond said: “SEPA”s ongoing analysis of volcanic dust has shown that it contains no harmful material and presents no risk at present to public health, agriculture or the wider environment.”

The First Minister”s comments came after a meeting of the Scottish Government Resilience Cabinet sub-committee (SGoRR). (ANI)

Chinese officials warn of plague in quake-hit province

Chinese health experts have warned of a possible outbreak of diseases, especially the fatal pneumonic plague in quake-hit Qinghai province.

Given that Qinghai has seen a sporadic rise in cases of the pneumonic plague in recent years, surveillance over the epidemic, which is passed on to humans by marmots, has been strengthened to work out and implement effective measures to avert potential outbreaks.

“The Ministry of Health has asked all personnel involved in rescue work in the region to keep a close eye and report suspected cases of the plague as soon as they are detected,” Feng Zijian, Director of the Emergency Response Department of the Centre of Disease Prevention and Control, was quoted as saying by the official media.

Pneumonic plague, once established in a human population, is particularly virulent because it can be spread from person to person via coughing.

If left untreated, mortality can range from 50-90 per cent, according to the World Health Organisation. In 2004, eight villagers in Qinghai died of the plague.

Most of them were infected after killing or eating wild marmots, which live in the grasslands of Northwestern China, where people hunt them for meat.

Contact with household animals like dogs, which get infected by eating the marmot, can also lead to human infection, experts warned.

To prevent infection, people, including rescue workers in the affected areas, should avoid contact with dead animals, Feng suggested.

He, however, maintained there was no reason for panic.

Currently, marmots are in hibernation and are expected to wake up in late April or early May, which, to a great extent, lessens the possibility of the plague spreading to humans, he said.

But he also conceded marmots might wake up earlier due to the impact of the massive earthquake, making epidemic prevention and control efforts tougher.

To avert other disease outbreaks, like diarrhoea, that commonly occur after an earthquake, the top health authority has outlined an epidemic control and response plan, including safe water and food distribution methods.

Besides, special attention should also be paid to prevent and control potential frostbite and heart and lung conditions related to high altitude among locals and relief workers, given the harsh natural conditions of the quake zone, experts said.

But ‘the top priority now is to pull out survivors from the rubble and save lives’, Feng said.

Hundreds of medical workers from across the country, including doctors and nurses specializing in general surgery, neurosurgery, and pediatrics, were sent to Yushu with tons of relief materials.

By yesterday, more than 500 injured had been transferred by air and railway to designated hospitals in the cities of Xining, Lanzhou, and Chengdu, said the ministry.

Fat fast becoming top health challenge

Health experts say obesity is quickly becoming Australia’s biggest public health challenge.

A new study has found obesity has overtaken smoking as the leading cause of preventable diseases in Western Australia.

Health experts have described the figures as alarming and say the obesity epidemic has now reached crisis point.

Australia has one on the highest rates of obesity in the world, with more than 60 per cent of adults and one in four children overweight or obese.

Professor Mike Daube, the president of the Public Health Association of Australia, says the epidemic is on the rise.

“We’re aware of the problem [but] we’re not doing enough about it,” he said.

“It’s taken us 60 years since we knew about the dangers of smoking to get to this fairly encouraging decline. We need to move faster than that on obesity.”

Professor Daube says the Federal Government spends just 2 per cent of the country’s health expenditure on prevention, which is not enough.

He says there should be more health and physical education in schools, as well as a curb on junk food advertising.

Tim Gill, the principal research fellow at the Boden Institute of Obesity Nutrition and Exercise at University of Sydney, says Australia has been slow to respond to the obesity problem.

“When we had the alarm bells ring 15 years ago very, very little was done and it’s only really in recent times that we’ve started to take this problem seriously,” he said.

“As a consequence, we’ve now seen probably a generation of young adults go through a period of time where obesity wasn’t seen as a serious issue… and now they’re the people who are starting to develop these chronic diseases, particularly type 2 diabetes, which is driving what we’re seeing here in terms of the cost of illness.”

Cultural change

Associate Professor Gill says there are many lessons to be learned from the successes of anti-smoking campaigns.

