5,500 people die everyday due to accidents

5,500 people die everyday due to accidents: ILO

More than 5,500 people die everyday, victims of working accidents or because of diseases linked to work activities, the International Labour Organisation has said.

The increase in the number of victims may be caused by the effects of the economic crisis in the protection activity, the ILO said.

The economic cuts because of the crisis may bring reduction of preventive activities in working health services, security and working protection in companies, it said.

Insecure work is a human tragedy, which also deepens poverty, since any sick or injured worker cannot fulfill his duties or tasks, ILO general director Juan Somavia said.

Warnings on these problems are included in the declaration for the World Day for Working Security and Health.

World health officials race to stem deadly flu

World health officials, racing to extinguish a new flu strain that is jumping borders, raised a global alert to an unprecedented level as the outbreak claimed more lives in Mexico. The U.S. prepared for the worst even as President Barack Obama tried to reassure Americans.

With the swine flu having already spread to at least four other countries, authorities around the globe are like firefighters battling a blaze without knowing how far it extends.

"At this time, containment is not a feasible option," said Keiji Fukuda, assistant director-general of the World Health Organization, which raised its alert level on Monday.

At the White House, a swine flu update was added to Obama's daily intelligence briefing. Obama said the outbreak is "not a cause for alarm," even as the U.S. stepped up checks of people entering the country and warned U.S. citizens to avoid nonessential travel to Mexico.

"We are proceeding as if we are preparatory to a full pandemic," said Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

The European Union health commissioner suggested that Europeans avoid nonessential travel both to Mexico and parts of the United States. Russia, Hong Kong and Taiwan said they would quarantine visitors showing symptoms of the virus.

Mexico, where the number of deaths believed caused by swine flu rose by a third on Monday to 152, is suspected to be ground zero of the outbreak. But Mexican Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova late Monday said no one knows where the outbreak began, and implied it may have started in the U.S.

"I think it is very risky to say, or want to say, what the point of origin or dissemination of it is, given that there had already been cases reported in southern California and Texas," Cordova told a press conference.

It's still not clear when the first case occurred, making it impossible thus far to determine where the breakout started.

Dr. Nancy Cox of the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said she believes the earliest onset of swine flu in the United States happened on March 28. Cordova said a sample taken from a 4-year-old boy in Mexico's Veracruz state in early April tested positive for swine flu. However, it is not known when the boy, who later recovered, became infected.

The World Health Organization raised the alert level to Phase 4, meaning there is sustained human-to-human transmission of the virus causing outbreaks in at least one country. Monday was the first time it has ever been raised above Phase 3.

Putting an alert at Phases 4 or 5 signals that the virus is becoming increasingly adept at spreading among humans. Phase 6 is for a full-blown pandemic, characterized by outbreaks in at least two regions of the world.

Fifty cases — none fatal and most of them mild — were confirmed in the United States. Worldwide there were 79 confirmed cases, including six in Canada, one in Spain and two in Scotland. Thirteen are suspected in New Zealand, and one is suspected in both France and Israel.

Symptoms include a fever of more than 100, coughing, joint aches, severe headache and, in some cases, vomiting and diarrhea.

Amid the alarm, there was a spot of good news. The number of new cases reported by Mexico's largest government hospitals has been declining the past three days, Cordova said, from 141 on Saturday to 119 on Sunday and 110 Monday.

In a bid to prevent mass contagion, Mexico canceled school nationwide until May 6, and the Mexico City government is considering a complete shutdown, including all public transportation. The Cinco de Mayo parade celebrating Mexico's defeat of a French army on May 5, 1862 and Mexico City's traditional May 1 parade were canceled. More than 100 museums nationwide were closed.

At Mexico City's international airport, families grimly waited for flights out of the capital or country, determined to keep their masks on until they touched ground somewhere else.

Three games involving Mexico City soccer clubs were played with no spectators over the weekend. Decio de Maria, secretary general of the Mexican soccer federation, said plans for future matches would be announced on Wednesday.

"The idea is to look for the fewest number of games that have to be played behind closed doors," he said. "If it's necessary, we'll play all the matches behind closed doors. We don't foresee canceling any games."

Many residents of Mexico City wore blue surgical masks, though the CDC said most masks offer little protection. Many victims have been in their 30s and 40s — not the very old or young who typically succumb to the flu. So far, no deaths from the new virus have been reported outside Mexico.

It could take four to six months before the first batch of vaccines are available, WHO officials said. Some antiflu drugs do work once someone is sick.

Napolitano, the U.S. Homeland Security chief, said Washington is dispatching people and equipment to affected areas and stepping up information-sharing at all levels of government and with other nations.

