If you are in Iowa, it is the best time to be very careful with the water you drink. The state’s
health officials have issued a warning regarding a crypto outbreak, which is a waterborne disease. Crypto is short for cryptosporidiosis. If you are not familiar with this disease, here are some facts from the
CDC web site:
Cryptosporidiosis is a diarrheal disease caused by microscopic parasites of the genus Cryptosporidium. Both the disease and the parasite are commonly known as "Crypto."
Many species of Cryptosporidium exist that infect humans and a wide range of animals. The parasite is protected by an outer shell that allows it to survive outside the body for long periods of time and makes it very resistant to chlorine disinfection.
While this parasite can be transmitted in several different ways, water ...
Health insurance has long been a controversial topic. In the developed countries of the world, health care is primarily the government’s concern. The people in general get better health care services than in the developing countries. In the United States, people are generally covered by the public health care system. Still, they have better chances of getting better health care if they have additional health insurance to cover them.
Based on results of a new research, those who are not insured will end up spending more OR getting less health care. The
Washington Post reports:
In a report appearing in Monday's online edition ofHealth Affairs, Jack Hadley, of George Mason University, and John Holahan, Teresa Coughlin and Dawn Miller, of the Urban Institute, analyzed data on medical spending in people who are insured versus those ...
Contraceptives have always been a concern for sexually active women.
The Pill has long since been the foremost choice for a lot of women but there have been other alternatives released in the market for a long time now. I ran across an article talking about a new type of contraceptive that will give women more choices as to when to have their monthly period.
Yahoo News reports:
With new "extended cycle" and "continuous" oral contraceptives on the market, women today can choose to have monthly withdrawal bleeding just four times a year -- or not at all.
To many American women of childbearing age, these options have tremendous appeal. In fact, more than two-thirds of women said they are interested in suppressing monthly bleeding, according to national survey results presented at an Association of ...
I have always thought that measles were almost “extinct” in most parts of the U.S. today. When I was a kid, it was a different story. Measles and chicken pox were quite common and every baby that was born had to have shots (at least for measles) in order to avoid contracting the disease. I thought for sure that the problem had been eradicated.
That is, until I read on MSN that we are having measles cases all over the country again. In fact, the report says that
the current count for measles cases is the highest since 1996!
Some parents' refusal to vaccinate children seems to be behind the highest rate of measles cases reported since 1996, federal officials said Thursday.
Between Jan. 1 and July 31 of this year, 131 measles cases have ...
The Health Department has recently issued a warning about the West Nile Virus. According to health officials, the virus is at its worst during the fall – which we are about to enter here soon – and that people should be even more careful. As recent as the 15th of August, there have been
cases of West Nile Virus infection.
The
Center for Disease Control has provided detailed information on how to protect yourself from possible infection:
When dealing with West Nile virus, prevention is your best bet. Fighting mosquito bites reduces your risk of getting this disease, along with others that mosquitoes can carry. Take the commonsense steps below to reduce your risk:
• avoid bites and illness;
• clean out the mosquitoes from the places where you work and play;
• help your community control the disease.
Something to remember: The chance ...
The biggest hindrance to working out and exercising, I think, is the fact that not many people enjoy it. I hear a lot of people saying I would work out or go to the gym but I don’t really like it. Some find it boring. Others simply find it too hard. Is there any way around it?
I think so. I believe that getting the proper exercise that we all need is a matter of finding something that you actually like doing. How do you think those people who go to the gym on a regular basis keep it up? They probably like what they are doing. Of course there will always be those people who do it because they have to and they have the willpower to do so – ...
My uncle recently had angioplasty done. For those who are not really sure about what this procedure is, it is where the surgeons unclog the arteries through non-surgical methods. I am not exactly sure as to the specifics of the procedure but all I know is that they break up the blood clots and then leave stents in the arteries to keep them open.
Anyhow, the general belief is that angioplasty produces much better results than merely taking medication. This is one reason that my uncle preferred to undergo the procedure. A recent study, however, shows evidence to the contrary. According to a report at
MSN Health:
There are some advantages to artery-opening angioplasty over drug treatment for people with
heart disease, but those advantages disappear within three years, according to the latest report on ...
…and more, actually. We know that every summer, the elderly are put at risk because of the extreme temperatures that may occur. This is something that happens in most temperate countries and the risk is even greater now that the world’s climate is going wacko.
According to the
U.S. National Institute on Aging (NIA), however, there is more to heat than what we normally know. They have highlighted some factors that we should pay particular attention to if we are elderly or we have someone elderly in the home:
• Age-related changes to the skin such as poor blood circulation and inefficient sweat glands.
• Heart, lung and kidney diseases, as well as any illness that causes general weakness or fever.
• High blood pressure or other conditions that require
dietary changes. For example, people on salt-restricted diets may be at ...
At the end of my previous post, I posed a question: Can the Wii Fit replace exercise? So far, from what I have been reading, the answer is no. In this post, though, I am leaning towards Wii Sports rather than Wii Fit. The simple reason is that I just got the
Wii and I do not have the Wii Fit package yet – I still have a rather expensive exercise bike sitting in my living room and I do not want to spend a considerable amount of money on the Wii Fit if it is not really going to help me.
The Wii Sports package is another story altogether. I love sports – I used to play soccer and basketball a lot. Now that I am living a rather sedentary lifestyle, sports on ...
Exercise and the proper diet are the best things for a healthy body – we all know that. Then again, knowing and actually doing are two totally different things. This is especially true for a lot of people these days who find themselves always in front of their computers and
television sets. When do they find the time to exercise?
Enter the Nintendo Wii. With their new product line – aptly dubbed the Wii Fit – Nintendo is posed to capture a new market, if they have not already. So what is the Wii Fit all about?
Time shares:
This is the genius of Shigeru Miyamoto, the famed game designer and mastermind behind blockbusters like Legends of Zelda, Donkey Kong and the many Mario titles. He has managed to take an activity that many ...
If you are in Iowa, it is the best time to be very careful with the water you drink. The state’s health officials have issued a warning regarding a crypto outbreak, which is a waterborne disease. Crypto is short for cryptosporidiosis. If you are not familiar with this disease, here are some facts from the CDC web site:
Cryptosporidiosis is a diarrheal disease caused by microscopic parasites of the genus Cryptosporidium. Both the disease and the parasite are commonly known as "Crypto."
Many species of Cryptosporidium exist that infect humans and a wide range of animals. The parasite is protected by an outer shell that allows it to survive outside the body for long periods of time and makes it very resistant to chlorine disinfection.
While this parasite can be transmitted in several different ways, water ...
