MEDICINE & HEALTH

Biological Warfare on the Horizon? ISIS Soldiers May Be Infected With Ebola

It’s what national security organizations have feared since day one—the World Health Organization (WHO) announced last week that they are evaluating jihadist militants associated with ISIS, who may have contracted the virus responsible for Ebola. While the WHO has yet to confirm whether or not the fighters are exhibiting symptoms, the current evaluations of a Mosul hospital 250 miles north of Baghdad are prompting concerns that the fringe extremist group ISIS may in fact be able to obtain a biological weapon unlike anything the world has seen before.

Drug Approvals Reached New High in 2014: What's Next?

Approvals for medicine in the United States have reached their highest levels in eighteen years, and recommendations for new drugs in Europe also came at a rapid rate, driven by expensive new treatments for cancer and other rare and serious diseases. After enduring wave after wave of patent losses on some of their larger, more popular drugs, pharmaceutical firms are beginning to recover by bringing new medicines to the market, while also improving their productivity.

How Tales of Rotting May Inspire Smokers to Quit

A new campaign developed by the Public Health England (PHE) organization aimed at encouraging long-term smokers to quit may have people putting their cigarettes down after warning smokers about how smoking "rots" the body from within. The new graphic online and in-print billboard advertisements feature a roll-up cigarette full of decaying tissue. And while the images are rather graphic, some even saying too uncomfortable for an international campaign, the organization is clearly defending the aim of the ads, claiming they're intended to try and shock smokers into giving up the potentially lethal habit.

The Year You Were Born Can Affect Your Risk For Obesity

A new study has discovered that the year you were born can influence your risk for obesity. New research that appeared in the journal PNAS Early Edition has found that the year you were born can influence your risk for obesity.

Cancer Death Rates Spare More Than a Million Americans

According to a new report from the American Cancer Society, cancer is claiming the lives of fewer Americans than ever before. In the past two decades cancer death rates have dropped significantly by 22%, sparing the lives of over 1.5 million people in the United States alone. While cancer death rates have declined in every state, the report found substantial variation in the magnitude of the declines from state to state. Generally, states in the south showed the smallest decline, while states in the northeast had the largest decline. States in the south experienced drops in death rates of about 15%, with rates much higher in other parts of the country.

Teen’s Death Demonstrates The Dangers of This Year’s Flu

According to the Centers for Disease Control, the death of an otherwise healthy 17-year-old girl only highlights the severity of this year's influenza outbreak. Shannon Zwanziger seemed like a perfectly health teenager. She was active and rarely got sick; in fact, she had not even seen a doctor in more than three years. Then, she came down with the flu. Within only a week of fighting the virus, she was dead.

The Skinny On Fast Food: It's Still Just As Bad For You

Despite the additions of healthier alternatives to the menus of many of the leading fast food restaurants, researchers have found that most of the food still served is just as bad for you today as it was almost twenty years ago.

2014 Was a Busy Year for Disease Control

2014 proved to be a busy year for disease control experts around the world, as many viruses began to rear their heads like never before. Ebola, measles, mumps, and whooping cough, among others, have seen record outbreaks as health officials work to stay ahead of the potentially deadly diseases.

Suicide Risk Greater for Children of Parents Who Attempted Suicide

New research published online in the journal JAMA Psychiatry has revealed that a child is more likely to attempt suicide if his or her parents have attempted suicide in the past. In fact, children with parents who have attempted suicide are five times more likely to attempt it themselves, compared to children with parents who haven't attempted suicide.

Diabetes Could Effect Brain Growth in Children

While many are familiar with the not-so-sweet implications of diabetes, a new study reveals that children suffering with Type-1 diabetes may in fact have slower brain growth and development than children without the glucose-to-insulin imbalance.

FDA Approves a Fast-Acting Ebola Test

The fight to stop Ebola continues to rage on across the world as researchers continue to find new ways to both detect and treat the deadly virus. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has just approved a new test to detect the virus in patients believed to be suffering from the virus.
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