Richard Besser, the CDC's acting director, said his agency is aggressively looking for evidence of the disease spreading and probing for ways to control and prevent it.

Flu deaths are nothing new in the United States. The CDC estimates that about 36,000 people died of flu-related causes each year, on average, during the 1990s in the United States. But the new flu strain is a combination of pig, bird and human viruses that humans may have no natural immunity to.

Besser said that so far the virus in the United States seems less severe than in Mexico. Only one person has been hospitalized in the U.S.

"I wouldn't be overly reassured by that," Besser told reporters at CDC headquarters in Atlanta, sounding a cautionary note.

The best way to keep the disease from spreading, Besser said, is by taking everyday precautions such as frequent handwashing, covering up coughs and sneezes, and staying away from work or school if not feeling well.

WHO spokesman Peter Cordingley singled out air travel as an easy way the virus could spread, noting that the WHO estimates that up to 500,000 people are on planes at any time.

Governments in Asia — with memories of previous flu outbreaks — were especially cautious. Singapore, Thailand, Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines dusted off thermal scanners used in the 2003 SARS crisis and were checking for signs of fever among passengers from North America. South Korea, India and Indonesia also announced screening.

Teams of doctors, nurses and government officials boarded flights arriving in Japan from Mexico, the U.S. and Canada to check passengers for signs of the flu, Japanese Health Ministry official Akimori Mizuguchi said.

European and U.S. markets bounced back from early losses as pharmaceutical stocks were lifted by expectations that health authorities will increase stockpiles of anti-viral drugs. Stocks of airlines, hotels and other travel-related companies posted sharper losses.

Hypoglycemia (Low Blood Sugar) in People Without Diabetes - Topic Overview

Is this topic for you?

, or low blood sugar, is most common in people with diabetes. If you have already been diagnosed with diabetes and need more information about low blood sugar, see the topics:

* Type 1 Diabetes: Living With the Disease.

What causes low blood sugar?

Your body uses hormones to keep your blood sugar in a normal range. But a long-term health problem that needs treatment can cause blood sugar to drop too low.

People with diabetes often deal with low blood sugar. It’s not as common in people who don't have diabetes, but it can happen. It could be caused by:

* Medicines such as monoamine oxidase inhibitors (used to treat depression), quinine sulfate (used to treat malaria), and aspirin.
* Drinking too much alcohol.
* Diseases that affect the pancreas, liver, kidneys, adrenal glands, or other organs.
* Metabolism problems that run in families.
* Problems caused by stomach surgery.

What are the symptoms?

The symptoms can be different depending on how low your blood sugar level drops.

* Mild hypoglycemia can make you feel hungry or like you want to vomit. You could also feel jittery or nervous. Your heart may beat fast. You may sweat. Or your skin might turn cold and clammy.
* Moderate hypoglycemia often makes people feel short-tempered, nervous, afraid, or confused. Your vision may blur. You could also feel unsteady or have trouble walking.
* Severe hypoglycemia can cause you to pass out. You could have seizures. It could even cause a coma or death.

If you've had hypoglycemia during the night, you may wake up tired or with a headache. And you may have nightmares. Or you may sweat so much during the night that your pajamas or sheets are damp when you wake up.
How is hypoglycemia diagnosed?

To diagnose hypoglycemia, your doctor will do a physical exam and ask you questions about your health. You will need tests to check your blood sugar levels. Your doctor will also ask you about any medicines you take and whether you have recently lost or gained weight.

If a blood test shows that you have low blood sugar, and if you have symptoms that go away after you eat a snack or drink with sugar in it, you probably have hypoglycemia.
How is it treated?

If you have symptoms of low blood sugar, you need to eat or drink something with sugar in it. For example, you could eat raisins, graham crackers, or candy. You could also drink skim milk, regular (not diet) soda, or fruit juice. You may also take glucose tablets.

It’s a good idea to find out about health problems or situations that can lead to low blood sugar. It’s also important to pay attention to your health and lifestyle. For example, talk to your doctor to see if you can change your diet, change the medicines you take, or change the way you exercise. In some cases, treating the health problem that is causing low blood sugar can prevent future problems.

What should you do in an emergency?

If mild or moderate hypoglycemia isn't treated right away, it can turn into severe hypoglycemia. People with severe hypoglycemia usually pass out. If you pass out, someone should call 911 right away. It’s a good idea to teach your family, friends, and coworkers about low blood sugar ahead of time so they'll know what to do.

source:health.yahoo.com

Swine flu outbreak cancels youth tournament

The remainder of a youth football tournament in Mexico was cancelled on Monday because of fears about the swine flu epidemic and Mexico City's top football clubs said they expected to keeping playing behind closed doors in an effort to slow the outbreak.

