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Sept. 09 - Viruses cause the vast majority of sinus infections, yet doctors often prescribe antibiotics, which only are effective against bacterial infections. The result: Many of the 45 million or so U.S. residents who suffer from chronic sinus infections each year mistakenly think their trip to the doctor helped. In truth, their treatment might only have contributed to antibiotic resistance in harmful...
September 9, 2012
Former NFL players are far more likely to die from brain disease than the general public, a federal workplace safety agency concludes in a study released hours before the NFL kicked off its 2012 season. The report by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) put the spotlight back on the issue of violent hits and player concussions, a controversy fueled in the offseason by lawsuits...
September 6, 2012
The toll from this year's outbreak of West Nile virus continues its assault on the record books. Health officials are now reporting 2,118 cases and 92 deaths as of Wednesday, a jump of 25% from last week. More deaths and cases could be on the way, "probably into October," said Lyle Petersen, director of the division of vector-borne infectious diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention....
September 6, 2012
Sept. 06 - There's an app for just about everything. People can now identify songs, edit photos, check the weather and even use virtual dog whistles with a simple swipe of their smartphone touchscreens. But these high-tech phones don't just provide sedentary fun. There are even apps aimed at helping people get in shape, and their features range from nutrition information databases to activity and food...
September 6, 2012
Despite the well-known perils of high blood pressure, more than half of the 67 million American adults with the condition don't have it under control, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says in a report out Tuesday. "High blood pressure is public health enemy No. 2," behind tobacco, CDC Director Thomas Frieden says. "There is nothing that will save more lives than getting blood pressure...
September 5, 2012
Organic products have no significant nutritional advantage over conventional foods, even though consumers can pay more for them, a new study finds. The four-year study began when two doctors wondered what advice they should give their families and patients about whether to buy organic or conventional foods. "It became much larger than we expected," says Crystal Smith-Spangler, a primary care doctor...
September 4, 2012
Aug. 31 - For the second time this summer, Missouri has received national recognition for strange diseases. A report in July described nine people in St. Louis who developed lung worms after eating raw crawfish on float trips. Now, doctors and scientists have discovered a new disease carried by ticks that infected two farmers from the St. Joseph area. The newly dubbed Heartland virus can cause high...
August 31, 2012
Water-pipe smoking is as bad as deeply inhaling cigarette smoke when it comes to causing respiratory problems, according to a study published on Thursday. Researchers led by Mohammad Hossein Boskabady at Masshad University of Medical Sciences in Iran monitored lung functions among 57 local water-pipe smokers, 30 deep-inhalation cigarette smokers and 51 normal-inhalation smokers. They also studied 44...
August 30, 2012
You stand up from your chair at work and your lower back starts grumbling. You decide to take a walk down the hall, and before you know it, your knees ache, too. What gives? The answer might have little to do with your back or knees. The pain could be linked to your hips, in particular a group of muscles called the hip flexors that are in use when we climb stairs, run, dance and play soccer and even...
August 30, 2012
Hey, kid: Hang up and walk! A new study suggests "distracted walking" is taking a toll on teenagers as the number of pedestrian injuries soars among 16- to 19-year-olds even as it drops among nearly every other age group. The findings, out today from Safe Kids Worldwide, a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., that pushes to prevent unintentional childhood injuries, found that the number...
August 30, 2012
In between picking out new bed linens and shopping for textbooks, college-bound students and their parents often overlook a crucial area of preparation: ensuring physical and mental health while on campus. "For many young people, this is their first time living away from home for any extended period of time," says psychiatrist Victor Schwartz, medical director of The Jed Foundation, whose Transition...
August 29, 2012
Amira Williams, 9, squeals as a 3-month-old puppy named Calvin licks her hand. The colorful beads in what remains of her hair clink across the scars on her face as she squirms away from the puppy's ticklish nips. Amira is what burn specialists call "a true 95 percenter," which means she was burned across 95% of her body. She spent almost two years in the hospital and in rehab fighting for her life....
August 28, 2012
Stress might not be the total bad guy it's cracked up to be in people with multiple sclerosis, experts say. No one knows what causes multiple sclerosis, an unpredictable disease of the central nervous system, but stresses, both psychological and physical, have gotten plenty of blame for bringing on symptoms. The incurable disease can cause problems in balance, vision, speech and cognition. Ann Romney,...
