'Travel, urbanisation have led to 50-fold rise in dengue cases'

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'Travel, urbanisation have led to 50-fold rise in dengue cases'

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'Travel, urbanisation have led to 50-fold rise in dengue cases'

Posted: 15 Sep 2012 03:47 PM PDT

( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Kolkata, Sep 15 - Constant travelling and rapid urbanisation of rural areas have contributed to a nearly 50-fold increase in dengue cases over the last 50 years, say experts. Aedes aegypti was known to be the vector of urban areas and Aedes albopictus was responsible for the disease in rural and suburban areas. However, in recent times this division has blurred, because people move about a lot these days. This has led to a nearly 50-fold increase in dengue cases, Nemai Bhattacharya of the Department of Microbiology, at the School of Tropical Medicine, told IANS. According to the World Health Organisation -, over 2.5 billion people - more than 40 percent of the world's population - are now at risk from dengue, which is a viral disease spread by mosquitoes of the genus Aedes, principally A. aegypti. WHO currently estimates there may be 50-100 million dengue infections worldwide every year. In West Bengal such outbreaks occurred at intervals of 18 to 20 years. But now the outbreaks have become frequent. This year, till Friday six people have died, while 1,727 people were afflicted with dengue in the eastern state. Now the outbreaks occur every five to six years. This is mainly because of the constant travelling from one country or city to another. Dengue is a communicable disease and this further spreads the disease, Shyamalendu Chatterjee of the city's Indian Council of Medical Research - Virus unit told IANS. Construction work, a consequence of urbanisation and development of rural areas, is indirectly responsible for the spread of the disease. The mosquitoes responsible breed in fresh water and the larvae thrive in it. Construction work requires a lot of water and any small puddle of fresh water at the building sites favours their growth, said Bhattacharya. Endemic to Kolkata, isolated incidents of dengue occur throughout the year but with the onset of monsoon, dengue cases rise progressively. It peaks in September and...

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Pak businessman is Delhi's first marrow transplant case from unrelated donor

Posted: 14 Sep 2012 08:22 PM PDT

( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New Delhi, Sep 14 - Abdul Samad, 36-year-old businessman from Pakistan, has doctors in the national capital and a donor from Germany to thank for a fresh lease of life. A bone marrow transplant was performed to save the life of the businessman at Delhi's B.L. Kapur Memorial Hospital June 20. This was also the first time in Delhi that bone marrow was transplanted from a donor not related to the patient. Samad was diagnosed with Myelodysplastic Syndrome - a disorder where the production of blood cells is low in the bone marrow, and the blood cells do not mature normally, bringing down blood platelets and haemoglobin levels drastically. Blood transfusion was only a temporary solution. I was diagnosed with MDS. Doctors in Dubai told me that I needed a bone marrow transplant, and the donor could be immediate relatives, particularly siblings. I returned to Karachi hoping that one of my two brothers or four sisters would have a profile that matched mine... unfortunately none of them did. So I had no option but to find a donor who was unrelated, Samad said. Samad had run from pillar to post, back and forth between Dubai and Pakistan, but he could not find a facility that would offer a transplant from an unrelated donor. It was after a search of eight months that he discovered that the procedure could be conducted in New Delhi, with the aid of a German donor whose profile was found to match his. Doctors said Samad was in need of immediate bone marrow transplant as the count of all three major types of blood cells - red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets - was low. This is the first time an unrelated donor was involved in a bone marrow transplant in Delhi. These kind of transplants are generally fraught with risk, said Dharma Choudhary, senior consultant, hemato-oncology, and director, bone marrow transplant. Three months after the transplant, Samad said he was happy he had undergone the transplant. I'm happy that I'm...

