Treat Swine Flu – how to treat swine flu and health tips

President Barack Obama says the United States will share 10 percent of its swine flu vaccine supply with other nations to help fight the deadly virus’ global spread.

The White House on Thursday announced that flu vaccines to counter the virus known among scientists as H1N1 would be available through the World Health Organization. The U.S. is working with Australia, Brazil, France, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom to share vaccines.

Susan Rice, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York that the announcement “is one that has real relevance to the work of the United Nations and to our shared interest in promoting and sustaining global health.”

“As the World Health Organization has reported, the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus has continued to spread globally since April, causing outbreaks around the world. The speed and the scale of our global response will help minimize the overall impact of the pandemic 2009 H1N1 influenza and ensure our collective and common security in our increasingly interdependent world,” Rice said.

She repeated Obama’s announcement that the U.S. was joining the other countries “on collective action aimed at saving lives and minimizing economic and social dislocations that may be caused by the 2009 H1N1 influenza around the world.”

“As vaccine supplies emerge, they will be made available to the WHO on a rolling basis to assist countries that will not otherwise have direct access to the vaccine,” Rice said.

“We invite and encourage other nations to join in this urgent global health effort, donating vaccine, money and/or technical assistance in an international effort to save lives around the world,” she said.

Source Link: – http://www.mercurynews.com/politics/ci_13357973

By PEGGE PECK
MedPage Today
Abc News

A tiny device–albeit very expensive device– that can send a life- saving shock to the heart may have been implanted unnecessarily into “hundreds of thousands of women,” according to a study published Monday.

Some believe the implantable cardioverter-defibrillators or ICDs that are implanted after a heart attack may not do anything to save womens lives at all.

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The devices, called implantable cardioverter defibrillators or ICDs, are used to prevent sudden cardiac death in patients with advanced heart failure, meaning that patients who hearts have been damaged by heart attacks or heart disease so that they can no longer efficient pump blood through the body.

Each ICD costs about $30,000 per device and Medicare currently pays for use of the devices in both men and women.

A number of studies have provided evidence that implanting these devices can save live, but the evidence that the devices work was based on trials in which most of the patients were men, and that’s what has led some researchers to take a second look. Read more…

BBC News

Depression can damage a cancer patient’s chances of survival, a review of research suggests.

Cancer patients often struggle with depression

The University of British Columbia team said the finding emphasised the need to screen cancer patients carefully for signs of psychological distress.

The study, a review of 26 separate studies including 9,417 patients, features in the journal Cancer.

It found death rates were up to 25% higher in patients showing symptoms of depression.

In patients actually diagnosed with major or minor depression, death rates were up to 39% higher.

The increased risks remained even after other clinical characteristics that might affect survival were taken into consideration.

However, the researchers said more research was needed before any definitive conclusions could be drawn, as it was difficult to rule out the impact of other factors.Read more…

BBC News

Children with self-esteem problems are more likely to be obese as adults, a research team has found.

Women’s weight is more affected by their emotions study says

A study of 6,500 participants in the 1970 British Birth Cohort Study found that 10-year-olds with lower self esteem tended to be fatter as adults.

The affect was particularly true for girls, researchers from King’s College London reported.

One obesity expert said the results highlighted that early intervention was key to tackling obesity.

The children had their weight and height measured by a nurse at the age of 10 and they self-reported when they were 30.

Their emotional states were also noted, the researchers reported in the journal BMC Medicine.

Children with a lower self-esteem, those who felt less in control of their lives, and those who worried often were more likely to gain weight over the next 20 years, the results showed. Read more…

By RADHA CHITALE
ABC News Medical Unit

Global cuisines can be a delicious way to experience different cultures. Part of the fun is seeing how different people use exotic and familiar ingredients in uncommon ways.

People often turn to ethnic foods thinking they will be more allergy friendly, but that is not so. Sauces and condiments are a big source of unknown ingredients, many of which could be allergenic.

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But this practice can pose risks for those with food allergies. As the ingredients in a dish become less obvious, the potential to eat an unexpected allergen increases.

“Just because you think that a food is OK, you cannot assume,” said Dr. Anna Nowak-Wegrzyn, assistant professor of Pediatrics at the Jaffe Food Allergy Institute at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York.

Nowak-Wegrzyn noted that peanut butter can show up in Asian spring rolls. “It’s not very intuitive,” she said.

While food allergy experts say that people with allergies should apply the same degree of caution to ethnic foods as any other food they might eat, language barriers, unknown ingredients and different preparation techniques can magnify the challenge to express needs and concerns.

And imported products can increase the risk of ingesting something unknown, although Ming Tsai, an allergy advocate and owner of Blue Ginger restaurant in Wellesley, Mass., said that most manufacturers require a clear list of ingredients on their products.

But if the standards of a country’s labeling system are unclear, erring on the side of caution is better. Read more….