US: Outbreak of H3N2v in Pennsylvania, 2011
Updated: 2012-09-30 16:40:56
Mexico: New dengue serotype "more dangerous than hemorrhagic"
Updated: 2012-09-30 16:35:33India: Two health staff suspended over dengue outbreak
Updated: 2012-09-30 16:20:20Pakistan: Federal offices, hospitals infested with dengue mosquito larvae
Updated: 2012-09-30 14:33:43Neglected tropical diseases still endemic in Indonesia: minister
Updated: 2012-09-30 14:06:17Kenya/Somalia: 35 cholera deaths on border
Updated: 2012-09-30 14:02:33Dominican Republic: Dengue incidence increasing
Updated: 2012-09-30 13:44:49US: HIV leaders unveil declaration to end HIV/AIDS in America
Updated: 2012-09-30 13:35:11Marooned in the moment: The aftermath of encephalitis
Updated: 2012-09-30 13:30:50Saudi Arabia: Medical preparations for the hajj
Updated: 2012-09-30 13:21:55Canada: XL Foods recall expanded to include dozens of new cuts of beef
Updated: 2012-09-30 13:11:31Nigeria: The resurgence of polio
Updated: 2012-09-30 02:32:14India: Dengue fear sharper than sting
Updated: 2012-09-30 01:15:03A judicial crisis erupts in Haiti
Updated: 2012-09-30 01:04:01Pakistan: Cuba offers assistance to control dengue outbreak
Updated: 2012-09-30 00:33:54Germany: A little more on the gastroenteritis outbreak
Updated: 2012-09-29 22:07:36Germany: 8,400 now sick in outbreak
Updated: 2012-09-29 20:36:36India: Kanpur fever deaths continue, but numbers abating (updated)
Updated: 2012-09-29 18:46:50Eurosurveillance on the novel coronavirus
Updated: 2012-09-29 17:27:12Where healthcare money goes (and where it doesn't)
Updated: 2012-09-29 07:40:52Tips for finding local stories about health reform
Updated: 2012-09-29 01:29:44Last week, Stacey Singer, of The Palm Beach Post, and I led a workshop on "Ten Local Health Stories" (actually we sort of went quite a bit over the "10" limit) for the Excellence in Journalism (EIJ12) conference, sponsored by SPJ and RTNDA in Fort Lauderdale. We've posted my overview, Stacey's ...Chicago chapter learns about social media for working journalists
Updated: 2012-09-27 22:49:57
There was a little LOL, but also plenty of cyber meat for the nearly 20 journalists, academics and students attending the AHCJ Chicago Chapter’s autumn event on social media at Columbia College on Sept. 19. Former AHCJ President Duncan Moore organized and moderated the panel discussion about the intersection of ...Coming soon: Three new films about health care
Updated: 2012-09-27 22:49:55We know of at least three new movies coming out on health care – overtreatment, undertreatment, cost, quality, the uninsured, the underinsured, the safety nets. We haven't seen them all so we can't vouch for them but they all sound promising. We've interviewed the people who made one of the ...Almost 40 years later, fallout from Mich. contamination disaster continues
Updated: 2012-09-26 22:31:08Four decades after polybrominated biphenyl (PBB), a dense, flame-retardant toxin, was accidentally dumped into a Michigan cattle feed supplement, Detroit Free Press reporter Robin Erb looks into the aftermath of what she calls "one of the most catastrophic agricultural disasters in U.S. history." Today, despite decades of cleanup efforts, the ...Effects of ACA’s insurance rate reviews vary based on state
Updated: 2012-09-25 18:25:29So all those headlines about how the Affordable Care Act's insurance rate reviews are keeping premium hikes more reasonable and saving consumers? It's true. Up to a point. Marketwatch's Jen Wieczner took a look at how state laws vary – meaning rate review goes ...Welcome the newest members of AHCJ
Updated: 2012-09-24 17:47:44
Please welcome our newest professional and student members to AHCJ. All new members are welcome to stop by this post’s comment section to introduce themselves.
