Health

Nagpur, August 12: Three persons including a young couple have tested positve of swine flu in city.

“Three persons have tested positive after their blood samples were sent to Pune and the report has come today”, Dr Deepti Dongaonkar, Dean, Government Medical College and Hospital, told PTI.

However, she declined to divulge further details saying it will unnecessarily cause panic among their neighbours in particular and city in general.

Of the three, two IT engineers while third one is a engineering student, she added.

—Agencies

Mumbai, August 12: As a precautionary measure to curb swine flu, Maharashtra government today asked malls to put off discount offers and other such schemes which attract a large number of customers.

Ahead of the festive season, malls have announced various discount offers and sales but as a precautionary measure to curb swine flu, such schemes should be put off, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal said.

Kolkata, August 12: A class eight student of a city school was admitted to the state-run ID Hospital today with H1N1 infection, raising the number of positive cases reported from the state to 13.

Joseph Subhasis Mondal, a student of Alipore school, was admitted to the hospital after testing positive for swine flu, state Health department sources said.

The school authority sounded an alert after Subhasis was diagnosed with the H1N1 virus. He was stated to be suffering from fever and cough.

Pune, August 11: A 50-year-old woman and a schoolboy were among the five people who succumbed to swine flu in Maharashtra Wednesday, taking India’s death toll to 16 in the 10 days since the first fatality.

Nita Meghani, 50, who was admitted to the Sassoon Hospital in a critical condition four days ago, died Wednesday afternoon, the Maharashtra Swine Flu Control Room said.

Portsmouth, August 12: US President Barack Obama on Tuesday condemned the wild “scare tactics” peddled by foes of his healthcare reform plan in a passionate defence of his signature domestic priority.

Obama thrust himself into the fierce public debate over his plans to bring health coverage in reach of all Americans in a campaign-style town hall meeting in New Hampshire meant to mobilise grass roots support for his plan.

Chicago, August 12: Taking aspirin not only can help keep colon cancer from coming back, but it also can lower the risk of dying from the disease, US researchers said.

Aspirin already occupies a prominent spot in many medicine cabinets. Daily use of low-dose aspirin can stave off heart attacks and strokes, as well as chase away aches and pains.

Other studies have found it can reduce the risk of developing colon cancer. The latest study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, shows it can prevent colorectal cancer deaths.

New York, August 12: After relying on a pacemaker for 20 years, Carol Kasyjanski has become the first American recipient of a wireless pacemaker that allows her doctor to monitor her health from afar — over the Internet.

When Kasyjanski heads to St Francis Hospital in Roslyn, New York, for a routine check-up, about 90 percent of the work has already been done because her doctor logged into his computer and learned most of what he needed to know about his patient.

New Delhi, August 12: It is ironical that Pune reported the first loss of life due to swine flu in India as it is home to the country’s largest biotech firm, which is also among the world’s leading players trying to develop a vaccine to fight the H1N1 virus.

At the Serum Institute of India, a crack team of 16 scientists is running a battle against time as part of the global race to develop vaccines against the spread of swine flu that has claimed 10 lives in India, of which five were in Pune alone.

New Delhi, August 12: Don’t panic, be careful. That’s the advice from health experts who point out that the H1N1 influenza is milder than the seasonal flu and that 55 percent of the more than 1,000 cases in the country have already been cured and discharged from hospitals.

India has so far has reported 1,079 swine flu cases and 12 deaths. While 589 have been discharged, the others are still undergoing treatment in various government hospitals in the country.

Tokyo, August 12: One side of the brain rearranges its neuronal circuits to replace the functions lost due to stroke, a study by researchers in Japan suggests.

A team at the National Institute for Physiological Sciences in Aichi Prefecture found such rearrangements of neuronal circuits through mice experiments, according to the study published in Wednesday’s issue of the US Journal of Neuroscience.

Mumbai, August 12:  Swine Flu is an illness that generally infects pigs (swine). It results in respiratory illness and is very contagious but is rarely disastrous. Typically, humans do not get swine flu. But, in 2009, the virus (H1N1) affecting humans seems to have mutated into a combination of swine, avian (bird) and human influenza. It has developed the ability to transfer from human to human.

How did it start, where did it come from?

Pune, August 12: With the spreading H1N1 cases, a few infotech companies and medicos have advised people to work from home and abstain from any kind of travel.

The swine flu pandemic”Just closing educational institutions and commercial entities is not enough. It is time that people start working from their homes and companies allow them to do so. Moreover there should also be a stop from travelling out of the city. It is essential for people to remain indoors and not go out,” said president of the Pune chapter of Indian Medical Association (IMA) Dr Dilip Sarda.

Mumbai, August 12: For those who think the current panic over swine flu — influenza A (H1N1) — is overblown, here’s a sobering thought: the flu is on the upswing, and by December the numbers of those testing positive could cross one crore.

New Delhi, August 12: Two swine flu patients admitted to the Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) hospital here are stated to be in ‘serious but stable’ condition, health officials said Wednesday.

