News on World Health Organization

Study finds H1N1 flu in pregnancy is critical risk

2010-03-18T17:15:25Z

<div><p>LONDON (Reuters) - Pregnant women in Australia and New Zealand who had pandemic H1N1 flu were 13 times more likely to become critically ill and be admitted to hospital, researchers said on Friday.</p><p>The study, published in the Reuters) - U.S. regulators, drug companies, philanthropists and advocates announced a new alliance on Thursday to speed tuberculosis drugs to market, a day after cancer researchers and drugmakers launched a similar initiative.</p><p>The U.S. Food a...

Multidrug-resistant TB a serious global threat: WHO

2010-03-18T13:17:15Z

<div><p>The World Health Organisation warned Thursday that lethal multidrug resistant tuberculosis is becoming a serious threat to global health with just a small proportion of cases diagnosed.</p><p>In its latest report on the hard-to-treat multidrug resistant forms of TB, the WHO said it had documented the highest proportion of such cases of tuberculosis ever at about five percent.</p&g...

WHO: Not sure if drug-resistant TB is worsening

2010-03-18T13:15:50Z

<div id="subtitle">WHO: Not sure if drug-resistant TB is declining, most cases in China, India and eastern Europe</div><div><p>The World Health Organization says it doesn't have enough information to know if it is winning the fight against drug-resistant tuberculosi...

Drug-resistant TB killed 150,000 in 2008

2010-03-18T10:30:18Z

<div><p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Multiple drug-resistant tuberculosis killed 150,000 people in 2008 and infects between 400,000 and 500,000 people globally, according to World Health Organization estimates released on Thursday.</p><p>WHO said the numbers suggest the hard-to-treat infection is spreading and said there is an urgen...

WHO suspends Shan5 combination vaccine

2010-03-18T03:15:30Z

<div><p>The World Health Organisation said Thursday it was suspending the use of the Indian-developed Shan5 combination vaccine, which is used against infections such as diphtheria, tetanus and hepatitis B.</p><p>"The manufacturer got some complaints that there was suspended white sediment in some of the vials," WHO spokeswoman Alison B...

WHO suspends vaccine by Sanofi-Aventis subsidiary

2010-03-17T10:30:22Z

<div><p>The U.N. health agency said Wednesday it has suspended its approval of a vaccine against tetanus and four other diseases produced by Sanofi-Aventis SA subsidiary because of a white substance forming inside some vials.</p><p>The World Health Organization and th...

Women prefer hunks, but don't trust them:Study

2010-03-16T20:17:34Z

<div><p>Scientists report that women living in countries with worse rates of disease and ill health are far likelier to plump for "masculine"-looking men than "feminine"-looking rivals.</p><p>Psychologists from Scotland's University of Aberdeen tested a theory that masculine traits in men are a sign of genetic health.</p><p>If true, this ...

Theory about masculine traits tested in UK study

2010-03-16T19:16:03Z

<div><p>In a study published on Wednesday, scientists report that women living in countries with worse rates of disease and ill health are far likelier to plump for "masculine"-looking men than "feminine"-looking rivals.</p><p>Psychologists from Scotland's University of Aberdeen tested a theory that masculine traits in men are a sign of genetic healt...

What is Influenza?

2010-03-16T14:16:34Z

Most people have symptoms for about one to two weeks and again no problem. But with most other viral respiratory infections such as colds, influenza (flu), the infection can be compared to a serious illness, death rate (death rate) from 0.1% of the virus that causes an infection.<br><br>Influenza is transmitted when an infected person sneezes or coughs in the public places, like market, shoping mall, bus, trains etc.The particles pass through the air, where they infect, with whom ...

Global swine flu toll reaches 16,713: WHO

2010-03-12T08:15:51Z

<div><p>Swine flu has claimed at least 16,713 lives around the world since it was first uncovered in Mexico and the United States last April, the World Health Organisation said Friday.</p><p>The pandemic, which has spread to 213 countries and territories, has since waned in much of

Do needle-exchange programs really work?

2010-03-11T10:45:19Z

<div><p>NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Needle-exchange programs designed to cut injection drug users' risk of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and other infections do seem to reduce needle sharing, but there is only limited evidence that they lower disease transmission, a new research review concludes.</p><p>Reporting in the journal Addiction, researchers say that based on their study -- an analysis of five pr...

WHO unveils landmark anti-malaria measures

2010-03-09T10:16:38Z

<div><p>The World Health Organisation unveiled Tuesday landmark new measures to counter the misuse of anti-malaria drugs, which is threatening attempts to stifle some 250 million cases a year of the disease.</p><p>The UN health agency recommended that all suspected cases of the mosquito-borne disease should be tested and diagnosed b...

Not more quakes, just more people in quake zones

2010-03-08T15:00:24Z

<div id="subtitle">Worsening quake problem not below ground, but above; more people, poor buildings, more deaths</div><div><p>First the ground shook in Haiti, then Chile and now Turkey. The earthquakes keep coming hard and fast this year, causing people to wonder if something sinister is happening underfoot.</p><p>It's not.</p>&...

H1N1 seen lying low, then rising again in Europe

2010-03-08T11:17:26Z

<div><p>LONDON (Reuters) - Europe is unlikely to see another wave of pandemic H1N1 flu soon but local epidemics are likely as winter returns to the Northern hemisphere, health officials said on Monday.</p><p>The European Center for Diseas...

Cambodia drug-resistant malaria stirs health fears

2010-03-06T16:15:21Z

<div><p>PAILIN, Cambodia (Reuters) - In a dusty village near the Thai-Cambodia border, 24-year-old Oeur Samoeun sits on a dark green hammock recovering from a strain of malaria that has resisted the most powerful drugs available.</p><p>Ravaged by days of fever and chills, he is considered lucky: the parasite has left his body. But for many others, the potentia...

Nigeria, key to wiping out polio in Africa, makes gains

2010-03-05T09:53:36Z

<div><p>GENEVA (Reuters) - Nigeria, seen as the key to wiping out polio in Africa, has made impressive gains against the disease in the year since religious leaders backed vaccination, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.</p><...

WHO: over 85M African kids get polio vaccination

2010-03-05T05:30:12Z

<div id="subtitle">WHO: polio vaccination for over 85 million children starts in 19 African countries</div><div><p>The World Health Organization says more than 85 million children under 5 in west and central Africa will be vaccinated against polio.</p><p>The agency says the massive vaccination campaign in 19 countries by Reuters) - North Korea has reduced deaths from surgery and among women in childbirth under a program funded by South Korea that is building trust across the divided peninsula, the World Health Organization (WHO) said...

WHO: Korean cooperation boosting health in north

2010-03-04T07:00:41Z

<div id="subtitle">WHO official says Korean cooperation is boosting medical services in the north</div><div><p>North Koreans are getting better medical treatment as the result of a joint program between the two Koreas that has trained thousands of doctors, provided modern equipment and renovated hospitals, the World Health Organization said Thursday.</p><p>Maternal mortality has ...