http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. China's commercial hub Shanghai is stepping up monitoring after a new strain of bird flu killed two people, state media said Monday, as Taiwan announced it would screen travellers from the mainland. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-shanghai-boosts-bird-flu-deaths.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 01 Apr 2013 04:29:54 EST news284009376 Another person suffering from a SARS-like virus has died in Saudi Arabia, the World Health Organization said Thursday, bringing the worldwide number of fatalities from the mystery illness to seven. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-death-sars-like-virus-saudi.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 21 Feb 2013 16:15:41 EST news280685655 The World Health Organisation on Saturday urged countries to be vigilant over the spread of a potentially fatal SARS-like virus after a new case in Britain brought the global number to 12. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-urges-vigilance-sars-like-virus.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Sun, 17 Feb 2013 08:50:02 EST news280311475 New Vanderbilt-led research published in the Feb. 14 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine has identified the relatively unknown human metapneumovirus (MPV) as the second most common cause of severe bronchiolitis in young children. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-reveals-clues-childhood-respiratory-virus.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 13 Feb 2013 17:10:04 EST news279996748 (HealthDay)—Shortages of key tuberculosis drugs are posing a real hazard to patients throughout the United States, a new report finds. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-tb-drug-shortages-patients-peril.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 17 Jan 2013 16:30:01 EST news277660080 A new study of the safety of the tetanus-diphtheria-acellular pertussis (Tdap) vaccine supports the recommendation that those 65 and older get the vaccine to protect themselves and others, particularly young babies, from pertussis. Published online in Clinical Infectious Diseases, the findings come as reported U.S. cases of the bacterial infection, also known as whopping cough, are at the highest level since the 1950s. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-safety-whooping-vaccine-older-adults.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 29 Nov 2012 00:00:04 EST news273344613 The national practice guideline for treating MRSA-related pneumonia is seven to 21 days. A Henry Ford Hospital study found that effective treatment can be done in half the time. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-optimal-treatment-duration-mrsa-related-pneumonia.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Fri, 19 Oct 2012 15:30:10 EST news269868737 Compounds that affect respiratory health have been found in biodiesel exhausts. This might lead to restrictions on the use of this form of biofuel as an alternative to fossil fuel, according to researchers from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-biodiesel-emissions-shown-respiratory-disease-linked.html Health Wed, 17 Oct 2012 06:41:23 EST news269674875 (HealthDay)—Gastrointestinal illnesses are associated with increased risk of islet autoimmunity (IA) among children who are exposed to wheat or barley either early or late in infancy, according to a study published online Oct. 5 in Diabetes Care. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-gastro-illness-infancy-linked-islet.html Diabetes Sun, 14 Oct 2012 12:30:01 EST news269414669 (AP)—A war contractor knew a critical southern Iraq oilfield plant was riddled with a well-known toxin but ignored the risk to soldiers while hurrying the project along, firing a whistleblower and covering up the presence of the chemical when faced with exposure, the soldiers' attorney said in opening arguments Wednesday in a federal civil suit. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-soldiers-illness-kbr-iraq.html Health Wed, 10 Oct 2012 18:30:03 EST news269112595 Saudi Arabia has taken measures to deal with any epidemic that may break out during the annual hajj pilgrimage, a minister said in remarks published Monday, stressing that the spread of a mystery illness from the same family as the deadly SARS virus was "limited." http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-saudi-thwart-epidemic-hajj.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 01 Oct 2012 07:29:40 EST news268295371 A new respiratory illness, similar to SARS, has been identified in a man who is being treated in the UK. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-viewpoint-patient-illness-similar-sars.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 27 Sep 2012 07:25:31 EST news267949521 Five people in isolation in a Danish hospital are suffering from a typical influenza strain and not a new SARS-like respiratory illness as feared, the Odense University Hospital said Wednesday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-patients-denmark-virus-hospital.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 26 Sep 2012 11:35:51 EST news267878145 The UN health agency said Wednesday it knew of no more cases in the Gulf of a mystery illness from the same virus family as the deadly SARS but was advising Saudi Arabia ahead of the upcoming Hajj pilgrimage. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-saudis-virus-hajj.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 26 Sep 2012 10:45:18 EST news267875113 Five people have been isolated in a hospital in Denmark with symptoms of a new viral respiratory illness from the same family as the deadly SARS virus, the hospital said on Wednesday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-isolated-danish-hospital-sars-like-symptoms.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 26 Sep 2012 06:58:30 EST news267861502 Children living in low-income urban areas appear especially prone to developing asthma, possibly related to infections they acquire early in life. In a new study in The Journal of Infectious Diseases, available online, researchers from the University of Wisconsin in Madison investigated viral respiratory illnesses and their possible role in the development of asthma in urban versus suburban babies. The differences in viral illness patterns they found provide insights that could help guide the development of new asthma treatments in children. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-city-infants-patterns-viral-respiratory.