Weekly Newsletter | | Other topics

News articles on Health

---

Mongabay.com news articles on health in blog format. Updated regularly.

Biopiracy fears hampering research in Brazilian Amazon
(10/30/2005) Somewhere in the Amazon there may be flora and fauna that hold the key to curing diseases ranging from cancer to multiple sclerosis. That, at any rate, is the dream. But the reality is that the search for the next miracle drugs is being hampered by a deep Brazilian suspicion of "biopiracy."


Air medics deliver healthcare in the remote Amazon
(10/13/2005) National Air Mail isn't a letter-carrying service -- it's an airborne medical unit making rounds in the most isolated parts of the jungle.


Wildlife conservation can be a 'win win' choice of land use -- new book
(10/12/2005) Experts from East and Southern Africa have some grass roots ideas for tackling the immense challenges Africa faces at the wildlife / domestic animal / human health interface-- and they hope the West is listening.


Environment killing millions says World Bank report
(10/7/2005) A new report from the World Bank says millions of deaths can be attributed to environmental factors, including climate change, pollution, unsafe water, poor sanitation and hygiene. These environmental conditions are significantly affecting health -- responsible for about a fifth of all ill health in poor countries -- and impeding economic development and growth. The report also links cancer to the environment.


Climate change to affect migratory birds and animals
(10/6/2005) Climate change could affect and disrupt breeding, hamper migrations, and increase disease transmission in migratory birds and animals, a new report has warned. The report, Climate Change and Migratory Species, was commissioned by Defra and prepared by a group led by the British Trust for Ornithology, and draws together broad research on the effects of climate change migratory wildlife.


Genomes of 200 Human Flu Strains Reveal a Dynamic Virus
(10/6/2005) In the first large-scale effort of its kind, researchers have determined the full genetic sequence of more than 200 distinct strains of human influenza virus. The information, being made available in a publicly accessible database, is expected to help scientists better understand how flu viruses evolve, spread and cause disease. The genomic data already has enabled scientists to determine why the 2003-4 annual influenza vaccine did not fully protect individuals against the flu that season.


New battery lasts 12 years, helps stimulate nerves
(10/4/2005) With the help of new silicon-based compounds, scientists - and patients - are getting a significant new charge out of the tiny lithium batteries used in implantable devices to help treat nervous system and other disorders.


Cancer death rates continue to fall according to the National Cancer Institute
(10/4/2005) The nation's leading cancer organizations report that Americans' risk of dying from cancer continues to decline and that the rate of new cancers is holding steady.


Food-borne diseases are a serious threat in Africa
(10/4/2005) Food-borne diseases are a serious threat to people in Africa, especially Africans already weakened from devastating conditions such as malaria and HIV/AIDS, two UN agencies warned today at the first-ever Regional Food Safety Conference for Africa.


90% of American men will become overweight, one third obses
(10/3/2005) 90% of American men were overweight or became overweight according to a 30-year study carried out by researchers at Boston University, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and other institutions. They study, which gathered data from 4,000 adults and tracked them over 30 years, also found that half of the men and women in the study who had made it well into adulthood without a weight problem ultimately became overweight while one in three subjects became obese.


Dark chocolate helps diarrhea
(10/2/2005) A new study conducted by researchers at Children's Hospital & Research Center Oakland is the first to discover that a chemical in cocoa beans can limit the development of fluids that cause diarrhea. Cocoa beans contain a large amount of chemicals called flavonoids. Scientists believe that these flavonoids can be used to create natural supplements to ease diarrhea symptoms. Dark chocolate contains high concentrations of cocoa and may offer mild relief.


Frogs may help in fight against HIV
(10/1/2005) A new weapon in the battle against HIV may come from an unusual source -- a small tropical frog. Investigators at Vanderbilt University Medical Center reported this month in the Journal of Virology that compounds secreted by frog skin are potent blockers of HIV infection.


Polar bears hold key to understanding health risk of environmental pollutants
(9/30/2005) Polar bears and people, at the chilly top of the Arctic's food chain, risk consuming a smorgasbord of industrial pollutants that have seeped into their habitat and pose potential health hazards.


Now identified as likely origin of SARS; will bats be killed in China?
(9/29/2005) The likely source of the respiratory disease SARS is the horseshoe bat, a new study in the journal Science suggests. Researchers found a virus closely related to the SARS coronavirus in bats from three regions of China. The 2003 SARS outbreak killed 770 people and caused billions in economic damaged.


Flavanols found in chocolate have health benefits
(9/29/2005) Phytochemicals known as flavanols, which are found in chocolate, fruits and vegetables, can boost the levels of nitric oxide in the blood of smokers and reverse some of their smoking-related impairment in blood vessel function, according to a new study in the Oct. 4, 2005, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.


Key flavivirus discovery could lead to vaccines against mosquito and tick diseases
(9/28/2005) Researchers from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, have made the surprising discovery that flaviviruses, which cause such serious diseases as West Nile fever, yellow fever and forms of encephalitis, evade immune system defenses in different ways depending on whether they are transmitted by mosquitoes or ticks. This finding could lead to new approaches to developing vaccines and treatments against these illnesses.