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UP government rolls out 133 ambulances

Posted: 14 Sep 2012 04:55 PM PDT

( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Lucknow, Sep 14 - Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav Friday launched the Samajwadi Swasthya Seva, the biggest emergency medical transport service in the country. Yadav flagged-off 133 ambulances under the ambitious service launched in 13 districts - Mainpuri, Etawah, Lucknow, Kannauj, Saharanpur, Meerut, Rampur, Moradabad, Muzaffarnagar, Sambhal, Shamli, Baghpat and Ambedkarnagar - in the first phase. The facility can be availed free of cost by dialling 108. The ambulance service was launched with the help of a private service provider. The government aims to reach people in need within 20 minutes of the SOS call. A call centre that will be manned by 100 people has been set up here to support the emergency service. It will be functional 24x7, principal secretary - Sanjay Agarwal told IANS. Addressing the gathering after the inauguration of the service, Chief Minister Yadav lauded the health department for fast-tracking healthcare in a very short period. He assured the people, party workers and activists present on the occasion that the government would fulfill all the promises it made in the election manifesto. Chief Secretary Jawwed Usmani said the 108 service would be expanded by October this year, and 972 ambulances would be made available in the 820 development blocks of the state. The chief minister also laid the foundation stone of one of the 22 community health centres - and eight primary health centres - to be built in 18 districts at a cost of Rs.67.43 crore.

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New test to crack down on sporting drugs-cheat test

Posted: 14 Sep 2012 05:00 AM PDT

( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Scientists from three UK universities have developed a new test to catch drugs-cheats in sport. Over the last 10 years, the GH-2004 team, which is based the University of Southampton, has been developing a test for Growth Hormone misuse in sport with funding from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and US Anti-Doping Agency and with support from UK Anti-Doping. The test, developed by scientists at the University of Southampton, King's College London and University of Kent at Canterbury, is based on the measurement of two proteins in the blood, insulin-like growth factor-I and the amino terminal pro-peptide of type III collagen. Both of these proteins, which act as markers of growth hormone use, increase in response to growth hormone. The test was used for the first time by King's College London analysts at the anti-doping laboratory for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. On 8 September 2012, the International Paralympic Committee announced that two powerlifters had received two year suspensions for Anti-Doping Rule Violations involving Growth Hormone following an adverse laboratory finding using the new markers test. The case was a world first as some of the latest testing methods were used which were only introduced prior to London 2012. The new method is able to detect misuse of human growth hormone over a number of weeks, compared to previous methods used which only detected use over a shorter time period. Richard Holt, Professor in Diabetes and Endocrinology at the University of Southampton and also a consultant in Diabetes at Southampton General Hospital, said, We are pleased to have another effective and reliable means to catch cheats and help deter harmful drug misuse. There has been a tremendous amount of team work to develop this test and I am delighted that this dedication has finally succeeded. I would like to thank the World Anti-Doping Agency, US Anti-Doping and UK Anti-Doping for their support and...

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ESC: Prevention without borders

Posted: 14 Sep 2012 05:00 AM PDT

( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Sophia Antipolis, 14 September 2012: Despite Brazil's successful prevention campaigns which have contributed to a reduction in risk factors such as smoking, cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the first cause of death in the country, at 32%. Tobacco consumption and decrease of salt in local diets are some of the risk factors that will be discussed at the 67th Annual Congress of the Brazilian Society of Cardiology (1) which takes place in Recife, Brazil from 14 to 17 September 2012. This meeting is the largest cardiology conference in Latin America. The Brazilian Society of Cardiology is an affiliated society of the European Society of Cardiology since 2009 and has around 13,000 members. Brazil's fast development has brought many positive changes to people's lives, but the move from a rural to an urban society has introduced changes in eating and exercise patterns resulting in growing obesity, diabetes and dyslipidaemia in the 185 million population. Cardiovascular mortality in Brazil has increased 3.5 times more than in other developing countries (2) making prevention of CVD an urgent issue. The recently updated European Guidelines on CVD Prevention (3), will be part of the one-day educational session (4) presented in Recife by senior faculty of the ESC together with representatives of the host society. These Guidelines have been reformatted to help disseminate the information from to where it is needed: health professionals working in the field, politicians and the general public. Most of CVD related deaths could be prevented through the widespread adoption of simple interventions such as smoking cessation, improved diets and increased exercise. Evidence that CVD is caused by modifiable risk factors, comes from clinical trials and observational community studies, says Professor Panos Vardas, President of the ESC who is leading the European delegation to Brazil. We will be promoting these and other ESC Guidelines in Brazil....