CONCACAF, the governing body of football in North and Central America and the Caribbean, said its under-17 tournament in the border city of Tijuana had been called off. Costa Rica, Honduras, Mexico and the United States had already clinched berths in the under-17 World Cup. They were to play semifinals on Wednesday with the finals and third-place game set for Saturday.

The football body also postponed the second leg of its Champions League final on Wednesday in Cancun between Mexican clubs Cruz Azul and Atlante. The game will be played May 12. Atlante leads the two-game series, winning the first leg 2-0.

CONCACAF said the move was made ``to safeguard the health of players, officials and fans.''

Three games involving Mexico City clubs were played behind closed doors over the weekend, a measure that's expected to continue since Mexico City is the epicenter of the outbreak. The Mexican football federation was expected to specify its plans later on Monday.

A top Mexico City baseball team is also moving its games this week to northern Mexico, and a weekend diving tournament — headed by leading Chinese divers — was held without any fans at all.

With the death toll rising, playing games in empty stadiums is part of a wider effort to contain the outbreak. Health officials say 20 deaths in Mexico are confirmed to be from swine flu. In addition, swine flu is suspected in more than 100 other deaths.

``We are going to wait to see how the outbreak develops,'' said a spokeswoman on Monday at the Mexican football federation, who said she was not authorized to give her name. ``There is no general policy yet, it all depends on the decision of the individual clubs.''

Warnings As Swine Virus Spreads

A top European Union official has warned against travel to areas hit by a outbreak of swine flu, amid growing concern over the spread of the virus.

Experts suspect it has killed more than 100 people in Mexico. Cases have also been found in Canada, the US and on Monday in Spain.

At least five other nations are testing patients for possible swine flu.

World Health Organization experts are meeting later to discuss the global threat posed by the virus.

The UN has warned that the virus has the potential to become a pandemic. But it says the world is better prepared than ever to deal with the threat.

SWINE FLU
Swine flu is a respiratory disease thought to spread through coughing and sneezing
Symptoms mimic those of normal flu - but in Mexico more than 100 people have died
Good hygiene like using a tissue and washing hands thoroughly can help reduce transmission

Q&A: What is swine flu?
'I couldn't get out of bed'
In pictures: Swine flu

The EU has called an emergency meeting of health ministers to discuss the situation and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said he was monitoring the situation closely.

EU Health Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou said people should avoid travelling to virus-hit parts of Mexico and the US unless it was "very urgent".

On Sunday, Mexican Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova said suspected swine flu cases in his country had risen to 1,614.

Of the 103 deaths in Mexico, only 20 are so far confirmed to have been caused by the new virus.

See map showing confirmed and suspected cases

There are 20 confirmed cases in the US, six in Canada and one in Spain, the first case in Europe. In most cases outside Mexico, people have been only mildly ill and have made a full recovery.

In other developments:

• Tests are also being carried out on individuals or groups in New Zealand, Australia, Brazil, Britain and Israel who fell ill following travel to Mexico

• A top US health official has warned that there could be "more severe cases" to come

• Shares in airlines have fallen sharply on fears about the economic impact of the outbreak

Health experts say the virus comes from the same strain that causes seasonal outbreaks in humans. But they say this newly-detected version contains genetic material from versions of flu which usually affect pigs and birds.

There is currently no vaccine for this new strain, but severe cases can be treated with antiviral medication.

Dr Keiji Fukuda, WHO's assistant director-general in charge of health security, said all countries were "looking at this situation very seriously".

"But it's also clear that we are in a period in which the picture is evolving... [and that] we have to be very careful to collect the best possible information," he said.

The WHO is advising all countries to be vigilant for seasonally unusual flu or pneumonia-like symptoms among their populations - particularly among young healthy adults, a characteristic of past pandemics.

Most of those who have died so far in Mexico were young adults.

A top US health official warned that there could be worse to come.

"From what we understand in Mexico, I think people need to be ready for the idea that we could see more severe cases in this country and possibly deaths," Richard Besser, acting head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told ABC television.

Countries across the world are taking measures to prevent the spread of the virus.

In the Mexican capital schools, bars and public buildings remained closed and many people were staying indoors.

The BBC talks to people in Mexico City about the flu outbreak.

Soldiers handed out six million masks in and around the capital region, where the outbreak is centered.

In the US, a public health emergency has been declared after cases were found in New York, California, Texas, Kansas and Ohio.

