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News Update
Scientists construct human gene ‘atlas’
Based on achievements of the Human Genome Project, scientists from the RIKEN Centre for Life Science Technologies in Japan have constructed an ‘atlas’ that...
Hospital infections in the US decreasing
About 1 in every 25 patients seeking treatment at hospitals acquired an infection there in 2011. WCVB reports that a new study in the...
Netcare accused of delays
Netcare has been accused of deliberately delaying the Competition Commission inquiry into what is driving up 'hospital and doctors’ fees, reports The Times. The...
Political parties silent on SA’s health challenges
Less than half of the 20 political parties asked about how they would deal with key health challenges provided answers in response to a...
British GPs 'on the brink of extinction'
General Practitioner services in the UK are ‘under severe threat of extinction’ because they cannot cope with the growing demand for care says Dr...
Guinea confirms cases of Ebola
Guinea has received confirmation that the disease that has killed up to 59 people in the West African country, and may have spread to...
UK to roll out meningitis B vaccination campaign
Every baby in Britain could soon be protected against meningitis B, after the government announced the UK would become the first country in the...
Cloud computing system being used to treat brain cancer
IBM is teaming up with the New York Genome Centre to help fight brain cancer, reports Health24. The company's Watson cloud computing system will...
Workplace stress could increase heart attack and stroke risk
Stress at work may raise your risk of heart attack and stroke, but being unemployed might be just as unhealthy. Lead researcher Dr Sara...
UK drug shortages putting patient safety at risk
Medicines shortages in the UK are putting patient safety at risk and piling ‘almost daily’ pressures on family doctors to find second-choice alternatives to...
Uganda research warns of an NCD ‘explosion’ following urbanisation
The rapid urbanisation of sub-Saharan Africa ‘could lead to an explosion’ in rates of heart disease and diabetes. VOA News reports that a study...
KZN Health Department’s birth control stance under fire
The KwaZulu-Natal Health Department has stirred a hornet’s nest by insisting on contraceptives for 12 female pharmacology students who have for India on scholarships...
Cape Town’s Tygerberg Hospital is a ‘shopping centre’ for crooks
Tygerberg Hospital – the country’s second-biggest – has been described as a ‘shopping centre’ for crooks who have stolen vehicles, petrol, taps, pipes, ceiling...
New UK research project could ‘revolutionise’ medicine
A project aiming to revolutionise medicine by unlocking the secrets of DNA is under way in centres across England, reports BBC News. The first...
Scientists find cause of genetic heart fault
A test to identify those at risk of sudden cardiac death syndrome – the condition that nearly killed footballer Fabrice Muamba – could be...
Large Cape Town study challenges ART assumptions
A large-scale SA study on patients infected with both HIV and tuberculosis (TB,) has implications for treatment policy in low-income nations. The study, by...
Disappointment after ‘cured’ baby tests positive for HIV
The US girl born with HIV who was believed cured after aggressive early treatment has tested positive for the virus, a disappointing setback for...
New device screens for HIV among Mozambique infants
Alere Inc has announced a study demonstrating the viability of accurate and rapid HIV screening among 827 infants at the point of care (POC),...
SA’s drug-resistant TB burden
Despite an increase in diagnosis times, SA is facing a growing drug-resistant tuberculosis burden as nationally there remains a large gap between the number...
Summit discussing efforts to reduce salt intake in SA
Stokes, hypertension and other lifestyle diseases are under discussion at a summit, attended by food industry leaders and health authorities, to discuss efforts to...
HPV vaccination campaign to fight cervical cancer in SA
SA’s Departments of Health and Basic Education have launched a campaign to vaccinate girls nine years and older against cervical cancer. Health-e reports that...
Vaccinations not reaching those in need
While most babies get their first measles vaccination, many miss the second dose as mums struggle to reach far off clinics in the Eastern...
New ‘pregnancy grant’ would reduce SA’s maternal mortality rate
Extending the child support grant to pregnant mothers could help reduce SA’s ‘astonishingly high’ maternal mortality rate. The Times reports that this is according...
Overweight women more at risk of ovarian cancer
Putting on weight can increase women’s risk of ovarian cancer, according to a new assessment of the evidence. The Guardian reports that in the...
Excess weight and obsesity
Excess weight and obesity also cause one in eight admissions to British hospitals of women over 50, reports The Guardian. The figures come from...
Scarlet fever cases in the UK reach a 24-year high
The number of scarlet fever cases in the UK has reached a 24-year high. The Independent reports that according to Public Health England, between...
SAHR getsex-MEC’s report on Mpumalanga’s health woes
A report to the South African Human Rights Commission SAHRC) on the state of health services in rural Mpumalanga found medical waste dumped near...
New UK guidelines on bariatric surgery for diabetes patients
More than 800,000 additional people in the UK could be considered for gastric bands or other surgery to restrict their eating under fresh NHS...
‘Appropriate’ counselling and guidance techniques for Africa
Counselling and guidance techniques developed in the West may not be appropriate for many African countries, where cultural influences, government policies and the availability...
Artificial heart patient dies
The first patient fitted with an artificial heart made by the French company Carmat has died, the hospital that had performed the transplant in...
Alzheimer’s deaths in the US higher than previously thought
A new study suggests that about half a million elderly Americans died from Alzheimer’s disease in 2010, an annual figure many times higher than...
Global warming could free disease-causing viruses
The discovery of an infectious giant virus that had been entombed in Siberian permafrost for 30,000 years has led scientists to warn of other...
The fatty foods debate
British National Health Service guidelines – which advise cutting down on fatty foods like butter, cream and chocolate – may be putting the public...
HPV vaccination offers significant protection against cervical cancer
After analysing data from the first human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programme in Australia, researchers have found that the vaccine offers significant protection against cervical...
HIV in the SANDF
For the second time in 13 years the United States President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR) has come to the fore with funds...
Old statistics derailing treatment and control of cancer
Cancer statistics nearly a decade old could derail control of the disease, with case numbers to almost double in the next 10 years. A...
SA healthcare workers facing major gaps in workplace protection
A large-scale survey of SA healthcare workers has revealed major gaps in workplace protection against tuberculosis, HIV and hepatitis, reports News-Medical. University of British...
Africa’s attempts to treat and prevent NCDs showcased
Royal Philips’ latest Fabric of Africa Trends Report called Facing the Future: Tackling Non-Communicable Diseases in Africa, showcases recent successes made by countries in...
Medicines made in India trigger US safety worries
India, the second-largest exporter of over-the-counter and prescription drugs to the United States, is coming under increased scrutiny by American regulators for safety lapses,...
SA teenager benefits from compassionate supply of drug
A potentially life-saving drug has breathed new life into a teenage girl suffering from a rare lung disease, reports The Times. Jenna Lowe, diagnosed...