Becca Aaronson, reporter, The Texas Tribune, Austin, Texas (@becca_aa)
Tony Bartelme, senior projects reporter, The Post and Courier, Charleston, S.C.
LeeAnne Engfer, managing editor, Mayoclinic.com, Minneapolis, ...AHCJ launches Web resource about oral health
Updated: 2012-09-22 00:12:51The Association of Health Care Journalists has rolled out another Core Curriculum topic on its website. “Oral health” is the third in a series of core topic subject areas making up the curriculum. It is one of at least a dozen key subject ...Key immune cell may play role in lung cancer susceptibility
Updated: 2012-09-21 19:43:12Why do many heavy smokers evade lung cancer while others who have never lit up die of the disease? The question has vexed scientists for decades. Now, new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests a key immune cell may play a role in lung cancer susceptibility. Working in mice, they found evidence that the genetic diversity in natural killer cells, which ty...Untreated Food Allergies More Likely in Poor, Minority Kids
Updated: 2012-09-21 19:13:08FRIDAY, Sept. 21 (HealthDay News) -- It is vital that food allergies be recognized, diagnosed and treated, but some children are falling through the cracks, according to a new study. Clinicians must teach parents and caregivers to recognize non-visual symptoms of severe allergic reactions, and children should receive allergy testing so their condition can be managed properly...Lab Contamination Behind Debunked Link Between Virus, Prostate Cancer
Updated: 2012-09-21 19:13:04THURSDAY, Sept. 20 (HealthDay News) -- A new study confirms that a once-promising discovery linking prostate cancer to a retrovirus called XMRV was the result of laboratory contamination. The link was first proposed more than six years ago when XMRV's "signature" was detected in genetic material derived from tissue samples taken from prostate cancer patients. It raised hopes...Treating Sperm With Missing Protein Might Help Male Fertility
Updated: 2012-09-21 19:12:59FRIDAY, Sept. 21 (HealthDay News) -- Some forms of male infertility could possibly be treated with a missing protein, an early new study suggests. Sperm transfers this vital protein -- known as known as PLC-zeta (PLCz) -- to an egg during fertilization to trigger the processes needed for embryo development. In lab experiments, researchers were able to prepare active human...Study shows anaesthetic-related deaths reduced dramatically
Updated: 2012-09-21 17:35:05LONDON, ON A team of researchers led by London's Dr. Daniel Bainbridge have compiled data from 87 studies worldwide that shows post-anaesthetic deaths have declined as much as 90 percent since before the 1970s. During the same period, the risk of dying from any cause within 48 hours of surgery has decreased by 88 percent. The study covered outcomes in both developed and developing countrie...4,000 analytics experts come to Phoenix for INFORMS Annual Meeting
Updated: 2012-09-21 17:35:02When 4,000 analytics experts in everything from predicting the winner of the U.S. Presidential election to keeping Arizona's borders secure come to Phoenix on October 14, the city will find itself filled not only with smart people who use math for a living but also problem solvers who tackle some of today's greatest challenges. The annual meeting of the Institute for Operations Research and...Injuries No Worse for Tasered Teens Than Adults: Study
Updated: 2012-09-21 17:10:43FRIDAY, Sept. 21 (HealthDay News) -- Teens who are Tasered do not appear to be at higher risk for serious injury than adults, a new study contends. Researchers reviewed more than 2,000 Taser uses by police and found that nearly 5 percent were against suspects aged 13 to 17. Most were Tasered in incidents involving assault, civil disturbance and robbery and burglary. No majo...Debt and income concerns deter medical students from primary care careers
Updated: 2012-09-21 16:35:16September 21, 2012 (BRONX, NY) Primary care physicians America's front line healthcare practitioners are usually the first to diagnose illness, refer patients to specialists and coordinate care. Yet, despite that critical role, primary care physicians remain among the lowest paid of all doctors at a time when there's an acute primary care shortage. A unique longitudinal study of medi...Adults See Some Teen Bullying as Less Serious: Survey
