Category: Health

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Featured Health

White House Cannot Guarantee that Everyone Will Keep Their Healthcare

OXON HILL, MD - FEBRUARY 24: President Donald Trump addresses the crowd during CPAC at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center on February 24, 2017 in Oxon Hill, Md. (Photo by Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

They say Obamacare is bad, but it appears this “bad” law is covering more people than the proposed bill coming from the Trump administration. The White House deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee, cannot or will not guarantee healthcare coverage to every American covered by Obamacare.

Sanders repeatedly dodged the question on ABC’s “This Week,” saying Trump had promised to repeal Obamacare and replace it “with something that’s better.”

Host George Stephanopoulos pressed Sanders on why, if Trump was so intent on replacing the law with something better, the White House couldn’t guarantee that everyone currently with insurance wouldn’t lose it. Sanders said it was “a goal” to make sure people didn’t lose coverage, but she stopped short of saying people would be able to keep their current insurance, or would even be offered similar plans.

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Health

An 85-Year-Old Smashes Toronto Waterfront Marathon in Record Time

His name is Ed Whitlock. He is 85 years old and he just put me to shame. Ed took part in the Toronto Waterfront Marathon and finished the event in record time for his age group, 3:56.38. The marathon is 5K!

More power to you Ed! I want to be like you when I grow up!

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Health Zika virus

Zika Virus Linked to Rare Immune System Disorder in Adults

Vice News reports that in January, Colombia saw an unusual increase in cases of Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a rare disorder where a person’s immune system attacks the nervous system, in some cases temporarily paralyzing the body and requiring hospitalization.

As in neighboring Brazil and Venezuela, the uptick in Colombia happened at the same time as a local Zika outbreak, leading experts to begin searching for a connection. Researchers have since rushed to find out more, and a new report published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine outlines the most compelling evidence to date linking the mosquito-borne virus to the debilitating disorder.

The study analyzed 68 patients with Guillain-Barre syndrome this year at six Colombian hospitals. Researchers determined the presence of Zika infection in those patients offered enough evidence to support the idea that the virus sparks the onset of the syndrome.

“The fact that we found Zika infection in those patients is good evidence that Zika may contribute to development of the disease,” said Beatriz Parra, one of the study’s authors and a researcher at Universidad del Valle in Colombia. As she explained, the evidence strongly supports a link between Zika and Guillain-Barre syndrome.

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Health Politics Zika virus

First Sexual Transmission of Zika Virus from Woman to Man Reported in New York

Although the Zika virus is mainly transmitted from mosquitoes to human, sexual transmissions from men to women or between two men have also been documented. But in New York, there is a confirmed transmission of Zika from a woman to a man.

This is a first.

“This represents the first reported occurrence of female-to-male sexual transmission of Zika virus,” said a report issued on Friday by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

The evidence of a previously undocumented transmission means is the latest twist in a viral outbreak that continues to baffle and surprise leading experts. It is prompting officials to rethink, once again, the guidance for health care providers and the general public on how to limit the danger of infection, as the pool of those who could be at risk widens.

Much about how the virus works is a mystery, and it remains challenging to detect; 80 percent of those infected show no symptoms. For those who do get sick, the illness is often mild, and there is no treatment.

But Zika can pose a dire risk to pregnant women. It targets developing nerve cells in fetuses and can lead to a birth defect called microcephaly, in which babies are born with abnormally small heads and brain damage. It may also cause developmental problems after birth.

Zika is primarily transmitted by the yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti, which thrives in warm, tropical climates. But 11 countries have documented cases of sexual transmission from a man to a woman. Among the 1,130 people who have received a Zika diagnosis in the continental United States, including 320 pregnant women, the C.D.C. has reported 15 cases of sexual transmission.

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Health Zika virus

Confirmed: Pregnant Connecticut Teen has Zika Virus

A pregnant Connecticut teen has tested positive for Zika, a mosquito-borne virus linked to devastating birth defects, the Daily News reports.

