Health Headlines - April 18

Nebraska Reports 110 Mumps Cases

Nebraska, one of nine states affected by the first mumps epidemic to hit the United States in about 20 years, is reporting 110 cases -- 32 of them confirmed -- in 22 counties, state health officials said late Monday.

Most of the Nebraska cases are in the southeastern part of the state and are among people ages 10 to 18 and 35 to 45, the Associated Press reported. However, cases are being reported in children as young as 2 and adults up to age 64, said Dr. Anne O'Keefe, epidemiologist for the state Health and Human Services System.

About 600 suspected cases of mumps have been reported in Iowa, and cases have also been reported in Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin. There have been no reported deaths.

This is the largest outbreak of mumps in the United States since 269 cases were reported in Kansas from late 1988 to early 1989, the AP reported.

Health officials suspect that two airline passengers may have spread Iowa's mumps epidemic. It's believed the two people were potentially infectious when they traveled by airliner in late March and early April.

Katrina Survivors Suffering Physical and Mental-Health Problems

Many adults and children displaced by Hurricane Katrina are suffering chronic health problems and mental disorders, says a survey of more than 650 families living in trailers and hotels.

A lack of prescription medicine and higher-than-average health insurance rates are also issues for the displaced families, say researchers from Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and the Children's Health Fund.

The survey, conducted in February, found that 34 percent of displaced children suffer from conditions such as asthma, anxiety and behavioral problems, compared with 25 percent of youngsters in urban Louisiana before Katrina, The New York Times reported.

Fourteen percent of the displaced children went without prescribed medication at some point during the three months prior to the survey, compared with 2 percent before Katrina.

Among adults, 44 percent said they had no health insurance (mainly due to the fact they lost their jobs after the hurricane), and nearly half said they were coping with at least one chronic condition, such as cancer, diabetes, or high blood pressure, the Times reported.

The study also found that 37 percent of the displaced adults described their health as "fair" or "poor," compared with 10 percent before Katrina. More than 50 percent of displaced mothers and other female caregivers scored "very low" on a mental-health screening exam. Their scores were consistent with disorders such as anxiety or depression.

The study authors said families displaced by the hurricane "are being pushed further toward the edge," instead of being given a chance to recover from their misfortune.

Ultraviolet Light Boosts Vitamin D in Mushrooms

Preliminary research suggests that brief exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light can greatly increase the amount of vitamin D in mushrooms. Vitamin D helps keep bones strong and fights disease.

According to the findings of a pilot project, a single serving of white button mushrooms would contain 869 percent of the daily value of vitamin D if exposed to five minutes of UV light after being harvested, the Associated Press reported.

That's more than the amount of vitamin D in two tablespoons of cod liver oil, one of the richest natural sources of the vitamin.

The research was proposed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and is being funded by the mushroom industry.

If further research validates the findings of the pilot project, mushrooms could become another important dietary source of vitamin D. That could benefit people who don't eat fish or drink milk, the major fortified source of the vitamin, the AP reported.

No Effective Drugs for Anorexia Nervosa: Study

No current medications effectively treat the eating disorder anorexia nervosa. But some forms of behavioral therapy may help prevent relapse and provide other limited benefits, says a study released Monday by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

Researchers reviewed scientific literature published since 1980 and concluded that cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) helped prevent relapse in adult anorexic patients once their weight had been restored to normal. There wasn't enough evidence to determine whether CBT was effective during the acute phase of the disorder, before restoration of normal weight.

Family therapy does not appear to work in adults with longstanding anorexia nervosa, the review found.

It also concluded that several medications and behavioral therapies can help patients suffering from bulimia nervosa and binge-eating disorder. For example, one short-term clinical trial found that the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) fluoxetine was helpful in treating bulimia.

Cognitive behavioral therapy and interpersonal psychotherapy were found to be helpful in reducing the core symptoms of bulimia nervosa -- binge eating and purging -- and easing the psychological symptoms of the disorder. However, the optimum length of treatment is unclear.

"These findings underscore the need to learn more about the causes of these frightening and poorly understood illnesses and to find effective treatments," Dr. Carolyn M. Clancy, AHRQ director, said in a prepared statement. "In the meantime, we need to make sure that clinicians use the evidence we currently have to help those suffering from eating disorders.

Canada Confirms 5th Mad Cow Case

Tests have confirmed Canada's fifth case of mad cow disease since 2003.

The disease, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), was found in a 6-year-old dairy cow on a farm in British Columbia's Fraser Valley, CTV News reported.

"Our investigation has taken us back to the farm, which is known to be the birth farm of this cow, and we're in the process of assembling, through farm records, those herd mates that were of similar age and likely consumed the same feed," said George Luterbach, a senior veterinarian for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA).

"These animals will be removed, destroyed and tested," he told CTV News.

No part of the infected cow entered the human or animal feed systems, officials said. Late last week it was announced that Canada's BSE surveillance program had identified the diseased cow, but initial tests for BSE proved inconclusive.

There are concerns that confirmation of another case of mad cow disease could harm Canada's efforts to get the United States to reopen its borders to Canadian cows older than 30 months.

However, Luterbach said Canada's trading partners recognize that BSE control measures are in place in Canada and the CFIA does not anticipate that other countries will respond severely to this latest case of mad cow disease, CTV News reported.