Updated: 2012-09-21 10:01:41FRIDAY, Sept. 21 (HealthDay News) -- While U.S. adults believe that bullying is a major health problem for children, they have different views about which types of bullying behavior should spur schools to take action, a new survey finds. In the nationwide poll of more than 2,100 people 18 and older, 95 percent of respondents said schools should take action if one student mak...Simple ovarian cancer symptom survey that checks for 6 warning signs may improve early detection
Updated: 2012-09-21 09:48:38SEATTLE A simple three-question paper-and-pencil survey, given to women in the doctor's office in less than two minutes, can effectively identify those who are experiencing symptoms that may indicate ovarian cancer , according to a study by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center . The study represents the first evaluation of an ovarian cancer symptom-screening tool in a prima...Cancer Portrayed Too Grimly in Movies, Study Suggests
Updated: 2012-09-21 09:17:40FRIDAY, Sept. 21 (HealthDay News) -- Movies rarely portray a cancer patient's chances of survival accurately and need to show audiences that a cancer diagnosis is far from always a death sentence, a new study suggests. Researchers analyzed 82 movies that center on a person with cancer -- including "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," "Gran Torino" and "Diary of a Country Priest" -- and...'Half-Match' Marrow Transplants Help Some With Sickle Cell
Updated: 2012-09-21 09:17:37By Alan Mozes HealthDay Reporter FRIDAY, Sept. 21 (HealthDay News) -- In what might one day prove to be a breakthrough for those suffering from sickle cell anemia, new research suggests that bone marrow transplants based on partially matched donors can, in some cases, turn out as well for patients as fully matched transplants. But, the finding is based on a very small study...Kessler Foundation scientists awarded New Jersey grants for brain injury research
Updated: 2012-09-21 08:45:39WEST ORANGE, N.J.Two neuroscientists at Kessler Foundation received grants from the New Jersey Commission on Brain Injury Research. Helen Genova, Ph.D., research scientist in Neuropsychology & Neuroscience Research was awarded a three-year Individual Research Grant totaling $462,103. Starla Weaver, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Research, received a three-year Fel...Experts convene to address major cause of childhood illness and death
Updated: 2012-09-21 08:45:36BANGKOK, Thailand September 21, 2012 This week, more than 350 leading scientific, public and private sector experts convened to discuss progress and next steps in reducing the global incidence of rotavirus, the most common cause of diarrheal hospitalizations and deaths among children worldwide. Rotavirus takes the lives of approximately 188,000 Asian children under five each year. Vacci...Undertreatment of common heart condition persists despite rapid adoption of novel therapies
Updated: 2012-09-21 08:45:33A novel blood thinner recently approved by the FDA, dabigatran (Pradaxa), has been rapidly adopted into clinical practice, yet thus far has had little impact on improving treatment rates for atrial fibrillation. This is according to a new study led by researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health that examined national trends in oral anticoagulant use. They found that de...Patients paying for confusion over prevention vs. treatment under ACA
Updated: 2012-09-21 05:00:12Under the Affordable Care Act, certain high-value preventive services – such as colonoscopies – are supposed to be free. No co-pay for the patient. But some patients are getting charged when they don't expect it and perhaps shouldn't be. And there is a lot of ...Be ready to cover innovations to prevent elder abuse
Updated: 2012-09-20 20:52:09Think of a vulnerable older woman whose caregiver empties out her bank account, or a cognitively compromised homebound older man whose estranged family never visits, leaving him entirely alone and without basic necessities. Think of someone in a nursing home whose painful bed sore isn’t adequately treated or who is ...Cohabitation trend among baby boomers has health implications to be explored
Updated: 2012-09-20 04:30:03You may have seen a flurry of stories late last year noting that divorce rates are rising for baby boomers even as they're on a downward slide overall across the United States. You may have wondered, as I did, how these divorcees would navigate the ...