Health Headlines - April 2

Bush Order Allows Isolation of Those with Bird Flu

President Bush issued a directive on Friday allowing authorities to detain or isolate any passenger suspected of having avian flu when arriving in the United States aboard an international flight.

Computer Helps Detect Small Breast Cancers

A computer-aided detection system can help radiologists spot small breast tumors that may otherwise be missed, results of a study show. The system detected 92 percent of cancers that were 5 millimeters in size or smaller.

Victims of Nazi Medical Experiments Get More Funds

Some 714 surviving victims of Nazi medical experiments are being paid additional funds, bringing their compensation to 6,693 euros ($8,675) each, an international aid agency said on Friday.

Memory Remains Intact in Type 1 Diabetics

Some areas of cognitive function, or thinking ability, are impaired in patients with type 1 diabetes, but learning and memory remain intact, Dutch investigators report.

Hormonal Drug Aids Prostate Cancer Survival-Study

Prostate cancer patients treated with the hormonal drug Zoladex immediately after radiation therapy live longer than men who wait to take the drug, researchers said on Friday.

Girls Follow Mom's Lead When Eating Fruits, Veggies

When mothers add more fruits and vegetables to their plates, their daughters do as well, new research reports.

New Test Detects Multiple Sclerosis

A protein pattern or "molecular footprint" in the blood can distinguish patients with multiple sclerosis from healthy subjects, preliminary research suggests, which could make diagnosis of the disease much easier.

Fruit, Veggies Tied to Lower Pancreatic Cancer Risk

New research from Canada suggests that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables may help prevent pancreatic cancer, a particularly deadly type of tumor.

HIV Testing Advised for All Sexually Active People

Now is the time to implement routine, not risk-based, HIV testing, according to an editorial published in the medical journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

Petting Zoos Scrutinized Over E. Coli

Shannon Smowton's trip to the fair should have ended with happy memories of carnival rides and cute farm animals. Instead, the 5-year-old is clinging to life, her kidneys under attack from the E. coli infection she apparently caught at the fair.

FDA Seeks Advice on Changing Food Labels

Faced with a nation of rapidly expanding waistbands, the government is seeking advice on how to change food labels to help people better understand what they're getting.

Patient Receives Blood Pressure Implant

A 36-year-old woman with severe hypertension has been fitted with a pacemaker-like implant that, in limited trials in Europe, has shown promise in controlling wayward blood pressure through electronic stimulation of neck-artery nerves.

Fla. Man Loses Liver Transplant Appeal

A Florida man who was kept alive with a pig liver after a failed transplant has lost his bid to reinstate his lawsuit against the Colorado company that supplied the original organ.

Chance of Surviving Septic Shock Slim

Pope John Paul II's blood infection is a catastrophic condition for even the fittest people, doctors said Friday.

Ill. Druggists Must Dispense Birth Control

Gov. Rod Blagojevich approved an emergency rule Friday requiring pharmacies to fill birth control prescriptions quickly after a Chicago pharmacist refused to fill an order because of moral opposition to the drug.

WHO Downplays Fears of Virus in Angola

The World Health Organization on Friday played down the danger of a wide spread of an Ebola-like virus that has killed 127 people in Angola, including 12 health workers.

Government Abstinence Web Site Draws Ire

An array of advocacy groups are calling on the federal government to take down one of its new Web sites, saying it presents biased and inaccurate advice to parents on how to talk to their children about sex.

Discoveries Help Peanuts Shed Fat Stigma

Peanuts, a dietary outcast during the fat-phobic 1990s, have made a comeback, with consumption soaring to its highest level in nearly two decades and more doctors recommending the nuts as part of a heart-healthy diet.

New Options Offer Relief from Cancer-Related Bone Pain

Three techniques that either heat or freeze bone tumors reduced by up to 89 percent the severe pain felt by people for whom other pain relief options had failed, researchers reported.

Nonsurgical Technique Effective Against Fibroids

A nonsurgical treatment for uterine fibroids, known as uterine fibroid embolization (UFE), has a five-year success rate of 73 percent, according to a new study involving 182 women.

Scientists Spot New Cholesterol-Lowering Target

Researchers say they've identified a protein that could be a new target for the development of cholesterol-lowering drugs.

Radiation for Prostate Cancer May Make Rectal Cancer More Likely

Men with prostate cancer typically receive one of two recommended therapies: surgical removal of the organ or radiation to kill cancer cells within the prostate.

Chemo Drug May Fight Brain Tumors in Kids

A long-available chemotherapy drug, rapamycin, may prove effective against childhood brain tumors, researchers report.

Surgical Infection Rates Lower in Elderly

Risks for infection at the site of surgery appear to rise each year until age 65, when the risk steadily begins to decline, a new study reports.

New Techniques Safely Remove Deep Vein Clots

New techniques that aid in dissolving and removing blood clots in the legs could improve treatment for this painful and often dangerous condition, researchers report.

Marburg toll reaches 142 in single Angolan province: official

The death toll from the Marburg virus has reached 142 in the Angolan province of Uige alone, the province's governor Antonio Bento Kangulo said, after the Ebola-like disease reached the country's fourth province.

Kenyan businesses ignoring AIDS at their own peril: study

The vast majority of Kenyan firms are ignoring problems caused by AIDS by not developing workplace policies to combat the deadly virus here, where the disease kills more than 500 people a day, according to a survey.

Report says 80 percent of HIV-positive in CIS below 30 years old

More than 80 percent of HIV-positive people in most of the former Soviet Union are under the age of 30, according to a report.

More than 4,000 South African teachers succumbed to AIDS last year: study

More than 4,000 teachers died last year of complications linked to HIV/AIDS in South Africa, which has one of the world's highest caseloads, a daily reported, quoting a study.

Some 100 million Chinese suffer depression

An estimated 100 million people, or eight percent of China's population, suffer from depression and most of them have received no treatment, state media reported.

Hong Kong government eyes complete ban on indoor smoking

The Hong Kong government said it was planning a complete ban on indoor smoking and would present a bill to that effect before the legislature next month.

Ethiopia launches emergency polio immunization campaign

Ethiopia launched an emergency campaign to immunize nearly 15 million children from polio amid fears of an outbreak of the disease after two cases were reported near the Sudanese border.

Vietnam starts cleaning campaign to fight bird flu

Vietnam started a month-long campaign to clean up farms and try to wipe out the bird flu virus that has killed dozens of people across in the country in the past year.