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Study shows wildfires' positive and negative economic impacts

Posted: 14 Sep 2012 05:00 AM PDT

( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) EUGENE, Ore. -- Despite the disruptions they cause, large wildfires are a mixed economic bag for nearby communities, according to findings from a research project by the University of Oregon's Ecosystem Workforce Program and its collaborators. Wildfires disrupt the lives of workers, employers and families, and lead to longer-term instability in local labor markets, the project funded by Joint Fire Science Program found. But on the flip side of the coin, countywide employment and wages increase in some sectors during the wildfires, often mitigating the short-term employment disruptions wildfires cause. The increased spending on services related to fire suppression efforts certainly does not undo the social and economic damage caused by a wildfire, said Cassandra Moseley, director of the Ecosystem Workforce Program and the Institute for a Sustainable Environment. But that initial burst of money does offset some of the immediate economic damage. Moseley said. How the Forest Service spends its suppression money greatly influences how a community experiences a fire. The UO study found that employment and wages in a county tend to increase during large wildfires. But those same fires often lead to longer-term instability in local labor markets, by amplifying seasonal ups and downs in employment over the subsequent year. Among the sectors most affected in the months following a fire are tourism and natural resources, which are often vital to the well-being of rural communities. There has been little previous research on the effects of large wildfires on local employment and wages. The study, done in collaboration with researchers at the U.S. Forest Service, analyzed the impacts on labor markets as well as the extent of economic relief that results from spending on fire suppression. The purpose of the study was to help fire managers, policy makers and community leaders understand the short- and long-term effects of wildfires so they...

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Indian under-fives the most vulnerable in the world

Posted: 13 Sep 2012 07:53 PM PDT

( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New Delhi, Sep 13 - Despite the government's efforts to improve maternal and child health, the latest report released by UNICEF shows India had the highest number of deaths of children under five years of age in 2011. World Health Organisation - India Representative Nata Menabde, however, says that given the size of the population, absolute numbers will always be high in case of India. This should not overshadow the fact that the country has made significant progress in the field of health. Social activist Ranjana Kumari says that the poor condition of maternal health and nutrition are to blame for the high mortality of children under five years old. High mortality among children is linked to maternal health directly. Most women do not get sufficient nutrition, and the child is born weak. We also have high maternal mortality rates, she says. Because of lack of nutrition, the child's immunity is low. Even though the government has many schemes, there are leakages. For example, we have the Janani Suraksha Yojana which provides facilities for institutional delivery. But primary health centres are not in good condition, she says, stressing that the quality of the public health system has a role to play in the statistics revealed in the UNICEF report. The UNICEF report, released Thursday in New York, says almost 19,000 children less than five years of age die every day across the world. India tops the list of countries for 2011, with the highest number of such deaths at 16.55 lakh. As per the report, even as overall child mortality in the world has gone down, under-five deaths are increasingly concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. In 2011, 82 percent of under-five deaths occurred in these two regions, up from 68 percent in 1990. In 2011, about half of global under-five deaths occurred in just five countries: India, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Pakistan and China. Though on the top of list in terms...

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Indian under-fives the most vulnerable in the world

