Reuters Health News Summary


Reuters | Updated: 30-12-2018 18:30 IST | Created: 30-12-2018 18:30 IST

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

U.S. medic quarantined in Nebraska for possible Ebola exposure

A U.S. healthcare worker who may have been exposed to the Ebola virus while treating patients in the Democratic Republic of Congo arrived in the United States on Saturday and was put in quarantine in Nebraska. The medic, who is not exhibiting symptoms of Ebola, will remain under observation for up to two weeks at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) in Omaha, Nebraska Medicine said in a statement.

Migrants to affluent nations may be healthier than the native-born

(Reuters Health) - International migrants who relocate to high-income countries to work, study or join family members are less likely to die prematurely than people born in their new homelands, a research review suggests. For the analysis, researchers examined data from 96 studies with mortality estimates for more than 15.2 million international migrants in 92 countries. Overall, migrants were about 30 percent less likely to experience premature death from all causes than other people in the general populations of the countries where they moved, the analysis found.

More U.S. adults losing sleep in recent years

(Reuters Health) - One third of U.S. adults say they sleep less than six hours a night, which is 15 percent more than were getting too little sleep 15 years ago, researchers say. The trend toward increasing numbers of people getting too little shuteye started in 2013, the study team reports in the journal Sleep. Most of this recent shift from adequate to inadequate sleep duration was among Hispanic and non-Hispanic black adults, widening racial and ethnic disparities in sleep, and potentially disparities in health.

WHO says progress against Ebola in Congo will be lost if violence goes on

Progress in fighting Democratic Republic of Congo's Ebola outbreak, the second worst ever, will be reversed if fighting continues around the disease hotspots of Beni and Butembo, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday. "We have reached a critical point in the Ebola response," WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement. "After an intensification of field activities, we were seeing hopeful signs in many areas, including a recent decrease in cases in Beni.

Drug use during pregnancy not child abuse: Pennsylvania top court

A divided Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled on Friday that mothers who use illegal drugs during their pregnancies are not committing child abuse against their newly-born children. Reversing a lower court ruling, the 5-2 decision came amid a nationwide opioid crisis, including abuse by pregnant women that can result in preterm labor, stillbirth and withdrawal symptoms for new babies.

Leafy green neighborhoods tied to better heart health

People who live in neighborhoods with more green spaces may have less stress, healthier blood vessels and a lower risk of heart attacks and strokes than residents of communities without many outdoor recreation areas, a small study suggests. At the population level, residential green space has long been linked to a lower risk of death from heart disease and respiratory problems, as well as a lower risk of hospitalization for events like heart attacks and strokes, researchers note in the Journal of the American Heart Association. But there isn't as much evidence showing whether this connection holds true for individuals.

New Jersey clinic sued after HIV infection warning

A former patient has filed the first lawsuit against a New Jersey surgery center that may have exposed nearly 3,800 patients to HIV and hepatitis due to poor sterilization and medication practices. The HealthPlus Surgery Center in Saddle Brook recently told the patients that a state probe of its facilities found "lapses in infection control" and "the injection of medications" could have exposed them to the diseases.

Doctors still prescribing testosterone to men with heart disease, despite risks

(Reuters Health) - Despite warnings that supplemental testosterone may raise the risk of stroke and heart attack, doctors continue to prescribe the hormone off-label to men with cardiovascular disease, a U.S. study finds. After poring over 10 years of prescription data, researchers found that men with heart disease were no less likely than those without it to receive a testosterone prescription despite warnings from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2014 that the hormone might increase cardiovascular risk, researchers reported in JAMA Internal Medicine.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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