Polio to vanish next year
The World Health Organisation hopes to eliminate polio from the world by the end of next year.
Polio is still found in 50 countries, with WHO targeting ten countries in particular.
They are in Africa and the Indian sub-continent.
In the ten years to 1998 polio dropped from 35,000 cases worldwide to 6000 cases.
An outbreak of 1000 polio cases in Angola last year may be the last hurrah of the disease.
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from Zest South Pacific Division health newsletter September 3, 1999
More die at start of month
A computer study of 33 million deaths in the United States shows that more people there die in the first week of the month.
For every 100 people who die in a normal week, 101 die in the first week of the month.
This means that 4,300 extra people die in the first week of the month.
It's thought the reason is that American social security payments are made at the start of the month.
This gives people more money to spend then and leads to more drug and alcohol-related deaths — including overdoses, suicides, murders and accidents.
(The New England Journal of Medicine 1999;341:93-98)
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Creating health risk for others
Not vaccinating children against measles is a health risk to them — and to others.
Research shows that non-vaccinated people are 35 times more likely to contract measles than vaccinated people.
Non-vaccinated people are also far more likely to spread the disease to others.
So parents who do not vaccinate their children on "conscientious grounds" are more likely to cause both their children and others to catch the disease.
Measles is not as harmless as is often thought. It can cause severe brain damage.
(Journal of the American Medical Association 1999;282:47-53)
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Mercury in some vaccines
Some vaccines used in America contain mercury — but authorities want it removed.
The mercury is part of a preservative that has been used in vaccines since the 1940s.
Research has shown the mercury-containing substance is harmless to children.
However, current immunisation programs in America require children under six months to be immunised.
This means the vaccines would give the babies more mercury than Federal guidelines allow.
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Disease-fighting protein discovered
Researchers have found what may prove to be the most important protein yet-discovered in preventing disease.
The protein stimulates the body's production of B-cells — white blood cells which fight disease.
Based on the finding, scientists are now creating an experimental drug which they hope will boost the body's immune system.
(Science, July 6, 1999)
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Por ideas of health risks
An American survey shows that women have a poor idea of their health risks.
Women overestimate the danger of breast cancer, and underestimate the risk of heart disease and lung cancer.
The survey showed that only one-third of women over 65 knew that heart disease was the leading killer of women in their age group.
And women in the 55-64 age group wrongly thought that breast cancer was the biggest killer of their age group.
(Lung cancer is by far the biggest killer of this age group — a fact that only 15% of women in this age group identified.)
Surprisingly, women had a far more accurate knowledge of the health risks faced by men.
The researchers suggest that the misconceptions are largely based on images created by the media.
One wrong image is that heart disease is a "man's" disease.
The image that breast cancer is so bad is because the media so often run stories about it.
However, there are few media stories about lung cancer (virtually all caused by smoking), so its great danger is underestimated.
(Health Psychology 1999;18:1-8)
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Chronic fatigue money missing
The US Congress set aside about $30 million to research Chronic Fatigue Syndrome — but almost 40% of the money never made it.
After promising to research CFS, the Centre for Disease Control used more than $13 million to research their pet projects instead.
Chronic Fatigue Suffers are extremely upset that the money to be used for the biggest-ever research into their disease was diverted.
And, it seems, under American law, the researchers have done nothing illegal.
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from Zest South Pacific Division health newsletter September 3, 1999
Less fish needed
New research shows that eating a small amount of fish can reduce colorectal and other cancers.
Previously it was thought that only people who ate large amounts were protected.
(American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1999;70:85-90)
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Goat's milk not the answer
When infants are allergic to cows' milk, we often give them goats' milk instead.
But new research shows that that's not the answer.
It found that goat's milk can trigger serious allergic reactions in children already sensitive to cow's milk.
About one in forty children under three develop a an allergy to cows' milk.
And new research on a group of these children shows that they were all allergic to goats' milk as well.
That's not surprising — because goats' milk has up to 98% of the same amino acids as cows' milk.
There is a safe alternative, however.
The researchers found that soy milk was safe for the children with cows' milk allergy.
(Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology 1999;103:1191-1194)
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It's okay to tell about grain
There are strong restrictions about what health claims food manufacturers can make about their products.
But in the United States, manufacturers are now allowed to say that whole grain products reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease.
So some American breakfast cereal packets can now carry this officially approved statement:
"Diets rich in whole grain food and other plant foods and low in total fat, saturated fat and cholesterol may reduce risk of heart disease and certain cancers."
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