Sara Mujica, who visited her fiancé in Honduras in March, said she thought her symptoms — rashes, headaches and neck aches — were related to fish she had eaten. But test results last week showed the 17-year-old had Zika, which has become an epidemic in Latin America and the Caribbean.

“I was in a state of shock honestly,” Mujica said. “I didn’t really know what to say. I didn’t know what to do. I just started getting teary eyed and almost crying. I was just trying to stay strong.”

Mujica said she learned she was pregnant while she was on the March trip to Honduras.

Around the time she took the pregnancy test, she started feeling ill. When she returned to Danbury, she decided to get tested for Zika. An outbreak of the virus has struck countries from Mexico to Paraguay — including Honduras — in recent months.

Zika can cause microcephaly, a severe birth defect in which babies are born with abnormally small heads and brain damage. Researchers don’t yet know the rate at which infected women have babies with birth defects.

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exercise Health

How to Be Extraordinarily Strong – Video

No need to exercise or walk a mile in anyone’s shoes. This little nifty  trick will teach you how to be strong like Hercules and wow your drunk friends at the local bar.

Video

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Health Politics

Jon Stewart Slams Science Deniers on the Whole Vaccination Debate – Video

Yes, if there is a debate going on there are obviously those who are for and against something, and yes, in the case of vaccinating children against measles and the like, those for vaccination are usually liberals and those against it are usually Republicans and conservatives – you know, the science deniers.

Stewart however, managed to find a liberal in California who appear against the idea of vaccination. When asked if she had her kids vaccinated against measles – over 100 cases diagnosed since January 2015 – she thought for a while and then answered, “kinda.” Stewart of course, had some words for this woman.

But he also had something to say about the likes of Rand Paul and Chris Christie who both appeared in separate clips touting “personal freedom” as reasons not to vaccinate children. But it was the way Stewart ended the segment that left a lasting impression… at least on me.

In breaking down the reason to vaccinate, Jon Stewart likened America to an old farm house out in the middle of nowhere, and he compared measles as zombies trying to get into the house. The only way to keep these zombies out of the house was to board up the doors and windows. Everyone in the house was responsible for boarding up their area, but there was one lady from California who read somewhere that zombies will not come in, so she left here windows and doors unprotected.

Zombies, ah, measles made their way inside, infecting or eating all the survivors, just because one idiot failed to vaccinate! Get it?

Watch the video.

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Health

FactCheck – Rand Paul’s Claim about Vaccination is Totally “baseless”

Dr. Rand Paul is a Republican running for President in 2016. That said, Rand Paul is running around the country telling people that “many” children have developed “profound mental disorders” after getting vaccinations.

Dr. Rand Paul is running trying to be the next president of the United States! O.M.G!

FactCheck.org looked into this claim by the doctor and has determined that Paul is one doctor who doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about!

There is no evidence that any currently recommended vaccine causes brain damage or other mental disorders in otherwise healthy children. Severe reactions do occur but are extremely rare.

Vaccine safety has become a central topic in recent weeks as a measles outbreak that began at Disneyland in California has spread. Between Jan. 1 and Jan. 30, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 102 people had confirmed cases of measles, a disease that the CDC declared “eliminated” from the United States in 2000 because of the highly effective vaccine. In recent years, a small but growing number of parents have avoided the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine because of fears related to debunked and fraudulent science.

Paul, a Republican from Kentucky who is considering a 2016 presidential bid and who also formerly was a practicing physician, said on CNBC that vaccines could cause serious problems in children.

Paul, Feb. 2: I have heard of many tragic cases of walking, talking, normal children who wound up with profound mental disorders after vaccines.

The senator’s office was unable to provide a single example of a vaccine causing a mental disorder; nor did his office provide any information on the specific type or types of mental disorders or vaccines that caused disorders to which Paul was referring. We contacted several experts on immunizations, however, and all of them agreed that there are no such links between common vaccines and mental disorders.