“We needed to get large structural changes in terms of the social acceptance of smoking, in terms of regulations about where and how to smoke, in terms of fiscal policies around taxation to discourage the uptake and continuance of smoking, and I think governments need to accept that they need to see obesity in exactly the same light,” he said.

“The need to change a situation that we have at the moment where we live in an environment where the wrong types of foods are so readily available and they are so cheap and they are promoted and made available wherever we go.”

Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon says the Government is aware obesity is a growing and serious problem.

She rejects claims the Government is not doing enough and says major investments have been made.

“Some of our changes are being blocked in the Senate like the establishment of a preventative health agency that the Liberal Party have been opposing,” Ms Roxon said.

“We believe that the changes that are part of this health reform can make a significant difference to investing more at the front end of health care and maintaining people’s fitness.

“We are prepared to consider further steps which should be taken but this is a community-wide problem. It needs the community, it needs health professionals, it needs families and it needs the Government to tackle it.”

The findings of the West Australian study have been published in the Australian New Zealand Journal of Public Health.

An apple a day won’t keep cancer away

An international study of nearly 500,000 people has found that eating more fruit and vegetables does not ward off cancer.

In 1990 the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended that everyone eat five servings of fruit and vegetables a day to prevent cancer and other diseases.

But a study led by the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in the US found that less than 3 per cent of cancers could be avoided by healthy eating.

But health experts are urging people not to give up fruit and vegetables, saying they are beneficial against heart disease and some cancers, including bowel and breast cancer.

Ronald McDonald contributes to obesity epidemic: US poll

New York, Apr 1 (ANI): Kid-friendly Ronald McDonald contributes to the United States’ growing obesity epidemic by luring youngsters to fast food joints, a poll has revealed.

“This clown is no friend to our children or their health,” said Deborah Lapidus of Corporate Accountability International, a group that sponsored the poll and protests outside McDonald”s around the country.

“He is a deep-fried Joe Camel for the 21st century,” she said.

Around 47 percent of the Americans quizzed in the poll said that it was time for him to go.

Health experts argue that Ronald weakens parents” authority by being so attractive to kids, reports The New York Daily News.

“It”s not acceptable to market unhealthy products to children, and I think the retirement of Ronald McDonald would be a step in the right direction,” said Nicholas Freudenberg, a public health professor at Hunter College. (ANI)

Cheering at sports events could cost you your voice

Washington, March 26 (ANI): Screaming while cheering for your favorite side during sport events can cause damage to vocal cords, health experts have warned.

Lee M. Akst, director of the Johns Hopkins Voice Center, said talking too much over the phone could also have adverse effects.

Akst said: “Yelling at basketball and baseball games, talking too much on your cell phone, and other forms of overuse can damage your voice.

“Red flags for an over-used voice are frequent hoarseness, a sense of strain while talking, or discomfort while speaking.

“If hoarseness lasts for more than two weeks or is accompanied by ear pain, difficulty breathing, or difficulty swallowing, it may indicate a potentially serious vocal cord condition. If these symptoms occur, then you should be evaluated by an ear-nose-throat specialist as quickly as possible.”

According to the American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNS), almost three of every 10 people have experienced voice problems.

People who use their voices a lot as part of their professional responsibilities such as singers, coaches, teachers, broadcast journalists, clergy, attorneys, primarily suffer from these problems.

Akst added: “According to AAO-HNS statistics, more than one in four people in the United States report voice disorders during their lifetimes and this number goes up to more than one in two for high-risk professions such as teaching.”

Meanwhile, the AAO-HNS website revealed that the theme for this year’s World Voice Day, celebrated on April 16, is “Love Your Voice.”

It aims to make to people aware of the value and significance of vocal health in everyday life.

The organization’s Web site stated: “World Voice Day encourages men and women, young and old, to assess their vocal health and take action to improve or maintain good voice habits.” (ANI)

Bathroom scale that Tweets user”s weight!

New York, March 26 (ANI): A bathroom scale that Tweets your weight could be the best way to give you that extra push to shed those love handles.

Withings’ Wi-Fi Body Scale, which sends body stats to iPhone and Web page, has now been upgraded with Twitter facility.

