Science News – Page 4

Measles Outbreak Was Inevitable but Can Be Halted, UAB Dr Says

Written on January 28, 2015. Posted in Breaking News, Featured, Health News, Science News, USA News.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – An ongoing, multistate measles outbreak linked to a California amusement park has already caused 68 confirmed cases between Jan. 1 and 23, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One University of Alabama at Birmingham pediatric infectious diseases specialist says this outbreak was inevitable, and it is likely to worsen. “We’ve been seeing increasing numbers of cases — last year the numbers nationally...

Ebola Virus Appears Tied to Increasing Human Population Density

Written on January 27, 2015. Posted in Featured, Health News, Science News.

Researchers at SUNY Downstate Medical Center have found an apparent link between human population density and vegetation cover in Africa and the spread of the Ebola virus from animal hosts to humans. Michael G. Walsh, PhD, MPH, assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics in the School of Public Health at SUNY Downstate, notes that there is significant interaction between population density and green vegetation cover in the parts of Africa...

Ebola vaccine gets $115M to speed development

Written on January 16, 2015. Posted in Breaking News, Business News, Featured, Health News, Science News, World News.

Johnson & Johnson said on Friday that newly formed groups supporting work on its experimental Ebola vaccine would receive 100 million euros ($115 million) from Europe’s Innovative Medicines Initiative to speed development. The U.S. drug maker earlier this month announced it had started clinical trials of its two-injection vaccine, which uses a booster from Denmark’sBavarian Nordic, making it the third such product to enter human...

26 year old Dies of Sepsis after getting Flu

Written on January 16, 2015. Posted in Breaking News, Featured, Health News, Opinion News, Science News, Treatments, USA News.

A Wisconsin newlywed started to feel sick with the flu on a Monday. By Friday, she was dead. Katie McQuestion, a 26-year-old radiology technician got a flu shot to comply with hospital policy and had no underlying medical conditions, but she caught the flu and developed a serious complication from it. The Kenosha, Wisconsin, resident was shopping with her mom when she said she wasn’t feeling well. She felt aches, chills, and headaches, and...

Malawi Floods Cut Off Thousands from Aid

Written on January 16, 2015. Posted in Breaking News, Featured, Health News, Science News, World News.

The authorities in Malawi say at least 170 people have died in flash floods – a sharp rise on previous figures. Heavy rain over the past month has swept many houses away and caused residents to flee to higher ground, some crossing the border to Mozambique. Vice-President Saulos Chilima said more than 100,000 people had been displaced from their homes, mostly in the south. Earlier this week, the government declared a third of the country to...

New thermometer helps doctors more safely diagnose Ebola

Written on January 8, 2015. Posted in Business News, Featured, Health News, Science News, World News.

Recent headlines have put a spotlight on the dangers of diagnosing and treating Ebola. Contact with victims of the deadly disease has left several medical professionals with symptoms of their own. Visiomed, a 90-person medical device company founded in France in 2007, is trying to reduce that danger. It has developed a thermometer, called ThermoFlash, that doesn’t require touching the patient. That eliminates the threat of a doctor contracting...

Johnson & Johnson starts Ebola Vaccine trial

Written on January 6, 2015. Posted in Breaking News, Business News, Featured, Science News, World News.

The first of 72 healthy volunteers have already received the initial dose of a drug researchers hope could put an end to the worst Ebola outbreak in the history. Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies, owned byJohnson & Johnson (JNJ), is developing the ebola vaccine together with Bavarian Nordic. The company said it could begin large scale trials by May, and make 2 million vaccinations available later this year. The drug does not contain the virus...

Anesthesiologists Face the Ebola Epidemic—Time to ‘Educate, Train and Prepare’

Written on January 6, 2015. Posted in Featured, Health News, Science News, Treatments, World News.

Because of their responsibility for performing airway intubation and other invasive procedures, anesthesiologists will play an essential role in managing patients with Ebola virus infection. Scientific evidence guiding the anesthetic management of Ebola virus disease (EVD) is presented and analyzed in a special article published byAnesthesia & Analgesia. “Given the current spread of the disease, anesthesia personnel worldwide may be called...

Where Does Ebola Come From?

Written on January 5, 2015. Posted in Featured, Health News, Science News, World News.

The hollow Cola tree growing in a remote area of southeastern Guinea was once home to thousands of bats routinely hunted and killed by the neighborhood children. It was also a popular spot to play. A year ago, one child in particular lived within fifty meters of the tree: a two-year-old boy who died in December 2013 and later was identified as the first person in west Africa known to have developed Ebola. The tree was one of the few that loomed...

Ebola Outbreak Offers Lessons, Reminders for Critical Care Clinicians

Written on January 5, 2015. Posted in Featured, Health News, Science News, World News.

Outbreaks of infectious diseases, such as Ebola in West Africa, offer insight for how healthcare professionals can respond more effectively to current and future challenges, according to editors of the American Journal of Critical Care (AJCC). Editors-in-Chief Cindy Munro, RN, PhD, ANP, and Richard H. Savel, M.D., address “Viral Outbreaks in an Age of Global Citizenship” in their editorial for the January AJCCissue, reviewing recent outbreaks and...