Seven vaccines you need right now
Three months before she gave birth last year, Diana Simpson, a dental hygienist in Davison, Michigan, started coughing uncontrollably. The pain in her throat and chest was unbearable.
"It brought me to tears," she remembers.
Simpson's family doctor tested her for asthma, but she didn't have asthma.
She had pertussis, a bacterial infection that usually goes by the name whooping cough because of its distinctive seal-like cough.
Most people are vaccinated against pertussis as kids. But here's a surprise: It's come roaring back since an all-time low in the 1970s, largely due to waning immunity in adults who received shots in early childhood.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now recommends that all adults get a pertussis booster shot to strengthen their immunity, yet only 2 percent of adults have had their shots updated.
» Full Story | CNN - May 6, 2008
Happily married people have lower blood pressure than unhappy married people or singles, a Brigham Young University study says.
On the other hand, even having a supportive social network did not translate into a blood pressure benefit for singles or unhappy married people, according to the study.
» Full Story | HealthDay
Fresher blood? Patients take what they get
Any shopper who’s ever pulled a gallon of milk from the back of the dairy case knows that’s the way to get the freshest product.
So news that using older blood for transfusions may cause serious problems in some patients might seem to have an easy answer: Don’t take the blood from the front of the fridge.
» Full Story | MSNBC
For amputees, an unlikely painkiller: Mirrors
Army Sgt. Nick Paupore was in the lead Humvee in a convoy rolling through Kirkuk City, Iraq, when the vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb.
Paupore says it wasn't a very big explosion, more like a loud firecracker. He could feel the rush going through the vehicle, the change of pressure, smoke filling the cab. He felt a burning sensation in the back of his legs, but he wasn't in pain, and he could actually move his legs. He felt lucky. He was alive. He got out of the vehicle, intending to help the others, and passed out.
» Full Story | CNN
'Smart' pillbox helps patients remember
A days-of-the-week pillbox just doesn't cut it anymore, say many who juggle multiple medications.
"I take five medications, six if you count my baby aspirin. I don't have time to worry about my pills," says Ray Robinson, 72, a retired wildlife biologist from Poolesville, Md., and the father of two teenagers. He takes prescription drugs for diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
» Full Story | USA Today
Local health Links
- New Hanover Regional Medical Center
- Cape Fear Hospital
- Pender Memorial Hospital
- Lower Cape Fear Hospice and LifeCare Center
- Onslow Memorial Hospital
- Brunswick Community Hospital
- Cape Fear Healthy Minds
- Wilmington Family YMCA
