Will you have a heart attack or a stroke in your lifetime? Your odds may be worse than you think. Men and women may have a false sense of security about their chances of having a heart attack or stroke based on the current practice of calculating a patient’s risk 10 years into the future. New Northwestern Medicine research
A saliva test used to diagnose the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), is comparable in accuracy to the traditional blood test, according to a new study led by the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) and McGill University. The meta-analysis, which compared studies worldwide, showed that the saliva HIV test, OraQuick HIV1/2, had the same
Grief over the death of a loved one can cause a huge spike in a person’s risk of heart attack, especially in the early days after the loss, said a US study. The research tracked nearly 2,000 adults who survived a heart attack and found that among those who had just lost a loved one,
Medical suppliers cannot afford to buy equipment for Gauteng hospitals because the health department owes them money, the SA Medical Device Industry Association (Samed) said. “Some suppliers have notified the Gauteng Department of Health that they will put orders for medical products and services on hold, which will affect health services in Gauteng public hospitals,” Samed chief
Speed can save lives – especially in the case of blood poisoning. The more quickly and directly doctors recognise and treat sepsis, the greater the patient’s chances of survival. With the help of a new biochip, physicians will now be able to analyzer blood within their own practise. Is the patient suffering from blood poisoning? To
The HIV-prevalence among pregnant women in the country has increased from 29.4% to 30.2%, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said in Pretoria. “We’re still far from winning the war, but we are getting somewhere,” Motsoaledi said, releasing the National Antenatal Sentinel HIV and Syphilis Prevalence survey. It was made public eight months later than expected. Motsoaledi said there
Raising awareness about the risks of overuse of antibiotics is needed to combat antibiotic resistance in Europe, health agencies said. In recent years, the threat posed by infections that have become resistant to antibiotics has become more apparent, ranging from antibiotic-resistant bloodstream infections like methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) to multi drug-resistant tuberculosis. Another problem is lack of
Although smoking is one of the major causes of lung cancer, non-smokers are often diagnosed with the disease as well. To mark global Lung Cancer Awareness Month (LCAM) this November, lung cancer patients and survivors are being encouraged to share their stories of the diagnosis and treatment of the disease, and the fact that non-smokers can also be
The effects of a stroke can be devastating and can result in early death or permanent disability. Furthermore, when someone does survive a stroke, it often puts an enormous burden on family members and/or carers. Moreover, stroke-related medical costs and disability put major strain on our healthcare system and the economy as a whole. So just how big is