The Health News United Kingdom July 12 2017
Overview
- The World Health Organization has warned that 35 people have died in the past year from measles outbreaks across Europe. According to Doctor Dr Zsuzsanna Jakab, the WHO regional director for Europe every death or disability caused by this vaccine-preventable disease is an unacceptable tragedy and measles remains a leading cause of death among children worldwide, and unfortunately Europe is not spared.ath.
- UK officials will launch an inquiry into why thousands of patients, many of them hemophiliacs, became infected with HIV and hepatitis C from blood products used more than 30 years ago. Some 2,400 people died as a result of the tainted blood treatment.
- BBC News reports that nearly a quarter of women who don’t make cervical screening appointments are unaware that the process even exists according to a UK survey. Cervical cancer is responsible for around 900 deaths a year in the UK.
News on Health Professional Radio. Today is the 12th of July 2017. Read by Tabetha Moreto. Health News
http://www.bbc.com/news/health-40568017
The World Health Organization has warned that thirty five people have died in the past year from measles outbreaks across Europe.
A six-year-old boy in Italy was the latest to die from the infection./ More than three thousand three hundred measles cases have been recorded in the country. / The most fatalities were in Romania which numbered at thirty one./
But there have also been deaths in Germany and Portugal since June two thousand and sixteen. / According to Doctor Zsuzsanna Jakab, the WHO regional director for Europe / every death or disability caused by this vaccine-preventable disease is an unacceptable tragedy and measles remains a leading cause of death among children worldwide,/ and unfortunately Europe is not spared./
Measles is highly contagious but vaccinating ninety five percent of the population should prevent it spreading./ Germany is looking at tightening the law on immunisations./
And the government in Italy is pushing for children to be vaccinated against twelve common illnesses before they can enrol for state-run schools./
http://edition.cnn.com/2017/07/11/health/contaminated-blood-scandal-inquiry-theresa-may/index.html
UK officials will launch an inquiry into why thousands of patients, many of them hemophiliacs, became infected with HIV and hepatitis C from blood products used more than thirty years ago./
Some two thousand four hundred people died as a result of the tainted blood treatment./
Those affected will help decide what form the inquiry will take said Downing Street spokesman /. The inquiry will span the entire United Kingdom./
The announcement was made during a Cabinet meeting by Prime Minister Theresa May in consultation with Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, the spokesman said, / and came hours before the UK Parliament was due to hold an emergency debate on whether there should be such an inquiry. / The infections took place in the late nineteen seventies and nineteen eighties, / when more than four thousand five hundred people with hemophilia and other bleeding disorders were infected with HIV, / hepatitis B and C, and a range of other blood-borne viruses, according to the UK’s Haemophilia Society./
Of the one thousand two hundred people infected with HIV during this period/ , fewer than two hundred and fifty are still alive. / People suffering from bleeding disorders often lack proteins in their blood that help their blood to clot,/ meaning even the smallest of injuries can lead to excessive bleeding./ Treatment involves transfusion of these proteins into a patient’s blood from donors such as a protein known as factor eight for treatment of hemophilia A./
In the nineteen seventies these new treatments were produced by pooling human blood from as many as forty thousand donors and concentrating it to extract the required “factor” or protein,/ according to the Haemophilia Society./
The BBC News reports that nearly a quarter of women who don’t make cervical screening appointments are unaware that the process even exists according to a UK survey./ Cervical cancer is a type of cancer that starts in the cervix, the entrance to the womb. / It’s responsible for around nine hundred deaths a year in the UK. / Regular screening appointments to check for abnormal cell growth are offered to all women aged between twenty five to sixty four. / This study found about a quarter of eligible women didn’t go for a cervical screening test. / Most women who didn’t attend either said they were unaware of screening or that they intended to go but were overdue for their appointment. / Cervical cancer became a high-profile media topic after the untimely death of reality TV star Jade Goody from the disease in two thousand and nine. / It now seems that almost a decade later the issue has dropped off the radar for many women./
Cervical screening is used to detect any abnormal changes in cells in the cervix that could potentially develop into cervical cancer./
All women between the ages of twenty five and sixty four who are registered with a General Practitioner are invited for cervical screening./
But the uptake of cervical screening has been decreasing in the UK. /The researchers wanted to investigate the reasons behind the fall in attendance./
Cross-sectional studies are useful for analysing data from a population at a specific point in time./ But a drawback is that they can’t confirm the cause for any observations or explore which factors could be having an influence./
In England screening is offered to all women aged twenty five to sixty four. / Teenage girls aged twelve to thirteen are offered the HPV vaccine / which helps protect against cervical cancer as part of the routine National Health Service childhood vaccination schedule./
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