Diseases/Conditions News

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A survey of US soldiers in Afghanistan shows declining morale among army units and that troops facing three or more combat tours have higher rates of mental health and marital problems, the US Army said Friday.

JOHANNESBURG, Nov 19 (IRIN PlusNews) - In less than seven months South Africa will host the world's biggest single sporting event - the FIFA World Cup. The chance to reach millions of local and visiting football fans presents a golden opportunity, not only for the country's business and tourism sectors, but also for its efforts to combat HIV/AIDS.

MONDAY, Nov. 16 (HealthDay News) -- Pediatric food allergies, which can sometimes be life-threatening, are increasing at a dramatic rate in the United States, new research shows.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Morticians who use formaldehyde to embalm bodies have a higher risk of leukemia, researchers reported on Friday.

LONDON (AFP) - British health professionals have called for a change in the treatment of dementia patients after an official report warned that wrongly prescribed anti-psychotic medicines are causing the deaths of an estimated 1,800 each year.

KAMPALA (AFP) - Pairing family planning services with HIV/AIDS treatment can help curb Africa's population growth rate which records a yearly increase of 2.5 percent, health experts said Monday.

FRIDAY, Nov. 13 (HealthDay News) -- Women with asthma may notice that their asthma symptoms get worse at certain times of the month. Now, a new study confirms that fluctuating female hormone levels appear to affect airway inflammation, but oral contraceptives might help ease those changes.

Several doctors groups and advocacy groups set guidelines for cancer screening, and they update that advice periodically as new information emerges. Sometimes they agree, sometimes they don't. Last year, a number of groups got together and issued consensus guidelines for colon cancer.

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 11 (HealthDay News) -- The tragedy last week at Fort Hood, Texas, where an Army psychiatrist anticipating active duty has been blamed for killing 13 people and wounding 29 others in a shooting rampage, has sharpened the nation's focus not just on the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, but also on another casualty of war: soldiers' mental health.

JACKSON, Miss. - When Robin Webb lived in New York City, he was treated by HIV specialists and had access to counseling and nutritional programs. Now he lives in Mississippi, where few of those services exist.

FRIDAY, Nov. 13 (HealthDay News) -- Children born to women who take folic acid in late pregnancy are at increased risk for asthma, Australian researchers say.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Women should not get their first cervical cancer screening before age 21, the leading US group of women's health care professionals said Friday, also recommending less frequent subsequent tests.

(HealthDay News) -- Welcoming a new baby is a happy and exciting time, but it's also full of stress. Postpartum depression affects many new moms, and it's important to recognize the signs and seek treatment.

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran has recorded at least 3,409 deaths from AIDS, while another 2,097 people have been diagnosed as having the disease, according to health ministry figures reported by the ILNA news agency on Thursday.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Improved home ventilation that dehumidifies the air may make it easier for people with asthma to breathe at night, hint findings of a small study from the United Kingdom.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Days after controversy erupted over new breast cancer screening guidelines, a US health group has said women should wait longer to get their first cervical cancer test.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Most adults transition to their post-cancer treatment lives needing minimal or no healthcare support, but a significant proportion of cancer survivors continue to have multiple unmet physical and mental health needs, hint study findings from the United Kingdom.

BERLIN (AFP) - Scottish singer Annie Lennox was presented with the 2009 "Woman of Peace" award on Wednesday at a summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in Berlin for her work raising awareness of HIV/AIDS.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - An analysis of 19 studies provides additional evidence of increased asthma risk in children and adults given acetaminophen.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Women in the United States should start cervical cancer screening at age 21 and most do not need an annual Pap smear, according to new guidelines issued on Friday that aim to reduce the risk of unnecessary treatment.

MONDAY, Nov. 9 (HealthDay News) -- Electrical stimulation of a certain area of the brain may prove an effective treatment for severe depression, say German researchers.

KAMPALA (AFP) - Human Rights Watch on Friday criticised Uganda's HIV/AIDS bill, some of whose clauses call for mandatory testing of pregnant women, sex offenders and victims, and disclosure of HIV status.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The "second generation" allergy drug desloratadine (brand name Clarinex) significantly reduces both the runny nose and congestion of seasonal and persistent allergic rhinitis, a study shows.

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 18 (HealthDay News) -- Two new studies add to growing evidence that morphine and other opiate-based painkillers may promote the growth and spread of cancer cells.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Babies whose mothers used antidepressants during pregnancy visit the doctor more often and have higher risks of certain health problems than other children their age, a new study suggests.

WASHINGTON - French scientists mixed gene therapy and bone marrow transplants in two boys to seemingly halt a brain disease that can kill by adolescence. The surprise ingredient: They disabled the HIV virus so it couldn't cause AIDS, and then used it to carry in the healthy new gene.

MONDAY, Nov. 9 (HealthDay News) -- Rinsing sinuses with a saline solution might have soothing short-term benefits, but it could actually make you more prone to infections in the long run by stripping your nose of critical immune soldiers.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. health officials distanced themselves Wednesday from controversial new breast cancer screening guidelines that recommend against routine mammograms for healthy women in their 40s and said federal policy on screening mammograms had not changed.

SALT LAKE CITY - Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff on Wednesday suspended his campaign for U.S. Senate, saying he needs to spend more time with a daughter who is experiencing severe mental health problems.

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - Waning international donor support for the fight against AIDS is a threat to a decade of progress in HIV treatment, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) warned on Thursday.