Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:
Progress Against TB Slowing: WHO
Progress against the global tuberculosis epidemic may be slowing, a World Health Organization report suggests.
The report, released Monday, found that the rate of new cases fell by less than 1 percent between 2005 and 2006, far less than the targeted annual decrease of 5 to 7 percent, the Associated Press reported.
The WHO report, based on government data from 202 countries and regions, said there were an estimated 9.2 million new TB cases and 1.5 million TB deaths worldwide in 2006. Countries with the most TB cases were India, China, Indonesia, South Africa and Nigeria. By region, Asia (55 percent) and Africa (31 percent) had the majority of TB cases.
The WHO said TB infection rates decreased about 3 percent in the United States and were stable in Europe, the AP reported.
Outdated drugs, obsolete diagnostic tests, overburdened health systems, and a lack of vaccines are among the factors contributing to the slowdown in the fight against TB, Dr. Marcos Espinal, executive secretary of the WHO's Stop TB Partnership, told the AP.
Some health experts say the WHO's TB policy is too passive and the organization needs a more proactive strategy to combat the disease.
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Vegan Diet May Reduce Heart Disease Risk in Arthritis Patients
A vegan diet may help reduce the increased risk of heart attack and stroke in people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), says a Swedish study.
RA causes inflammation that affects arteries; heart attack and stroke are among the leading causes of death among people with RA. The new study found that RA patients who ate a vegan diet had lower levels of "bad" LDL cholesterol, a major heart disease risk factor, BBC News reported.
The study by researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm included 38 people who ate a vegan diet that included nuts, sunflower seeds, fruits and vegetables, millet, corn and sesame milk. The diet led to a decrease in total cholesterol levels and a reduction in the amount of LDL cholesterol. The volunteers on the diet also had a lower body mass index at the end of the 12-month study.
The findings were published in the journal Arthritis Research and Therapy.
The new research is interesting, but should be considered with caution, a spokeswoman for the Arthritis Research Campaign told BBC News. "A vegan diet may be helpful in reducing cholesterol, but it is difficult to get enough of some important nutrients on a vegan diet," she said.
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ADHD May Increase Girls' Risk of Eating Disorders
Teen girls with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may have a significantly increased risk of developing eating disorders, says a University of Virginia study that included 140 girls with ADHD and 88 girls without the disorder.
The researchers found that some of the girls with ADHD were 5 percent to 10 percent more likely to show signs of an eating disorder than girls without ADHD, CBC News reported.
"Girls with ADHD may be more at risk of developing eating disorders as adolescents because they already have impulsive behaviors that can set them apart from their peers," study lead author Amori Yee Mikami said in a prepared statement. "As they get older, their impulsivity may make it difficult for them to maintain healthy eating and a healthy weight, resulting in self-consciousness about their body image and the binging and purging symptoms."
The study, published in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, also found that girls with ADHD were more likely to have received critical parenting when they were younger, had more difficulty relating to peers, and were more likely to be overweight, CBC News reported.
ADHD affects about 5 percent of school-age children, the researchers said.
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Children With Allergies Less Active Than Peers: Survey
Many American children with allergies aren't getting the treatment they need, and children with allergies are less active and productive than their peers, according to survey presented Monday at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.
The survey included more than 500 parents of children with allergic rhinitis and a similar number of parents of children without allergies. Among the findings:
- About 76 percent of parents said spring was the worst time of year for their children's nasal allergies.
- Forty percent of parents said their children's allergies interfered with sleep, compared to eight percent of parents of children without allergies.
- Twenty-one percent of parents said allergies limited their children's activities, compared with 11 percent of parents of children without allergies.
- Forty percent of parents of children with allergies said the condition interfered with school performance. Only 10 percent of parents of children without allergies said health issues caused poorer school performance.
- The most bothersome symptom for children with allergic rhinitis is a stuffed up nose (27 percent), but about 46 percent of parents said their children also suffered more serious symptoms, such as headache and ear and facial pain.
- About 48 percent of allergic children in the survey are currently taking prescription drugs to treat symptoms. Of those, 57 percent have had their medication switched. Ineffective allergy control was the leading reason for changing medications.
- Bothersome side effects -- such as products dripping down the throat, bad taste, burning, and headache -- were among the reasons for dissatisfaction with allergy medications.
The Pediatric Allergies in America survey was released by Sepracor Inc, a manufacturer and distributor of respiratory pharmaceutical products.
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Symptoms of Severe West Nile Can Last for Years
Most people who suffer a severe West Nile virus infection continue to have symptoms for years and may have symptoms for the rest of their lives, according to a U.S. study that followed 108 patients in Texas for five years.
"What we are finding is that about 60 percent of people, one year after severe infection with West Nile, still report symptoms," researcher Kristy Murray, of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, said in a prepared statement.
She and her colleagues also found that most, if not all, recoveries from West Nile infection appeared to occur within two years.
"Once they hit two years it completely plateaus. If a patient has not recovered by that time, it is very likely they will never recover," Murray said.
About 40 percent of patients in the study continued to have symptoms five years after infection. Memory loss, tremors and loss of balance were among the long-term symptoms.
The findings were presented Monday in Atlanta at the International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases.
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Genomics and Health Disparities Are Focus of New NIH Center
A new center to study how genetic, clinical, lifestyle and socio-economic factors affect the health of minority groups in the United States has been created by the National Institutes of Health.
The Intramural Center for Genomics and Health Disparities will be a resource "to help move research related to the complex factors underlying health disparities into the 21st century," NIH Director Dr. Elias A. Zerhouni said in a prepared statement.
The new center will be directed by genetic epidemiologist Charles N. Rotimi, former director of the National Human Genome Center at Howard University.
"The priority of our center will be to understand how we can use the tools of genomics to address some of the issues we see with health disparities," Rotimi said in a prepared statement. "The availability of tremendous expertise and the remarkable research infrastructure at NIH will make our research activities more robust and will allow us to tackle questions in ways that were not feasible in the past."
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EPA Introduces Poison-Prevention Video
As part of National Poison Prevention Week (March 16-22), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has launched a poison-prevention segment on Green Scene, the agency's new series of environmental videos.
The segment includes information about how to protect children from toxic substances around the home and what to do in case of an accidental poisoning.
Every 13 seconds, a U.S. poison control center receives a call about an unintentional poisoning. In 2006, poison centers reported more than 77,000 calls prompted by concerns about potential exposure to common household pesticides (potential exposures do not necessarily represent a poisoning). More than 50 percent of the 2 million poisoning incidents each year involve children younger than six years old, according to the American Association of Poison Control Centers.
As part of this year's National Poison Prevention Week, the EPA is conducting extensive outreach targeting Hispanic people, including television interviews to be aired on "Cada Dia," Telemundo's national morning program and the Telemundo Washington affiliate in the District of Columbia. Other interviews include Univision TV and Radio, and CNN Radio en Espanol.