People’s weight and other body statistics get immediately pasted on their Twitter profile when they step on the scale.

Health experts feel that it can inspire people to work hard at their fitness.

“Studies show that accountability does help. For instance, if patients get weighed once a week rather than every couple of months, they lose more weight,” the New York Daily News quoted Dr. Kent Holtorf as saying.

However, it may have a counter effect on people with low self-confidence.

Holtorf added: “It could work if someone is there to help. But if the person already has a poor self-image, and they get made fun of, then I think tweeting one’s weight may be going a little bit too far.”

The Withings’ Wi-Fi Body Scale, outfitted with a wireless connection, is priced at 163 dollars on Amazon.com. (ANI)

Latest trend in UK: News mums heading for boobs jobs soon after having babies

London, Mar 17 (ANI): An increasing number of new mums are going for boob-jobs soon after giving birth, raising concerns among health experts.

Many women make part of the young mum-brigade to go under the knife for getting breast implants within weeks of their babies’ births.

Mothers already make up 60 percent of breast augmentation patients, the third most common type of plastic surgery for women after birth, according to research.

Now almost one in three of those mums are under 30, according to statistics from Britain’s largest plastic surgery chain, The Harley Medical Group.

“I have seen mothers of 20 with three children come in for boob augmentations. Some come in almost straight from the labour ward,” the Mirror quoted Riccardo Frati, consultant plastic surgeon for the clinic, as saying.

His patients are young women who are not prepared to put off the operation until they’ve finished their families – or wait for time to take its toll on their breasts.

Instead, they want the fuller breasts that pregnancy and breast-feeding can bring, permanently – and while they are still young.

Concerns have already been raised about the number of young mums turning to plastic surgery.

However, implants can rule out breast-feeding and may make cancers harder to detect.

Frati has recommended that mums wait for their bodies to settle down before having surgery.

He also cautioned young mums that there’s a chance they will not be able to breast-feed again if they have implants – and in some cases the implants can be rejected if they try it.

Going for surgery carries a 20 percent risk that mums won’t be able to feed their babies naturally.

“Timing is important. I recommend waiting until six months after birth – or four months ­after the end of breast-feeding,” added Frati. (ANI)

CT scans overuse linked to cancer

Sydney, Mar 15 (ANI): Health experts have warned that unjustified use of CT scans is increasingly becoming a reason behind cancers.

A latest medical research has claimed that more than 400 new cases of cancer a year in Australia occur due to diagnostic radiology.

However, it has not reduced the number of computerised tomography scans growing about 12 per cent a year.

Now, Director of the Professional Services Review, Tony Webber, has published a recommendation for doctors to stop using CTs as a first-choice diagnostic tool for problems such as lower-back pain.

””I have been alarmed at the number of these scans ordered without clinical justification,”” the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Webber as saying in his The Report to the Professions.

Professor Mendelson, who heads radiology at Royal Perth Hospital, also warns against unjustified use of radiological procedures.

He said: ””Although the risk of a CT scan is relatively small, a CT of the abdomen and pelvis may expose the patient to a dose of up to about 20 millisieverts and thus an increased risk of inducing a fatal cancer of one in 1000.””

The Report on Professions was initiated after a study noted that 50 per cent of senior medical students in Perth underestimated radiation doses from commonly used radiological procedures.

A director of research in diagnostic imaging at Melbourne”s Southern Health Service, Stacy Goergen, emphasized improved education of medical students about radiology is ””absolutely essential””.

Medical radiation has apparently increased more than six times in 30 years.

Also research has shown up to 40 per cent of CT scans could be avoided without compromising patient care. (ANI)

Dentists ‘exploiting’ Medicare scheme

Dental health experts say the Federal Government has failed to stop dentists from rorting the Medicare dental scheme.

The Senate has twice blocked the Government’s attempts to replace the scheme with a cheaper, more targeted plan.

Associate Professor Hans Zoellner, from the Association for the Promotion of Dental Health, says the Government should retain the scheme and administer it responsibly.

“A handful of dentists have been exploiting the scheme and overservicing patients and giving too much crown and bridge,” he said.

“There’s an unnecessarily great expense, a significant amount which is probably not required and just purely cosmetic.

