Tag: health
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Britain seeks to fight the fat with soft drinks sugar levy
By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) – Britain on Thursday launched a strategy aimed at curbing childhood obesity by taxing companies which sell sugar-laced soft drinks and investing that money in programmes to encourage physical activity and balanced diets for school children. Urging food and drinks firms to act swiftly to cut sugar in their products,…
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Florida probes new Zika case outside Miami
Florida is investigating a new case of Zika infection outside the neighborhood in Miami where mosquitoes are believed to have spread the virus to more than a dozen people, officials said Monday. Florida Governor Rick Scott described the case as a “new individual with non-travel related Zika in Palm Beach County,” north of Miami. The…
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U.S. officials provide stopgap Zika funds, Congress urged to act
Federal health officials, scrambling to fund efforts to combat the spread of the Zika virus in the United States, said on Tuesday they have provided more stopgap money to various locales while calls grew for Congress to cut short its recess and act. Concern is mounting about the threat posed by the mosquito-borne virus after…
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Zika suspected in 6 deaths in Honduras
Six people have died and 10 babies have been born with defects in Honduras in cases feared to have been caused by Zika, the health minister said Tuesday. The fatalities were due to Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a disorder brought on by the immune system attacking the nerves, which can cause paralysis, according to the minister, Edna…
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Exercise lowers heart disease risk, even for younger women
By Kathryn Doyle (Reuters Health) – For women under age 50, spending two and half hours of leisure time each week being active could cut heart disease risk by 25%, according to a U.S. study. While that’s been shown before for middle aged and older adults, less was known about whether exercise would make a…
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Timeline: Zika’s origin and global spread
The following timeline charts the origin and spread of the Zika virus from its discovery nearly 70 years ago: 1947: Scientists researching yellow fever in Uganda’s Zika Forest identify the virus in a rhesus monkey 1948: Virus recovered from Aedes africanus mosquito in Zika Forest 1952: First human cases detected in Uganda and Tanzania 1954:…
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Timeline: Zika’s origin and global spread
The following timeline charts the origin and spread of the Zika virus from its discovery nearly 70 years ago: 1947: Scientists researching yellow fever in Uganda’s Zika Forest identify the virus in a rhesus monkey 1948: Virus recovered from Aedes africanus mosquito in Zika Forest 1952: First human cases detected in Uganda and Tanzania 1954:…
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Physician-assisted suicide, euthanasia: increasingly legal but still rare
By Andrew M. Seaman (Reuters Health) – Legalized euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide are mainly used by patients with cancer, but remain rare, according to a new analysis of such programs. In the last year alone, California has legalized physician-assisted suicide, Canada legalized both physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia, and Colombia performed its first legal euthanasia, said…
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Are freestanding emergency rooms following the money?
By Lisa Rapaport (Reuters Health) – Freestanding emergency departments (EDs) are becoming more common in many communities across the U.S., often popping up in places where people are wealthier and likely to have private health insurance, a recent study suggests. Freestanding EDs can provide many of the same services as their traditional counterparts housed inside…