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 26 Sep 2012 00:00:01 EST news267807835 Nearly a quarter of college women try smoking tobacco with a hookah, or water pipe, for the first time during their freshman year, according to new research from The Miriam Hospital's Center for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-hookah-increasingly-common-first-year-college.html Addiction Wed, 18 Jul 2012 12:16:32 EST news261832586 For more than three decades, researchers have warned of the potential health risks associated with exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), especially among children whose parents smoke. Now a new study conducted by researchers from the University of Arizona reports that those health risks persist well beyond childhood, independent of whether or not those individuals end up becoming smokers later in life. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-children-exposed-tobacco-long-term-respiratory.html Health Sun, 20 May 2012 13:31:48 EST news256739499 Innate differences in immunity can be detected at birth, according to new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. And babies with a better innate response to viruses have fewer respiratory illnesses in the first year of life. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-babies-susceptibility-colds-linked-immune.html Immunology Thu, 17 May 2012 14:15:55 EST news256482933 (AP) -- U.K. health officials are increasing their surveillance for any potential disease outbreaks that could disrupt the London Olympics this summer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-uk-boost-health-olympics.html Health Tue, 03 Apr 2012 15:53:40 EST news252687213 These days, most of us don't head to the doctor until we are already ill. What if you could see disease approaching just as it starts to head your way? A study in a special March 16th issue of Cell focused on human biology shows that this futuristic notion is already in reach. Scientists have combined a complete personal genome sequence with analyses of disease risks and an array of dynamic molecular measures, capturing important changes in the way the human body works. The study is the first to apply "integrative Personal Omics Profiling" (iPOP for short) to observe healthy and diseased states, the researchers say. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-disease-unprecedented.html Genetics Thu, 15 Mar 2012 12:02:29 EST news251031731 Smartphones are showing promise in disease surveillance in the developing world. The Kenya Ministry of Health, along with researchers in Kenya for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found that smartphone use was cheaper than traditional paper survey methods to gather disease information, after the initial set-up cost. Survey data collected with smartphones also in this study had fewer errors and were more quickly available for analyses than data collected on paper, according to a study presented today at the International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases in Atlanta. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-smartphones-accurate-faster-cheaper-disease.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 12 Mar 2012 15:50:01 EST news250779152 (HealthDay) -- Babies born just a few weeks early appear to face a greater risk of developing asthma when compared with children born at full term, new research reveals. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-late-preemie-birth-linked-higher.html Inflammatory disorders Mon, 05 Mar 2012 14:20:01 EST news250174097 (AP) -- For the first time in 45 years, homicide has fallen off the list of the nation's top 15 causes of death, government health officials said Wednesday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-homicide-death.html Health Wed, 11 Jan 2012 12:55:16 EST news245508906 (Medical Xpress) -- Human rhinovirus (HRV), also known as the common cold, can be uncommonly serious for certain children, a study led by a Vanderbilt University Medical Center pediatrician shows. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-reveal-darker-side-common-cold.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 09 Jan 2012 08:39:34 EST news245320756 Thailand's hundreds of thousands of flood victims are at risk of water-borne diseases and infections, the World Health Organisation said Saturday, though no major outbreaks have been reported yet. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-disease-flood-hit-thailand.html Health Sat, 22 Oct 2011 14:43:19 EST news238513390 A rare virus has killed three people and sickened nearly 100 in Japan, the Philippines, the United States and the Netherlands over the past two years, US health authorities said Friday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-rare-flu-like-virus.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Fri, 30 Sep 2011 16:10:01 EST news236616979 The death rate among patients prescribed a statin in a major trial that ended in 2003 is still lower than those given a placebo, even though most participants in both groups have been taking statins ever since. ASCOT, the Anglo-Scandinavian Cardiac Outcomes Trial, was stopped early because the statin was so effective at preventing heart attacks and strokes, but a new analysis has shown that eight years on, the most significant difference between the groups is a reduction in deaths from infection and respiratory illness. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-statins-deaths-infection-respiratory-illness.html Cardiology Sun, 28 Aug 2011 12:29:31 EST news233753355 Having a sense of humor is associated with improved emotional functioning and an enhanced quality of life among patients with a chronic lung illness, but the actual act of laughing out loud can reduce lung function, at least in the short term, research suggests. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-copd-patients-humor-laughter-bad.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 02 Aug 2011 14:48:34 EST news231515228 Lung diseases in the Middle East range from the centuries-old pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) to modern manifestations caused by chemical warfare. A new paper now available in Respirology, a journal of the Asian Pacific Society of Respirology, provides pulmonologists and patients with the first comprehensive review of respiratory illnesses specific to the Persian Gulf region, and the challenges in treating them. This unique review is the first of its kind in this topic and will serve as an important landmark reference article. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-highlights-respiratory-disorders-prevalent-middle.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 13 Jul 2011 10:25:05 EST news229771282