“The Government really has an important role to regulate the scheme but instead of regulating dental Menticare, the Government has simply refused to even look at it.”

But Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon says the program was poorly designed by the previous Government.

“It has lent itself to be able to be abused, it’s clear when there is an undersupply of dental services in the community and when dental care is expensive that any program would provide some relief,” she said.

“But we believe it would be much better targeted to those who have the most need.”

2009 H1N1 influenza vaccines well tolerated, induce strong immune response in adults

Washington, September 12 (ANI): Early results from various clinical trials of 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccines in healthy adults seem to be quite encouraging, say U.S. health experts.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health in the U.S., has revealed that the early data from these trials suggest that 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccines are well tolerated, and induce a strong immune response in most healthy adults, when administered in a single unadjuvanted 15-microgram dose.

It has even congratulated the companies that have carried out these trials, which it claims are an important part of the ongoing worldwide effort to develop vaccines to protect the public from 2009 H1N1 influenza.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is also conducting clinical trials of 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccines, produced by Sanofi Pasteur and CSL Limited.

The trials are testing two different dosages-15 micrograms versus 30 micrograms-and evaluating the immune response to one and two doses of these vaccines.

More than 2,800 people are said to be participating in the ongoing NIAID trials of these vaccines.

The institute says that preliminary analyses of early data from its trials align with the recently announced findings, and those to be announced imminently by other companies.

Additional data from the NIAID trials are forthcoming.

“However, on the basis of these strong early data, our results are consonant with other reports that a single 15-microgram dose of unadjuvanted 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine is well tolerated and induces a robust immune response in healthy adults between the ages of 18 and 64. For adults aged 65 and older, the immune response to 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine is somewhat less robust, as is the case with seasonal influenza vaccines,” the institute said in a press release.

“We note that the slight discrepancies seen in our trials between the Sanofi Pasteur and CSL Limited vaccines may be due to technical differences in the preliminary measurement of the amounts of antigen in the doses used in the clinical trial lots and the relatively limited numbers of samples studied to date, as well as the fact that our data are drawn from a very early time point after immunization,” the institute added. (ANI)

Chinese hospital offers students 50 pct off on abortion cost

New Delhi, Sep 2 (ANI): A hospital in China has sparked a debate on the casual attitude the country takes towards abortion, after it offered teens 50 percent off on abortion costs just by showing their student ID.

The Chonqing Huaxi Women’s Hospital held a “Students Care Month” and issued fliers showing a schoolgirl with an explanation that their procedure is a “painless and quick operation that will not stretch your womb, nor do any damage. Your studies will not be affected afterward,” reports the China Daily.

But the hospital’s controversial sales campaign to acquire a larger share in the market for abortions, which generates billions of yuan per year, has not been seen as unique by students.

According to health experts, there are many other provinces across China that have had similar marketing campaigns for years, a women’s hospital in Guangdong province is one, as well as several hospitals in Hubei province.

“There are abortion advertisements spray-painted or pasted on walls, wire poles and toilets in almost every college,” said Tang Yunyun, a senior student from a vocational training college in Chongqing.

The experts have also revealed that the average cost of an abortion is 600 yuan and hospitals and clinics have been competing for a bigger share of the abortion market.

The fierce competition pushed the Chongqing Government in 2006 to ban newspapers from publishing abortion advertisements.

Last year, the government forbade youth TV channels and TVs on buses from broadcasting similar promotions.

“The advertisement sends a twisted message that painless abortion does little damage and is affordable,” stated a netizen from Beijing, who added that the ad “encourages unprotected sex”.

Approximately 13 million abortions are carried out in China each year, according to the National Population and Family Planning Commission’s technology research centre.

The actual number of abortions is much higher, because the figures are collected only from registered medical institutions, said Wu Shangchun, the centre’s division director.

In China, most students are not financially independent, enticing them to go to illegally operated clinics for cheaper abortions.

“Pregnancy is not easy for students who often don’t have a job. It stresses them out and humiliates them. Abortions should be affordable for all women who need one,” Hu Jing, a 17-year-old local high school student, said.

