Latest Health News

FRIDAY, March 12, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Raising chickens in your backyard — a popular trend during the COVID-19 pandemic — holds risks that can come home to roost in an unwelcome way.It's already well known that poultry can spread the salmonella bacteria to human handlers. But chickens cooped up in backyards could also be breeding grounds for viruses that pose an even bigger public health threat, according to Sonia Hernandez, a professor of wildlife disease at the University of Georgia, in Athens."As a researcher who studies pathogen movement along different groups, I see backyard chickens as a potential interface where pathogens can spill over into wild birds, or vice versa, and even into people," Hernandez said in a university news release. "Owners need to seek information...

FRIDAY, March 12, 2021 (American Heart Association News) -- Researchers have developed a new Spanish acronym aimed to raise awareness of stroke symptoms in the Hispanic community. Known as RAPIDO, it seeks to replicate the popular FAST mnemonic that exists in English.Studies show that while Hispanic adults currently have a similar rate of stroke as their non-Hispanic white counterparts, they are not as aware of the symptoms. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report from November and based on a 2017 national survey showed that just 58% of Hispanic adults knew the telltale stroke symptoms. They trailed behind their Black (64%) and white (71%) peers.Usually, the FAST acronym is translated to Spanish, but it's not as effective, said Andrea Ancer Leal, a nurse at Ben Taub...

FRIDAY, March 12, 2021 (American Heart Association News) -- Michelle Whiteman woke up and realized that her left arm felt numb. She figured it was a pinched nerve and made an appointment to see her chiropractor.The 40-year-old hair stylist who was getting her master's degree in special education felt in excellent health. She'd been running nearly every morning for almost a decade. A year earlier, she'd reached her goal of completing the Philadelphia Marathon.Later that day, her left hand stopped working. She couldn't grasp anything. She felt anxious but not terribly alarmed.She asked her daughter to ice her arm. Instead, the 17-year-old yelled, "Mom! I think you're having a stroke!"That's impossible, Michelle answered. Everything was fine except her arm. She kept the appointment with...

FRIDAY, March 12, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- A single measles outbreak cost one U.S. county $3.4 million, a new government study estimates, underscoring the societal burden of inadequate vaccination rates.The outbreak occurred in Clark County, Wash., in early 2019, and ultimately infected 71 people -- mostly children younger than 10 who hadn't received the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine.The county's low MMR coverage is believed to have left it vulnerable, according to Jamison Pike, a researcher at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who led the study.Around the time of the outbreak, 81% of 1- to 5-year-olds in the county had received one MMR dose, and 78% of older kids had received both doses. In contrast, an average of 94% of kindergarteners nationwide had received...