Featured – Page 4

Ebola Orphans Taking Desperate Measures to Survive

Written on April 6, 2015. Posted in Featured, Health News, World News.

Aid workers have warned that Ebola has created a generation of orphans forced into desperate measures to fend for themselves after the disease claimed their parents. A British-run charity says many of the thousands of children stricken by the virus have turned to crime and prostitution simply to care for their siblings. The Street Child charity’s researchers, who surveyed every district in Sierra Leone, first documented the shocking extent...

10 New Ebola Cases Discovered During Sierra Leone’s Lockdown

Written on April 1, 2015. Posted in Breaking News, Featured, World News.

Ten new cases of Ebola infections were discovered during Sierra Leone’s nationwide three-day lockdown, but officials claim that the West African nation has reached the “tail end” of the epidemic. Alfred Palo Conteh, head of the country’s Ebola response, said today that during last weekend’s lockdown hundreds of sick people were identified during the door-to-door operation which was also aimed at reminding people how...

Who Should Get the Shingles Vaccine – Are There Side Effects?

Written on March 31, 2015. Posted in Featured, Health News.

Shingles most commonly occurs in people ages 50 years old or older, people who have medical conditions that keep the immune system from working properly, or people who receive immunosuppressive drugs. The vaccine has been approved for people ages 50 or older. As for recommendations, the CDC recommends a single dose of the vaccine for people ages 60 and older, even if they’ve already had a bout of shingles. Since the majority of older Americans...

USAID Taps Cornell to Advance Ebola Protective Garments

Written on March 31, 2015. Posted in Business News, Featured, Personal Safety.

In the war against Ebola, Cornell University – along with partners International Personnel Protection Inc. (IPP) and protective apparel manufacturer Kappler Inc. – will rethink, reimagine and re-engineer protective suits for health care workers on the front lines battling the life-threatening contagion. The garments – made possible through a U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) grant – will be more comfortable and breathable, with...

Genetic Mutation Helps Explain Why, in Rare Cases, Flu Can Kill

Written on March 30, 2015. Posted in Featured, Health News, Science News.

Nobody likes getting the flu, but for some people, fluids and rest aren’t enough. A small number of children who catch the influenza virus fall so ill they end up in the hospital — perhaps needing ventilators to breathe — even while their family and friends recover easily. New research by Rockefeller University scientists, published March 26 in Science, helps explain why: a rare genetic mutation. The researchers scrutinized blood and tissue...

3 Day Lockdown Ordered in Sierra Leone to End Ebola Outbreak

Written on March 27, 2015. Posted in Breaking News, Featured, World News.

The entire population of about six million people of Sierra Leone have been ordered to stay at home as a three-day lockdown went into effect Friday morning at 6 a.m. (0600 GMT). Authorities are using lockdown as a final push to end the Ebola outbreak and curb any further infections. Sierra Leone was the worst affected country with the highest number of Ebola infections. Except for two hours on Friday for Muslim prayers and five hours on Sunday...

Is Marijuana Medicine?

Written on March 26, 2015. Posted in Featured, Health News.

While many states have pushed for new laws to legalize the use of marijuana for medical reasons, there are few well-controlled studies that demonstrate its effectiveness. As such, most major state and national medical professional societies have not yet supported its use in patient care until further research is conducted to show it is a safe and effective medicine for use in a wide variety of settings. That’s the primary point a white paper titled...

Rich Countries are Failing the Most Vulnerable, Reports OECD

Written on March 26, 2015. Posted in Featured, World News.

Donor countries are sending more than half of their aid to countries marked by conflict, but they are not keeping their promises to promote peace and build state institutions, according to a new report authored by New York University’s Center on International Cooperation for the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). “If we are not addressing fragility, we may be leaving behind some of the most vulnerable members of the...

Did Liberian Ebola Survivor Infect His Girlfriend?

Written on March 25, 2015. Posted in Breaking News, Featured, World News.

MONROVIA, Liberia — A 44-year old woman who tested positive for the Ebola virus on March 20th may have contracted the disease through sexual intercourse with her boyfriend who is a recent Ebola survivor. The man is ”cured” of Ebola, but health officials said that it may be a possible explanation for how she became the country’s first confirmed case in weeks. Ebola is typically transmitted through contact with the blood,...

Marijuana Gears Up for Production High in U.S. Labs

Written on March 23, 2015. Posted in Featured, Health News, Science News.

Residents of 23 US states can buy medical marijuana to treat everything from cancer pain to anxiety, but US scientists must wade through onerous paperwork to score the drug for study. Their sole dealer is the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), which has a contract with the University of Mississippi in Oxford to produce marijuana for research purposes. The agency has long faced complaints that its marijuana is too weak to represent what is...