Drug-resistant Staph bacteria gaining genes for virulence
(9/27/2005) In a Brief Report in the September 22, 2005, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers at the University of Chicago describe three cases of rapidly progressive and ultimately fatal Staphylococcus aureus infections in small children.


Doctors ill-prepared to diagnose, treat bioterrorism diseases
(9/26/2005) More than one-half of 631 physicians tested were unable to correctly diagnose diseases caused by agents most likely to be used by bioterrorists, such as smallpox, anthrax, botulism and plague, according to a Johns Hopkins study published in the Sept. 26 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.


NOAA Biologists to study marine contaminants from hurricane
(9/23/2005) The NOAA Research vessel the Nancy Foster this week is working off the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama to study the effects of Hurricane Katrina on marine resources and the ecosystem. During the cruise, biologists will take water samples and look at sediments in the Mississippi river. They will test fish and shrimp for evidence of toxic contamination and pathogens that might affect human health.


Researchers Discover Protein Signatures for Prostate Cancer
(9/22/2005) A new study shows that testing blood samples for antibodies that target prostate cancer cells may help identify patients with early stages of the disease. In the September 22, 2005, issue of New England Journal of Medicine, researchers report the findings may lead to a new test that could complement the prostate specific antigen (PSA) test in detecting early stage prostate cancer.


Climate change could have significant impact on health of Australians
(9/22/2005) The Australian Medical Association (AMA) and the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) are calling for a national response to one of the world's most significant environmental threats -- climate change and its effect on human health.


33% of evacuees report experiencing health problems or injuries as a result of the hurricane
(9/20/2005) To give voice to people whose lives have been devastated by Hurricane Katrina and the ensuing floods, The Washington Post, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and the Harvard School of Public Health conducted a unique survey of evacuees in shelters in the Houston area. One-third (34%) of Katrina evacuees report that they were trapped in their homes and had to be rescued. Half (50%) of those who were trapped said they waited three or more days to be rescued.


In Niger, 50% deaths among children under five from malaria
(9/20/2005) Seeking to avert a second wave of deaths among Niger's undernourished children, the World Health Organization (WHO) is dispatching 100 000 antimalarial treatments to the west African country, where peak malaria season has begun in the midst of a humanitarian crisis.


DDT linked to Early Miscarriages - Harvard Study
(9/20/2005) Healthy, nonsmoking women with high levels of DDT residues in their bloodstream are far more likely to miscarry during the early weeks of pregnancy than those with lower levels, a study by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health found.


FDA Approves First Pediatric Generic AIDS Drug
(9/20/2005) The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today announced the approval for marketing of several generic versions of drugs that treat HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Previously, the products had been only tentatively approved and were not available in the United States because patent or market exclusivity blocked their approval.


Malaria parasite dispersal mechanism uncovered
(9/20/2005) Researchers at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development have determined the sequence in which the malaria parasite disperses from the red blood cells it infects. The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development is one of the National Institutes of Health.


Anti-HIV drug from rainforest almost lost before its discovery
(9/13/2005) Rainforest plants have long been recognized for their potential to provide healing compounds. Indigenous peoples of the rainforest have used medicinal plants for treating a wide variety of health conditions while western pharmacologists have derived a number of drugs from such plants. However, as forests around the world continue to fall there is a real risk that pharmaceutically-useful plants will disappear before they are examined for their chemical properties. Increasingly, it is becoming a race against time to collect and screen plants before their native habitats are destroyed. One near miss occurred recently with a compound that has shown significant anti-HIV effects, Calanolide A.


Polio outbreak confirmed in Somalia
(9/13/2005) The Global Polio Eradication Initiative - spearheaded by the World Health Organization, Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and UNICEF - today launched an ambitious new series of polio immunization campaigns to prevent the re-establishment of the disease in the Horn of Africa.


Divers to monitor health of coral reefs in the UAE
(9/12/2005) The Emirates Diving Association is training its members and staff to monitor the health of the coral reefs and marine life in the UAE.


Key Discovery Made in Feline AIDS Research
(9/10/2005) A University of Florida researcher has discovered an unexpected link between the viruses that cause feline and human AIDS: Cats vaccinated with an experimental strain of the human AIDS virus appear to be at least as well-protected against the feline version of the disease as those immunized with the vaccine currently used by veterinarians.


EPA advisory for health safety in flooded areas
(9/7/2005) Floodwaters from six locations across the New Orleans area were sampled by EPA and analyzed for chemicals and bacteria. Preliminary information indicates that bacteria counts for E. coli in sampled areas greatly exceed EPA's recommended levels for contact. At these levels, human contact with water should be avoided as much as possible.


Emerging Staph Strains Found to be Increasingly Deadly
(9/7/2005) A study of how the immune system reacts to strains of antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria -- emerging strains that sicken otherwise healthy people, or so-called "community-acquired" infections -- has shown for the first time that these strains are more deadly and better at evading human immune defenses than more common S. aureus strains that originate in hospitals and other health-care settings.