August 27, 2012
That ringing you hear in the distance is the sound of the school bell. And it's getting louder. In much of the country, if school hasn't started already, it will be soon, right after Labor Day. So now's the time to make sure the kids are rested and ready to tackle the books in good health. USA TODAY spoke to experts in child health - Atlanta pediatrician and author Jennifer Shu, medical editor of the...
August 23, 2012
West Nile virus cases continued their steep rise around the nation this week, threatening to make this one of the worst outbreaks on record, federal officials say. West Nile virus cases have reached 1,221 nationally, with 43 deaths, a substantial increase from last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Wednesday. "The number of West Nile cases in people has risen dramatically...
August 23, 2012
Comedian Rosie O'Donnell survived her heart attack last week. But in a blog post Monday, she also acknowledged that she made a mistake when an aching chest, sore arms, nausea and vomiting made her suspect she might be having one: She did not call 911. Instead, she took some aspirin and saw a doctor the next day. That is a common mistake: 50% of women in an American Heart Association poll in 2009 said...
August 22, 2012
John Becklenberg says his wife, Mary Ann, still cooks their dinner, although her favorite recipes are simplified to one or two steps. She also hasn't relinquished tidying up the kitchen of their Dyer, Ind., home, but there's more clattering of pots and pans than ever before. She was diagnosed six years ago with Alzheimer's disease, a brain-wasting illness that eventually robs people of their memories...
August 22, 2012
Two years ago, truck driver Rick Ash weighed too much, slept fitfully and suffered body aches after a long day behind the wheel. Ash, 60, of Lakewood, Colo., had spent decades sitting all day, guzzling a daily gallon of coffee with high-fructose corn syrup creamer. He subsisted on truck-stop and fast-food fare: often fried, sometimes drenched in gravy, loaded with fat and sugar. And he got little or...
August 22, 2012
Evidence that circumcision has health benefits is growing, even as the quick but often-controversial surgery becomes less common in the United States, say medical experts making new efforts to publicize the benefits. In a study out Monday, researchers say falling infant circumcision rates could end up costing billions of U.S. health care dollars when men and their female partners develop AIDS and other...
August 21, 2012
A national survey of physicians finds the prevalence of burnout at an "alarming" level, says a study out Monday. While the medical profession prepares for treating millions of patients who will be newly insured under the health care law, the Mayo Clinic (Rochester, Minn.) reports nearly 1 in 2 (45.8%) of the nation's doctors already suffer a symptom of burnout. "The rates are higher than expected,"...
August 21, 2012
As the open-enrollment season for health benefits approaches, many workers will be making some bad choices, according to a new survey. "Far too many people don't really understand their benefits," says Audrey Tillman, executive vice president of Corporate Services at Aflac. "In fact, most employees are on autopilot." The majority of American workers - 56% - estimate that they waste up to $750 each...
August 21, 2012
As children return to classrooms, California lawmakers are debating a bill that aims to boost the number of kids who go to school with all of their shots. The move comes as health officials across the USA grapple with the resurgence of once-forgotten infectious diseases, including what could be the biggest epidemic of whooping cough in 50 years. Although all states require children be vaccinated before...
August 20, 2012
Contrary to popular belief, a history of yo-yo dieting doesn't affect a person's ability to lose weight in the future, a new study indicates. Even if you've had problems with losing and regaining weight several times before, it's never too late to try again, says Anne McTiernan, the study's senior author and a researcher at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. "You hear people say,...
August 16, 2012
Just days after doctors successfully removed a tumor from Bailey Quishenberry's brain, the 14-year-old was spiraling downhill, delirious and writhing in pain from an entirely new menace. Her abdomen swollen 10 times its normal size and her fever skyrocketing, Bailey began wishing she could die, just to escape the agony. Bailey had contracted a potentially fatal infection called Clostridium difficile,...
August 16, 2012
When officials at the Jewish Hospital-Mercy Health in Cincinnati launched a high-priority initiative in 2009 to bring down its skyrocketing C. diff rate, it took far less time and money than they expected to get dramatic results. With better controls on antibiotic use, new room-cleaning strategies, and revamped standards of care, the hospital cut its C. diff infection rate 50% in just six months -...
August 16, 2012
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