Latest Health News

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 5, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- For a young child with life-threatening food allergies "the world looks like a minefield," a New Jersey mother says.It's a stress-filled landscape that financial adviser Amy Leis knows all too well. Her daughter Zoe was just a few months old when she suffered her first serious reaction to food, a potentially deadly event known as anaphylactic shock."I was terrified," Leis recalled. "I had been baking cupcakes, and I gave her a taste, and she started turning blue."In short order, Zoe was diagnosed with congenital allergies to a broad range of foods. Eggs, dairy, peanuts and tree nuts were pegged as potentially lethal. Soy, wheat, seafood and shellfish were all deemed no-nos.Ever since, the stakes couldn't be higher. So like millions of...

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 5, 2022 (American Heart Association News) -- Childhood trauma, especially physical abuse, might increase the risk of heart failure later in life, according to new research.Past studies have found a connection between traumatic experiences in childhood and cardiovascular disease and other health problems. But there's been little research on a specific link to heart failure, in which the heart can't pump enough blood to meet the body's needs. Heart failure affects about 6 million U.S. adults.Researchers looked at data from 153,287 adults in the United Kingdom and zeroed in on which participants experienced childhood maltreatment – defined in the study as physical abuse, physical neglect, emotional abuse, emotional neglect and sexual abuse. The study also examined...

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 5, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Australia is experiencing its worst flu season in five years, and that doesn’t bode well for the United States, federal health officials warned Tuesday.America's flu season often mirrors what unfolds in Australia, where winter spans April through October.Making matters worse, only 49% of Americans plan to get a flu shot during the 2022-2023 flu season, according to a new survey of more than 1,000 people by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID). In addition, one in five people at higher risk of developing serious flu-related complications aren’t planning to get vaccinated this year, the survey showed.“We don’t know exactly what to expect this flu season, but we do know the best way to prevent flu is to get vaccinated...

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 5, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- More than half of sightless children in the United States did not have to lose their vision, according to a new study.The findings suggest the need to prioritize addressing preventable vision loss in all children in America, said study co-author Dr. Scott Lambert, a professor of ophthalmology at Stanford University in California. He recalled the story of a child diagnosed with cataracts at 3 weeks old. English was not the parents' first language. Despite near weekly calls, it took eight months to get a referral for surgery, even though the baby was insured though Medicaid, Lambert said.Researchers analyzed the IRIS Registry, which has comprehensive data on eye disease. They found that leading causes of childhood blindness appear to be...