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Health

Not Ebola, The Flu Killed 19 Children This Week – Silence

But the election has passed and saying the word “flu” does not stir up the fear that many politicians need to win elections. Remember the dreaded ebola that “crossed our southern borders” with ISIS insurgents, the disease bound to wipe out America because Obama had no clue?

Yea, that ebola was the topic in the midterm elections as Republicans found their talking point of fear and hammered it home until the swept both the House and Senate, and now that they’re in power, the word ebola is just a faint memory.

Meanwhile, the flu has already killed 45 kids, 19 this week alone, but the Republican fear mongers are already in power, so dead kids mean nothing. And the disease, currently in 46 states according to the government’s weekly FluView surveillance report, goes unnoticed.

Republicans are already in power. Fearing people about the deadly flu would be pointless. We wait ’till the next election when their base needs a good scaring out to the polls to talk about the flu! Until then, carry on. Nothing to see here except young dead kids.

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Ebola ISIS

ISIS Fighters Showing Up in Hospitals with Ebola Symptoms

 

Reports coming in from various news agencies in the Middle East say that numerous members of the terrorist group The Islamic State, also known as ISIS, are showing up at area hospitals with ebola-like symptoms. The World Health Organization (WHO) is investigating.

According to three media outlets an undisclosed number of militants displaying signs of the disease attended a hospital in the ISIS-held city of Mosul,  250 miles north of Baghdad.

While the reports, from Kurdish and pro-Iraqi sources, remain unconfirmed, WHO spokesman Christy Feig said the group are trying to reach out to officials in ISIS-held areas to offer help.

UN workers are currently banned from entering ISIS-controlled areas in both Iraq and Syria so it is unlikely an operation in the region could be carried out.

Ms Feig told Mashable: ‘We have no official notification from [the Iraqi government] that it is Ebola.’

Mosul has been under control of ISIS since June 2014 and over the past few weeks militants have reportedly executed more than a dozen doctors for refusing to treat injured fighters.

According to a report in Iraq’s pro-government newspaper, al Sabaah, the disease was brought to Mosul by ‘terrorists’ arriving ‘from several countries’ and Africa.

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Ebola

PolitiFact’s 2014 Lie Of The Year – Politicians’ Claim about Ebola

And by “politicians” I mean Republicans. We heard all their falsehoods about Ebola as they set out to intentionally lie to their base to win the midterm elections. And the easily led sheep in their base drank it all in.

A recap.

Thomas Eric Duncan left Monrovia, Liberia, on Sept. 19, for Dallas. Eleven days later, doctors diagnosed Duncan with Ebola.

Eight days after that, he was dead.

Duncan’s case is just one of two Ebola-related fatalities in the United States, and since Duncan traveled to Dallas,
more Americans — at least nine, and likely many more — have died from the flu.

Yet fear of the disease stretched to every corner of America this fall, stoked by exaggerated claims from politicians and pundits. They said Ebola was easy to catch, that illegal immigrants may be carrying the virus across the southern border, that it was all part of a government or corporate conspiracy.

The claims — all wrong — distorted the debate about a serious public health issue. Together, they earn our Lie of the Year for 2014.

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Christmas Ebola

Announcement – There Will Be No Christmas Celebration in Ebola-Striken Sierra Leone

That was the announcement from the head of the government’s Ebola response unit. There will be “no Christmas and New Year celebrations this year,” Palo Conteh said in the capital of Freetown, according to AFP.

“We will ensure that everybody remains at home to reflect on Ebola,” he said. “Military personnel will be on the streets at Christmas and the New Year to stop any street celebrations.”

The majority of Sierra Leone’s population is Muslim, but Christians make up 10% of its people, according to the CIA World Factbook.

More than 6,500 have died and another 18,100 have been infected with Ebola in West Africa — mainly in the nations of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea — since the outbreak began nearly a year ago.

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