‘Two patients in the hospital are in serious but stable condition. We are monitoring them and any further details would be provided later in the day,’ RML medical superintendent N.K. Chaturvedi told reporters here.

New Delhi, August 12: With an aim to launch vaccine for Influenza H1N1 A Virus (swine flu) in India, Cadila Pharmaceutical will seek the government’s nod in two days for initiating clinical trials in this regard.

Cadila Pharmaceutical Ltd (CPL) had set up a joint venture ‘CPL Biologicals Pvt Ltd’ with the US-based vaccine maker Novavax for manufacturing and developing a host of vaccines, including for swine flu, in India.

Nusa Dua (Indonesia), August 12: More than 1.5 million women living with HIV in Asia were infected by their partners and 50 million more are at risk of infection, according to a report released on Tuesday.

The “HIV Transmission in Intimate Partner Relationships in Asia” report by UNAIDS said the women at risk are either married or in long-term relationships with men who engage in “high-risk sexual behaviours.”

“That is, men who have sex with men, injecting drug users, the clients of sex workers,” UNAIDS regional director Prasada Rao said.

Pune, August 12: Swine flu claimed its sixth victim in the city with the death of a patient in Sassoon hospital here Tuesday night.

Sanjay Mistry, 35, was in a critical condition and died in Sassoon hospital sources said.

Mistry was admitted to the Sassoon hospital on August 9 after he was referred by Niramay Private Hospital in Pimpari, they said.

With Mistry’s death, the total toll in the country has mounted to 12.

–Agencies

Mumbai, August 11: The civic commissioner today said Mumbaikars need not worry about the spread of H1N1 virus as the metropolis has bravely faced several other challenges in the past like floods and terror attacks.

“We all have bravely faced several challenges like floods and terror attacks but we came out of it. Only 2 per cent of those tested for swine flu have been infected by the disease, so there is no need to worry,” Municipal Commissioner Jairaj Phatak said here.

The situation is not that bad. People need not fear, he said.

Kolkata, August 11: Union Minister of State for Health Dinesh Trivedi today visited the state-run Infectious Disease Hospital at Beliaghata in the city, the only facility available in the state to detect the disease.

Trivedi talked to the doctors, nurses, patients and para-medical staff in the hospital to assess the ground situation and the facilities available there.

Meanwhile, out of 64 suspected cases, 12 persons have tested positive at the NICED. Of them eight persons have been discharged after treatment.

Jaipur, August 11: With a rise in the number of swine flu deaths in the country, a central team today visited the isolation ward at the SMS Hospital here to assess preparedness and held meeting with senior doctors and health department officials to review the situation even as the state reported its fifth confirmed case of the pandemic.

The two-member team asked the state government to equip its micro-biology testing lab besides updating bio-safety measures for para-medical staff besides providing all necessary medicines, masks and personal protection equipment, official sources said.

Ahmedabad, August 11: A seven-year-old girl, having no history of foreign contact, today became the second victim of swine flu in Gujarat where the number of H1N1 cases rose to 15.

“Seven-year-old Arya Borde, who was admitted to the SSG hospital on last Wednesday died this afternoon,” the hospital’s medical superintendent Atul Saxena told PTI.

“She was admitted in a critical condition. Her samples were sent to the National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) in Delhi where it turned out to be positive,” he said.

New Delhi, August 11: Three more persons–one each in Pune, Vadodara and Mumbai– died of swine flu taking the countrywide toll to 10 in nine days and the virus spread to new areas in Jammu and Meghalaya and cast its shadow on the World Badminton championship in Hyderabad.

In worrying signs, swine flu cases crossed the 1,000 mark as the Centre and the states intensified their battle against the infection. Private hospitals in Mumbai stepped in to offer treatment to ease the burden on the government hospitals.

Scores of schools across several cities were also shut.

Vadodra/Pune, August 11: Swine flu deaths continued unabated with two girls and a 63-year-old woman today succumbing to the deadly virus, taking the countrywide toll to ten even as the Centre asked the states to take urgent steps to tackle the pandemic.

In Pune, the disease claimed the life of a 13-year-old; in Mumbai, a 63-year-old was killed; and in Vadodara, a seven-year-old girl succumbed to the fever.

New York, August 11: Are you prone to asthma? Then avoid synthetic bedding, for a new study has claimed that it can aggravate asthma more than feather products as it contains high levels of fungal cells.

An international team has found that synthetic bedding contains much higher levels of fungi related beta glucan than feather bedding, which are non-allergenic components from the cell walls of fungi that can account for up to 60 per cent of the weight of the cell.

Washington, August 11: Insufficient sleep may trigger insulin resistance and reduced glucose tolerance, which increases the long-term risk of diabetes, according to a new study.

Today, many Americans sleep fewer than six hours each night and individuals who report insufficient sleep have in previous studies demonstrated an increased risk of developing diabetes.

This new study examined whether reduced sleep duration itself may increase the risk of developing diabetes when combined with physical inactivity and overeating.