Posted: 13 Sep 2012 06:31 PM PDT

( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New Delhi, Sep 13 - Despite the government's efforts to improve maternal and child health, the latest report released by UNICEF shows India had the highest number of deaths of children under five years of age in 2011. World Health Organisation - India Representative Nata Menabde, however, says that given the size of the population, absolute numbers will always be high in case of India. This should not overshadow the fact that the country has made significant progress in the field of health. The UNICEF report, released Thursday in New York, says almost 19,000 children less than five years of age die every day across the world. India tops the list of countries for 2011, with the highest number of such deaths at 16.55 lakh. As per the report, even as overall child mortality in the world has gone down, under-five deaths are increasingly concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. In 2011, 82 percent of under-five deaths occurred in these two regions, up from 68 percent in 1990. In 2011, about half of global under-five deaths occurred in just five countries: India, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Pakistan and China. Though on the top of list in terms of absolute numbers, in terms of child mortality rate, India ranks 49th with 61 deaths per thousand children in 2011. Sierra Leone has the highest child mortality rate of 185 per thousand. There has been lot of improvement in last couple of years, with interventions like the National Rural Health Mission. In most areas, India will hopefully come close to the MDGs -, Menabde said at a press conference here. The MDGs are eight international development goals that all member states of the UN agreed to achieve by 2015. One of the MDGs is to reduce under-five mortality rate of 42 per 1,000 live births by 2015. According to projections by WHO, India will reach 52 percent by that year, missing the target by 10 percentage points. India may not achieve the MDG, but...

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Indian under-fives the most vulnerable in the world

Posted: 13 Sep 2012 05:34 PM PDT

( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New Delhi, Sep 13 - Despite the government's efforts to improve maternal and child health, the latest report released by UNICEF shows India had the highest number of deaths of children under five years of age in 2011. The report, released Thursday in New York, says almost 19,000 children less than five years of age die every day across the world. India tops the list of countries for 2011, with the highest number of such deaths at 16.55 lakh. Even as overall child mortality in the world has gone down, under-five deaths are increasingly concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. In 2011, 82 percent of under-five deaths occurred in these two regions, up from 68 percent in 1990. In 2011, about half of global under-five deaths occurred in just five countries: India, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Pakistan and China. Though on the top of list in terms of absolute numbers, in terms of child mortality rate, India ranks 49th with 61 deaths per thousand children in 2011. Sierra Leone has the highest child mortality rate of 185 per thousand. On the positive side, however, the report shows that the overall number of under-five deaths worldwide has decreased from nearly 12 million in 1990 to less than 7 million in 2011, and the rate of the decline has been steadily increasing. The rate of decline in under-five mortality has drastically accelerated in the last decade - from 1.8 percent per year during the 1990s to 3.2 percent per year between 2000 and 2011, the report says.

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Sepsis killing more people than AIDS: Experts

Posted: 12 Sep 2012 08:00 PM PDT

( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New Delhi, Sep 12 - Sepsis, a condition caused by infections leading to multiple organ failure, is among the leading causes of deaths in India - killing more people than AIDS or cancer, say experts. Awareness to the fatal condition, however, remains low, say doctors. Sepsis or septicemia is body's reaction to infection, said Vivek Nangia, director, infectious diseases, at Delhi's Fortis Hospital. It is a condition in which bacteria make toxins that cause the body's immune system to attack organs and tissues. Any infection in any part of body may cause sepsis, warned Nangia. Every hour, about 36 people die from sepsis. It causes more deaths than prostate cancer, breast cancer and HIV/AIDS combined. Globally, an estimated 18 million cases of sepsis occur each year, said Rajesh Chawla, vice-chancellor of the Indian Society of Critical Care Medicine -, Delhi. ISCCM, along with Global Sepsis Alliance, is organising a programme to spread awareness on Sepsis Thursday, marking the World Sepsis Day. Sepsis is quite a common cause of deaths. It is the third commonest cause resulting in death across the world, and in India it is probably the leading cause, observed Nangia. Chawla said that although Sepsis was one of the most serious medical conditions, there was a tremendously low awareness among people, including medical professionals. According to a recent Indian Intensive Care Case Mix and Practice Patterns study, one out of two patients who develop Sepsis die. Nangia added that hospital picked infections which cause the disease might also be related to multi-drug resistant bacteria. When the infection is picked up in hospitals, it can be associated with the multi-drug resistant bacteria, he said, adding that there was a strict guideline on how to treat patients after detection of Sepsis. The patient has to be admitted and within first two hours, first shot of anti-biotic has to be given. After that detailed culture tests have...

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