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Obama Declares Swine Flu a National Emergency

He is clearing the way for legal waivers to allow hospitals and doctors offices to better handle a surge of new patients.

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Swine Flu Shots Revive a Debate About Vaccines

People who do not believe in vaccinating children have never had much sway over Leslie Wygant Arndt. She has studied the vaccine debate, she said, and came out in favor of having her 10-month-old daughter inoculated against childhood diseases. But there is something different about the vaccine for the H1N1 flu, she said.

Swine Flu (H1N1 Virus)“I have looked at the people who are against it, and I find myself taking their side,” said Ms. Wygant Arndt, who lives in Portland, Ore. “But then again I go back and forth on this every day. It’s an emotional topic.”

» NY Times [ Contribute: submit link / submit article ]

Skin cancer can be inherited: studies

Want to reduce your risk of skin cancer? Wear sun screen, of course. But two new studies suggest that choosing your relatives carefully could also be helpful.

One found that having an identical twin with melanoma increased a person's own risk of developing the disease much more than having a fraternal twin with this type of skin cancer. The other found that having a sibling or parent with one of several different types of non-melanoma skin cancer increased risk as well.

Several studies have suggested melanoma and other skin cancers run in families, but it can be difficult to tease out the difference between the influence of genes and environment. In the Australian study, Dr. Sri N. Shekar of the University of Queensland in Brisbane and his colleagues attempted to do so by looking at twin pairs in which at least one sibling had been diagnosed with melanoma.

» Reuters [ Contribute: submit link / submit article ]

Swine flu is present 'in virtually the entire country,' CDC expert says

Pandemic H1N1 influenza "is here . . . in virtually the entire country," Dr. Anne Schuchat of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday. Swine flu is widespread in 37 states now, up from 27 states last week, she said.

The figures suggest that a leveling-off observed last week was an aberration. Some reports have suggested that certain places hit particularly hard in the spring, such as New York City, might not suffer as severely this winter. The CDC has been looking at 50 such locations, and many are seeing significant increases in flu activity now.

» LA Times / CDC [ Contribute: submit link / submit article ]

Cancer Spreading Gene Discovered

Scientists have pinpointed a gene linked to more than half of all breast cancers. The gene, NRG1 (neuregulin-1), is also thought to play a role in many bowel, prostate, ovarian and bladder tumours. The University of Cambridge team said the breakthrough should provide "vital information" about how cancer spreads.

» BBC [ Contribute: submit link / submit article ]

3 U.S. scientists share Nobel Prize in medicine

Three U.S. scientists who discovered key aspects of how cells and animals age and how cancer cells become immortal will share the 2009 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine.

Elizabeth Blackburn of UC San Francisco, Carol W. Greider of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Jack W. Szostak of Harvard Medical School share the $1.4-million award for their discovery of telomeres, small sections of DNA that protect the integrity of cellular DNA as animals and most other organisms age. They also discovered telomerase, the enzyme that manufactures telomeres and gives cancer cells their eternal life.

» LA Times [ Contribute: submit link / submit article ]

Swiss Health Care Thrives Without Public Option

Like every other country in Europe, Switzerland guarantees health care for all its citizens. But the system here does not remotely resemble the model of bureaucratic, socialized medicine often cited by opponents of universal coverage in the United States.

Swiss private insurers are required to offer coverage to all citizens, regardless of age or medical history. And those people, in turn, are obligated to buy health insurance.

» NY Times [ Contribute: submit link / submit article ]

Swine flu appears unusually deadly for pregnant women

One hundred expectant mothers infected with the pandemic H1N1 influenza were hospitalized in intensive care units in the first four months of the outbreak, and 28 have died, federal officials say.

In a reminder that the new strain of H1N1 influenza may be more dangerous than originally thought, federal health officials reported Thursday that 100 pregnant women infected with the virus were hospitalized in intensive care units in the first four months of the outbreak, and 28 have died.

"What we are seeing is quite striking," said Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the National Center on Immunization and Respiratory Disease at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. She is helping direct the government's response to the pandemic.

» LA Times [ Contribute: submit link / submit article ]