SHANGHAI: China’s deadly outbreak of H7N9 bird flu has spread to the central province of Hunan, local health authorities said Saturday, the third announcement in three days of a case in a new location.
A 64-year-old woman in Shaoyang City, who developed a fever four days after coming into contact with poultry, was confirmed to have the virus, the Xinhua state news agency reported.
It follows the first confirmed cases in the eastern province of Jiangxi on Thursday and the southeastern province of Fujian on Friday.
More than 110 people in mainland China have been confirmed with H7N9, with 23 deaths, since the government announced on March 31 that the virus had been found in humans. Most cases have been confined to eastern China. The island of Taiwan has also reported one case.
Read more
The uncertainty adds to challenges the Chinese government is facing in trying to control the spread of the H7N9 bird flu virus that has already killed 17 people and infected 66 others in the country, mostly along the eastern seaboard.
“To me, the biggest question is the link between the virus in birds and how it gets to humans. This is not clear,” said Dr. Bai Chunxue, a prominent respiratory expert in Shanghai who treated one of the first cases of the virus, a family cluster involving an 87-year-old man and his two sons. Bai said other family members he talked to said the patients had no contact with birds or poultry.
“So this is indeed a mystery,” Bai said in a telephone interview.
Theories among experts about how the virus may be spreading run from the ways poultry is slaughtered in markets to infected droppings from migratory birds. Read more
People who suffer cardiac arrest – in which the heart stops beating – were less likely to die in subsequent years when bystanders performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation using chest compressions only, a new study found.
That builds on previous research that found no short-term survival differences in adult victims given compression-only CPR instead of the standard kind, which includes mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
And it supports an American Heart Association recommendation that the simpler form of CPR is appropriate for bystanders, who may feel so intimidated by the prospect of combining chest compressions with rescue breathing that they give no aid at all. Read more
Allergy can be described as a malfunction of the human immune system causing a violent reaction against normally harmless substances in our natural environment. In this context, such substances are generally referred to as “allergens”. The reaction creates an inflammation which, in turn, can lead to a variety of symptoms such as hay fever, eczema, asthma and other conditions popularly referred to as allergies.
Air Conditioning and Allergies
To help alleviate problems with pollen, molds and dust mites, air condition your house and car and, if possible, add an air cleaner to your central air conditioner.
Anaphylactic Shock
Anaphylactic shock, the most severe allergic reaction, is most commonly associated with bee or fire ant stings. If welts (hives) erupt following a sting, this is a warning flag to seek prompt medical attention.
Read more
The thought that you have become excessively fat makes you feel a bit low. No, fat is not in your genes and you simply don’t seem to have a wee-bit idea about the cause underlying it. With an increasing number of people suffering from over-weight issues, physicians are recommending pills and exercises to flush off fat. However, not all are too keen in following an artificial regime. They simply lean their interests towards natural cure.
Recently you have learnt the fact that your body has helplessly taken towards obese. What will you do? Oh no not those tasteless pills or those fat loosening machines, anymore. Pills have simply been a turn-off for you since an early age and machines don’t seem to interest you anyway. No it’s not the end of roads. Meditations have been the biggest cure for even the toughest health ailment. Do you believe it? Well, then its time you start believing for a toned and shaped body.
Read more
Dental Health
Your teeth are pearly-white, beautiful and perfect when they emerge. Toothportal.net would like to help you keep them that way.
It’s the goal of Toothportal.co.uk to heighten the level of dental health by freely providing:
- A better understanding of, and insight into, your own situation
- An optimal understanding for self help and prevention
- A way to reduce the likelihood of miscommunication between you and your dentist
Teeth…and People
In school, dental students are taught to treat teeth. In the real world, it is the people attached to the teeth who will either agree or disagree with the proposed treatment. If they agree with the proposed treatment that’s great; but what if they don’t? In private practice those patients will typically never return.
The following are guidelines, developed by the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, for preventing baby-bottle tooth decay:
v Don’t allow a child to fall asleep with a bottle containing milk, formula, fruit juices or other sweet liquids.
v Comfort a child who wants a bottle between regular feedings or during naps with a bottle filled with cool water.
v Always make sure a child’s pacifier is clean, and never dip a pacifier in a sweet liquid.
v Introduce children to a cup as the approach 1 year of age. Children should stop drinking from bottles soon after their first birthdays.
v See the dentist if any unusual red or swollen areas appear in a child’s mouth, or any dark spot on a child’s tooth.
Read more