The Chongqing Huaxi Women’s Hospital has refused to comment on their advertising campaign. (ANI)

Encephalitis kills 200 children in northern India

London, August 25 (ANI): Health officials have said that at least 200 children have died in an outbreak of Japanese encephalitis in northern India.

According to a report by BBC News, so far, 900 affected children have been admitted to hospitals in Uttar Pradesh state. Some patients have come from neighbouring Bihar state and Nepal.

Japanese encephalitis, which causes high fever, vomiting and can leave patients comatose, usually hits Uttar Pradesh state in July-August, during India’s monsoon.

There is no specific cure for the mosquito-borne disease that has killed thousands in India since 1978.

Health experts complain that red tape has prevented development of an effective vaccination programme.

Doctors say children between the age of six months to 15 years are worst affected and most of the victims are poor people from rural areas.

“The attack of the encephalitis virus is extremely ferocious this year,” said Dr Rashmi Kumar, an expert on Japanese encephalitis at Lucknow Medical College hospital.

“Children are developing a serious condition within a day or two of getting infected,” she said.

Health officials in Lucknow, capital of the state of Uttar Pradesh (UP), say cases of acute encephalitis are being reported mostly from 14 districts of eastern UP in the foothills of the Himalayas.

The low-lying areas are prone to annual floods, and severe water-logging and a lack of sanitation provide a breeding ground for mosquitoes.

According to doctors, Gorakhpur town is the epicentre of the disease.

Last year, the government said it would spend 60 million rupees to upgrade facilities at Gorakhpur Medical College hospital.

But, according to doctors, the hospital does not have adequate numbers of medical staff to deal with the large numbers of patients.

Doctors say the children who survive will have to face lifelong problems as the disease has a crippling effect.

While there is no specific cure for the disease after it has been contracted, three vaccines are in use worldwide that have reportedly been successful in preventing the disease.

But India has so far failed to develop an effective vaccination programme.

After the disease killed 1,500 children in 2005, a public outcry forced the government to import vaccines from China and a mass vaccination project was started.

However, doctors say the vaccine coverage has not been satisfactory this year, with many parents of affected children saying no vaccination was done in their areas. (ANI)

Pentagon says won’t ban smoking for troops in war zone

Washington, July 16 (ANI): The Pentagon has said that it won’t ban troops from smoking in war zones, despite a recent study recommending a tobacco-free military.

The study by the Institute of Medicine calls for a phased-in ban over a period of up to 20 years. It recommends requiring new officers and enlisted personnel to be tobacco-free, eliminating tobacco use on military installations, ships and aircraft, expanding treatment programs and eliminating the sale of tobacco on military property.

Fox News quoted Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell, as saying that troops already are under enough stress and making enough sacrifices in fighting the two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He also said that Defense Secretary Robert Gates doesn’t want to do add to that stress by taking away one of the few outlets they have to relieve it.

Morrell said Gates will look at the study to see what other things can be done to move toward a goal of a tobacco-free force.

An advocacy group, however, is strongly condemning the push by Pentagon health experts to ban the use of tobacco by troops and end sales of tobacco products on military property.

Brian Wise, executive director of Military Families United, decried even the discussion of such a ban.

“With all the issues facing our military today and the risks our troops take to protect our freedom, banning smoking should not even be on the radar screen,” Wise said in a written statement Wednesday. (ANI)

Common migraine pain condition found to affect cluster headache patients too

Washington, May 28 (ANI): A team of American health experts have observed the same kind of pain condition in patients with cluster headache as are commonly seen in people with migraines.

Dr. Michael Marmura, assistant professor of Neurology at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, revealed that about half of a group of patients with cluster headaches was found to experience cutaneous allodynia during a study.

Cutaneous allodynia is a condition that causes patients to have pain as a response to normally inconspicuous sensations.

The study included 41 patients with either chronic or episodic cluster headaches.

The researchers tested for allodynia by brushing a gauze pad over the forehead, neck and forearms.

The patients then reported whether the gauze was painful or unpleasant, or not.

According to the researchers, 20 of the patients experienced allodynia, with the most common site of pain being the forehead.

The team said that there were no significant differences between patients who experienced allodynia and those who did not.