In Canada, cases were recorded at opposite ends of the country, in British Columbia and in Nova Scotia, while in Spain, a young man who had recently returned from Mexico was found to have the virus. He was said to be in a stable condition.

A number of countries in Asia, Latin America and Europe have begun screening airport passengers for symptoms, while Germany's biggest tour operator has suspended trips to Mexico.

Several countries have banned imports of raw pork and pork products from Mexico and parts of the US, although experts say there is no evidence to link exposure to pork with infection.

source:bbc.co.uk

Lice can be nice too!

Wild mice have given experts some clues into why some parasites like lice are important for the conditioning of our 'natural' immune system.

Jan Bradley, University of Nottingham parasitologist, said: "Our understanding of mammalian immunology is largely based on rodents reared under highly unnatural pathogen and stress-free conditions."

"Analysing the immune response in wild populations can give crucial insights into how the (human) immune system functions in its natural context," he said.

Many health problems in humans are caused by over-active immune responses. The immune system should be able to tell the difference between invaders and its own body cells.

But sometimes it can mistake own proteins for alien proteins, triggering an attack on its own body and causing an auto-immune disease like arthritis, asthma, diabetes or multiple sclerosis. Or the body can mistake a harmless substance as a threat causing an allergic response.

The authors say some parasites may exert a moderating effect on the function of a key component of the immune system, which could help reduce overall immune reactivity and the risk of developing immune dysfunctions.

Their research links the louse polyplax serrata to a strong dampening of certain immune responses in wild mice.

The researchers speculate that the louse is able to exert some kind of immuno-suppressive effect, possibly by directly secreting some substance into the mice from its saliva, or indirectly by transmitting bacteria or other pathogens, said a Nottingham release.

These findings were published in the open access journal BMC Biology

Cervical cancer afflicts 1.30 lakh Indian women annually

Despite the claim that cervical cancer is preventable, WHO estimates that each year over 1.30 lakh Indian women are diagnosed with it and over 74,000 lose their lives due to it.

"This makes cervical cancer the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in India and represents approximately one-fourth of the world's total cervical cancer cases and mortality," according to a paper released by Qiagen, the German global market leader in sample technology and CNCI, a state-run Cancer Research Institute here on Tuesday.

Quoting WHO, it said that in India, cervical cancer was the most common type of cancer affecting women. Worldwide, it was the second-most common cancer after breast cancer.

The human papillomavirus, also called HPV, was a common pathogen predominantly affecting women. Approximately 80 per cent of women get one or more types of virus by the age of 50, the paper, released at a press conference to announce strategic partnership in the fight against cervical cancer, said.

It said that there were more than 100 types fo HPV. Of these, about 15 high-risk types were known to cause virtually all cases of cervical cancer. "Two of these types (16 and 18) are believed to cause 70 per cent of these cases (76.7 per cent in Indian women).

The report said that there is evidence that other factors may increase the risk of cervical cancer when combined with HPV, such as smoking and illnesses that reduce the body's ability to fight infections (such as HIV/AIDS).

"While HPV cannot be treated, the abnormal cells caused by the virus that may eventually evolve into cervical cancer, can be treated. This makes early detection essential."

It said that clinical trial findings from WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and published in 'New England Journal of Medicine' (April 2, 2009) indicated that HPV DNA testing was the most effective way to reduce incidence of cervical cancer compared to either Pap (cytology) testing or visual inspection with ascetic acid (VIA).

The study demonstrated that a single round of HPV testing was associated with a significant reduction in the number of advanced cervical cancers and deaths from the disease.

WHO estimates that only about five per cent of women in the developing world have been screened for the cervical disease in the previous five years compared to 40-50 per cent in the developed world.

Low-cost cholera vaccine developed

South Korean scientists have developed a new cheaper cholera vaccine which would be mass-produced by an Indian company.

The new oral vaccine which would be priced around $1 has been approved by India's health agency and would be mass-produced by an Indian company later this month, an international health agency said.

Cholera, an acute intestinal infection caused by contaminated food or water, remains a major health problem
in the developing world and kills an estimated 120,000 people a year.

But the only internationally licensed vaccine available so far is too expensive for most people in such nations, costing about $18 for a dose in Bangladesh, according to the Seoul-based International Vaccine Institute.

IVI, established in 1997 under a UN initiative, announced in a release that its scientists have developed a new oral vaccine that will be available for about $1 a dose.

India's approval means the vaccine has met international standards and can be used in other nations because the Indian agency is approved by the World Health Organisation, IVI said.

IVI said its scientists modified a Vietnamese-produced vaccine to develop the new one under WHO guidelines, and tests conducted in India have shown the vaccine offers substantial protection.