Mad cow disease came from humans suggests new theory
(9/6/2005) Mad cow disease may have originated from human remains mixed into cattle feed, according to a controversial new theory.


New Method Can Rapidly Detect Potential Bioterror Agent causing Q fever
(9/6/2005) A new combination of analytical chemistry and mathematical data analysis techniques allows the rapid identification of the species, strain and infectious phase of the potential biological terrorism agent Coxiella burnetii. The bacterium causes the human disease Q fever, which can cause serious illness and even death..


Forest fires have serious economic and health consequences warns FAO
(9/5/2005) Large forest fires in South-East Asia, notably in Indonesia, have caused serious health and environmental problems, in particular choking haze in the region, FAO said today.


Enzyme may be key in HIV resistance, new drug in development based on findings
(9/3/2005) Researchers have confirmed for the first time the benefit of an innate defense system present in the few patients who remain healthy after years of infection with HIV despite receiving no treatment, according to an article published in the September edition of the Journal of Virology.


Fruit fiber may help protect against second-hand smoke effects
(9/1/2005) A new study finds early life exposure to second-hand smoke can produce life-long respiratory problems. The study of 35,000 adult non-smokers in Singapore found that those who lived with a smoker during childhood had more respiratory problems, including chronic cough. Study participants who reported eating more fruit and soy fiber as adults seemed to be protected against some of the negative health effects often associated with early tobacco exposure.


Fake Lipitor Manufacturers Indicted
(9/1/2005) The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, Kansas City, Missouri, today announced the indictments of 11 individuals, a drug repacker, and two wholesale distributors in cases related to the sale of Lipitor, a popular cholesterol reducing drug.


New Influenza Vaccine Ready for Flu Season
(9/1/2005) The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved Fluarix, an influenza vaccine for adults that contains inactivated virus. Fluarix is approved to immunize adults 18 years of age and older against influenza virus types A and B contained in the vaccine. Influenza is also commonly called the flu.


NIH Looks at Genomics of Inflammation from Severe Injury
(9/1/2005) When it comes to inflammation, too much of a good thing can be deadly. In some severely injured patients, this normal healing process can develop into a lethal, whole-body response, including bloodstream infection (sepsis) and multiple organ failure. How and why inflammation turns from healing to harming is still mysterious, so doctors can't accurately predict how each injured patient will fare.


Anti-Cancer Drugs has promise for Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome
(9/1/2005) Bethesda, Maryland -- In a surprising development, a research team led by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has found that a class of experimental anti-cancer drugs also shows promise in laboratory studies for treating a fatal genetic disorder that causes premature aging.


BSE-infected cow born in Texas - result of FDA investigation
(8/31/2005) The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have completed their investigations regarding a cow that tested positive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in June 2005. The agencies conducted these investigations in collaboration with the Texas Animal Health Commission and the Texas Feed and Fertilizer Control Service.


Non-invasive therapy for cancer may be possible with future nanotechnology
(8/30/2005) Virginia Commonwealth University researchers have created highly magnetized nanoparticles based on metallic iron that could one day be used in a non-invasive therapy for cancer in which treatment would begin at the time of detection.


Food safety tips after Hurricane Katrina
(8/30/2005) As Hurricane Katrina hits Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) wants area residents to be prepared for the aftermath. FDA is providing important tips to help people affected by this storm to protect their health and food supply.


Cancer vaccine work continues at Baylor
(8/26/2005) A special stretch of genetic material may turn off the immune suppression that stymies attempts to fight cancer with a vaccine, said researchers at Baylor College of Medicine at Houston.


Misoprostol as a treatment for miscarriage instead of surgery
(8/26/2005) drug first used to reduce the risk of stomach ulcers in people taking certain types of painkillers offers an alternative to surgery after miscarriage, according to a study by researchers at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health and other research institutions.


New dye may offer noninvasive early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease
(8/26/2005) MIT scientists have developed a new dye that could offer noninvasive early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, a discovery that could aid in monitoring the progression of the disease and in studying the efficacy of new treatments to stop it.


Teenage drivers more reckless with young male passenger in front seat
(8/26/2005) Teenage drivers-both males and females-were more likely to tailgate and exceed the speed limit if there was a teenage male passenger in the front seat, according to a study by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health.


Brain chemical with key role in substance abuse identified
(8/25/2005) New research performed in rats suggests that orexin, a brain chemical involved in feeding behavior, arousal, and sleep, also plays a role in reward function and drug-seeking behavior.


Safeguarding biodiversity key to human health, poverty alleviation says Annan
(8/24/2005) Failure to conserve and use biological diversity in a sustainable manner would result in degrading environments, new and more rampant illnesses, deepening poverty and a continued pattern of inequitable and untenable growth warned United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan in a statement before the First International Conference on the Importance of Biodiversity to Human Health in Galway, Ireland.



Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4

home | archives | news | XML / RSS feeds


XML / RSS / Syndication options

mongabay.com features more than 250 RSS feeds to meet your specific area of interest

All mongabay.com news
Only rainforest news
Only Brazil news
Only Biodiversity news
Only Climate Change news
Only Madagascar news

more XML feeds