The majority of patients were using preventive medications, which is a limitation of the study.

Dr. Marmura claims that his team’s study is the largest to date to show that allodynia, which has typically been described in migraines, occurs in cluster headache.

“It was surprising to find that allodynia was so common in patients with cluster headaches. This could have important treatment implications, and suggests that there may be overlap in mechanisms for pain between migraines and cluster headaches,” he said.

The study has been published in the Journal of Headache and Pain. (ANI)

Red Cross: Zimbabwe cholera slows, but severe risk of resurging

Red Cross: Zimbabwe cholera slows, but severe risk of resurgingHarare/Johannesburg – Zimbabwe’s cholera epidemic, the worst in Africa in 15 years, has slowed from the meteoric infection rates recorded earlier this year, but the risk of another escalation is still high, the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies warned Tuesday.

The warning came as the epidemic was predicted to notch up its 100,000th case this week since it began nine months ago in a township outside the capital Harare.

Since then, the water-borne diarrhoeal disease has killed nearly 4,300 people, in what the Red Cross describes as an “unacceptably high” fatality rate of 4.4 per cent, for a disease that is easily preventable and treated.

The infection rate in recent weeks has slowed to 1.7 per cent, after aid agencies set up emergency camps to deal with new infections, provided millions of litres of clean water, sank new boreholes and distributed water purification tablets, among other measures.

The dramatic aggression of the epidemic has also burnt itself out, health officials say.

“But the steady decline in the spread of the illness should not be seen as a complete victory,” the Red Cross said in a statement, noting that the fundamental drivers of Zimbabwe’s public health crisis remained largely unchecked.

Unless significant efforts were made to rehabilitate at least some components of the country’s degraded water and sanitation infrastructure, communities remain vulnerable to further and severe outbreaks, the Red Cross said.

Until the mid 1990s, Zimbabwe’s well-run health system kept the cholera pathogen largely at bay.

But accelerating economic decay under President Robert Mugabe’s former government saw urban infrastructure collapse. Water supplies to millions of people dried up, sewerage systems jammed and rubbish heaps grew, creating the conditions for a cholera outbreak.

Cholera is now endemic in Zimbabwe, health experts say.

The Red Cross says its emergency treatment centres “were only ever interim measures.”

The organisation now needs 3.4 million dollars for medium- to long-term measures, including the rehabilitation of 1,150 boreholes, the drilling of 263 new water points and construction of 3,755 pit latrines for 655,000 families in high-risk areas.

“Today our appeal is less than half-funded,” said Emma Kundishora, secretary-general of the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society, in a statement. “We will be revising our operation, scaling back just at the time when humanitarian assistance needs to be dramatically scaled up. This is simply untenable.” (dpa)

Healthy people on the verge of becoming overweight at higher risk of bowel cancer

London, May 11 (ANI): A study suggests that healthy people who are on the verge of becoming overweight may be at an increased risk of developing bowel cancer.

It has found that such people are about 15 per cent more likely to develop bowel cancer than those at the lower end of the range.

Professor Martin Wiseman, a medical and scientific adviser for the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF), says that it is possible to prevent about 18,600 cancer cases if people had a body mass index (BMI) under 25.

A BMI of 25 to 30 is classed as overweight and over 30 is obese.

The WCRF recommends that people aim to be as lean as possible without becoming underweight to avoid the cancers of the breast, bowel, oesophagus, kidney, pancreas, womb, and gallbladder.

Wiseman says that that means that people should aim to be closer to a BMI of 18 than 25, even within the healthy weight range.

“The evidence that being overweight puts you at increased risk of cancer is stronger now than ever before and we now say that, after not smoking, maintaining a healthy weight is the most important thing you can do for cancer prevention,” the Telegraph quoted him as saying.

“This is the reason we recommend people aim to be as lean as possible without becoming underweight.

“But a recent survey showed almost 40 per cent of people still do not know that excess body fat is a cause of cancer. This means we need to do more work to spread the message that maintaining a healthy weight is something positive people can to reduce their risk of developing cancer later in life,” he added.

