public health

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'Overweight Is OK' Study Shows You Can Trust CDC

Dr. Kent Sepkowitz praises the new study's honesty

(Newser) - Yesterday, the CDC released a study that flies in the face of the public health orthodoxy: Apparently, you can actually be too thin . That's staggering, given that for about a century now, fashion, cinema, and, yes, public health organs like the CDC have "made thin synonymous with beauty...

US Woefully Unprepared for New Tuberculosis Epidemic

Multidrug-resistant TB on the rise, and US is at risk: experts

(Newser) - Though multidrug-resistant tuberculosis was basically conquered in the US in the 1990s, it's now at epidemic levels in other parts of the world—and the US is not prepared, reports the Wall Street Journal in an extensive look at the disease. As TB strains get more drug-resistant abroad—a...

Most Young People With HIV Are Unaware

Cases rise for ages 13 to 24, especially in black males

(Newser) - The number of new HIV cases in the US has leveled off at about 50,000 a year, but one important group is defying the trend: those ages 13 to 24. The CDC says about 1,000 new infections a month occur in the age group, and most of those...

Panel: HIV Tests for Everyone
 Panel: HIV Tests for Everyone 
Nov 20, 2012 6:59 AM CST

Panel: HIV Tests for Everyone

Experts want to make the test routine for those ages 15 to 64

(Newser) - A US panel of experts wants HIV tests to be a routine part of medical checkups for everyone aged 15 to 64, the Los Angeles Times reports. The US Preventive Services Task Force last came up with a set of guidelines in 2005, suggesting routine screening only for those at...

Pharmacy Chief in Meningitis Outbreak Takes the Fifth

Barry Cadden sheds no light on what happened

(Newser) - The co-owner and chief pharmacist of the company linked to the meningitis outbreak arrived on Capitol Hill today for a grilling armed with lawyers and an index card. And when House lawmakers asked Barry Cadden of the New England Compounding Center things like what happened or what he might say...

New Illness Emerging in Meningitis Outbreak

Serious epidural abscesses showing up among patients

(Newser) - Some patients recovering from meningitis in the national outbreak are now being struck by a medical double-whammy, the New York Times reports. They're beating the meningitis but developing something called an epidural abscess at the spot where they received the injection of the tainted steroid, usually the spine. The...

Drying Laundry Indoors Is Unhealthy

Can promote allergies, asthma: study

(Newser) - Got allergies or asthma? You may want to avoid drying your clothes inside your home: A study finds that many households suffer from too much moisture, and laundry is to blame for up to a third of the damp, the BBC reports. "Going into people's homes, we found...

Weight Loss Doesn't Cut Heart Risk for Diabetics

Long-range study ends early after seeing no benefit

(Newser) - Many people with type 2 diabetes are overweight, and most diabetics die from heart disease. So it would follow that if diabetics followed a healthier diet and lost weight, they'd reduce their risk of a heart attack or stroke, right? Turns out, no. A massive long-range study has concluded...

West Nile Outbreak Now Second-Worst Year Ever

Also: Meningitis death toll hits 19

(Newser) - Two developments of note on the West Nile and meningitis outbreaks:
  • West Nile: Nearly 300 new cases surfaced last week, bringing this year's total to 4,531 and making it the second-worst year ever. The death toll rose by 15 to 183. It's the highest number of cases
...

US Cholesterol Levels On the Decline

They're down 10 points in last two decades

(Newser) - Americans don't often get good news collectively when it comes to health, so enjoy: The nation's cholesterol levels show genuine long-range improvement. Federal researchers say that over the last two decades:
  • Total cholesterol levels dropped 10 points (206 to 196 mg/dL)
  • Bad cholesterol levels (LDL) dropped from 129
...

Meningitis Toll at 14
 Meningitis Toll at 14 
Oct 11, 2012 4:15 PM CDT

Meningitis Toll at 14

But most of the 14K at risk have now been notified

(Newser) - Maybe a glimmer of hope that the meningitis numbers will stop rising in the near future: Federal health officials said they've tracked down more than 90% of the roughly 14,000 people who may have received contaminated steroid shots. Of the 170 people sickened in the outbreak, all but...

Next-Gen Diagnostic Tool: Your Breath

High-tech tests can detect growing number of illnesses

(Newser) - Doctors since ancient times have been able to detect ailments from the smell of a patient's breath, and the practice is now getting a boost from 21st-century technology, the Wall Street Journal finds. Researchers are identifying thousands of compounds that leave traces in exhaled breath and developing tools that...

HIV Kit's Other Use: Testing Partners

If people start screening before sex, it could cut down on infections

(Newser) - An HIV home-testing kit now being sold is marketed toward people who want to test themselves in the privacy of their homes and learn the results in about 20 minutes. But the New York Times today reports on another use for the $40 OraQuick test that has the potential for...

Ailing? Maybe Your 'Mini-Me' Mouse Can Help

Doctors implant your disease into mice to hone treatment

(Newser) - The New York Times says it "could be the ultimate in personalized medicine," and it's hard to disagree. The idea is to give mice the same disease you have—as in, implant part of your tumor into the rodents—to help doctors zero in on a precise...

Consumer Reports: Rice Has Too Much Arsenic

It advises people to cut down

(Newser) - If rice is a big part of your diet, Consumer Reports suggests you cut down. Its testing turned up what it calls "troubling" amounts of arsenic in all types of rice and rice products. The group called on the FDA to develop better safety standards and to phase out...

Rural Residents More Likely to Get Alzheimer&#39;s
Rural Residents More Likely
to Get Alzheimer's
study says
Sep 18, 2012 3:50 PM CDT

Rural Residents More Likely to Get Alzheimer's

A new study sees double the risk for lifelong country dwellers

(Newser) - Another medical study is out knocking the rural life. After one last week said rural residents were more likely to be obese , we get one from the UK saying they're twice as likely to get Alzheimer's, too, report the Daily Mail and the Telegraph . Edinburgh University researchers came...

Anti-Tobacco Lawyers Target 'Phony' Food Labels

Heinz, PepsiCo among food producers facing legal action

(Newser) - Lawyers who once drained tobacco companies of hundreds of millions of dollars have found a new target: food companies. Their latest lawsuits accuse major industry players like Heinz and PepsiCo of deceiving consumers with misleading labels or badly listed ingredients, the New York Times reports. Listing "evaporated cane juice"...

Doctor: Lack of Exercise Is a Medical Condition

It's time to treat it as 'deconditioning,' he argues

(Newser) - Didn't exercise this week? You're not just lazy, you have a medical condition, argues one physiologist in the Journal of Physiology . Michael Joyner thinks it's time doctors made a serious push against "deconditioning," he tells NPR's Shots blog . The sedentary lives many of us...

CDC Unveils Latest Fat Map
 CDC Unveils Latest Fat Map 
Aug 14, 2012 2:24 AM CDT

CDC Unveils Latest Fat Map

Obesity tops 20% in every state

(Newser) - More than a fifth of adults in Colorado are fat, but it's still the skinniest state in the nation, according to a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention map that highlights the scale of America's obesity epidemic. The CDC's 2011 map, based on a continuous, wide-ranging...

Inactivity Killing More Than Smoking
 Inactivity Killing 
 More Than Smoking 
in case you missed it
Jul 21, 2012 12:59 PM CDT

Inactivity Killing More Than Smoking

Physical inactivity becoming global pandemic: Study

(Newser) - The people of the world need to get off their butts, scientists have concluded after an extensive review of global mortality statistics, which revealed that physical inactivity is killing more people than smoking. Researchers, declaring inactivity to be a pandemic, estimate that out of the 57 million or so deaths...

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