Health experts are of the opinion that people one in three cases of the most common cancers could be avoided if people ate healthily, took more exercise, and maintained a healthy weight. (ANI)

Swine flu: WHO tells nations not to lower guard

London, May 4 (ANI): The World Health Organization (WHO) has told countries not to lower their guard in the response to the swine flu outbreak.

Almost 900 cases had been confirmed across five continents, the WHO said, and authorities have to remain vigilant.
According to the BBC, the warning came after health officials in Mexico said that cases of the virus appeared to be declining.

In Mexico, just over 100 people are thought to have died from the swine flu strain, although only 22 cases have been confirmed.

Mexican Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova said that the virus appeared to have peaked between April 23 and 28 and was now on the decline.
The WHO said authorities should remain on alert.

The current “round of activity” might have peaked, but there is a high possibility that this virus will come back, especially in colder periods,” the paper quoted WHO official Gregory Hartl, as saying.

Health experts in the US, meanwhile, say swine flu could soon be present throughout their country, as cases have been confirmed in more than half of all states.

Egypt has said that it will continue slaughtering pigs as a precaution against swine flu, following clashes on Sunday with farmers that left 12 people injured

An expert from America’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the virus was fairly widespread.

“Virtually all of the United States probably has this virus circulating now,” Dr Anne Schuchat said. (ANI)

Health experts race against time to tackle new `Swine Flu’ pandemic

Mexico City, Apr.28 (ANI): The World Health Organization has raised the alert level in relation to the `Swine Flu’ epidemic to Phase 4, meaning there is sustained human-to-human transmission of the virus causing outbreaks in at least one country.

On Monday, the alert was raised above Phase 3.

Putting an alert at Phases 4 or 5 signals that the virus is becoming increasingly adept at spreading among humans.

Phase 6 is for a full-blown pandemic, characterized by outbreaks in at least two regions of the world.

World health officials are now racing against time to extinguish a new flu strain that is jumping borders The U.S. is prepared for the worst even as President Barack Obama has reassured Americans that it is being contained.

With the swine flu having already spread to at least four other countries, authorities around the globe are like firefighters battling a blaze without knowing how far it extends.

“At this time, containment is not a feasible option,” said Keiji Fukuda, assistant director-general of the World Health Organization, which raised its alert level on Monday.

At the White House, a swine flu update was added to Obama’s daily intelligence briefing. Obama said the outbreak is “not a cause for alarm,” even as the U.S. stepped up checks of people entering the country and warned U.S. citizens to avoid nonessential travel to Mexico.

“We are proceeding as if we are preparatory to a full pandemic,” said Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

The European Union health commissioner suggested that Europeans avoid nonessential travel both to Mexico and parts of the United States. Russia, Hong Kong and Taiwan said they would quarantine visitors showing symptoms of the virus.

Mexico, where the number of deaths believed caused by swine flu rose by 50 percent on Monday to 152, is suspected to be ground zero of the outbreak. But Mexican Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova late Monday said no one knows where the outbreak began, and implied it may have started in the U.S.

Worldwide there were 79 confirmed cases, including six in Canada, one in Spain and two in Scotland. Thirteen are suspected in New Zealand, and one is suspected in both France and Israel.

Symptoms include a fever of more than 100, coughing, joint aches,severe headache and, in some cases, vomiting and diarrhea.

In a bid to prevent mass contagion, Mexico canceled schools nationwide until May 6, and the Mexico City government is considering a complete shutdown, including all public transportation.

Richard Besser, the CDC’s acting director, said his agency is aggressively looking for evidence of the disease spreading and probing for ways to control and prevent it.

The best way to keep the disease from spreading, Besser said, is by taking everyday precautions such as frequent hand washing, covering up coughs and sneezes, and staying away from work or school if not feeling well.

WHO spokesman Peter Cordingley singled out air travel as an easy way the virus could spread, noting that the WHO estimates that up to 500,000 people are on planes at any time.

Governments in Asia – with memories of previous flu outbreaks – were especially cautious. Singapore, Thailand, Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines dusted off thermal scanners used in the 2003 SARS crisis and were checking for signs of fever among passengers from North America. South Korea, India and Indonesia also announced screening. (ANI)