Month: June 2014

Treatments for sleep apnea might help control factors, such as blood pressure, that increase the risk of heart disease, new research finds. The two new studies appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine. One study included 318 adults with sleep apnea. They had either heart disease or a high risk of developing it. Two groups were randomly assigned to use a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine at night or just receive oxygen. The third group got education on good sleep habits. After 12 weeks blood pressure was 2 to 3 points lower in the CPAP group than in the others. The second study included 181 obese adults with sleep apnea. They were randomly assigned to 6 months of CPAP, weight-loss counseling or both. The group that used CPAP and lost weight had the largest drop in blood pressure. In the 2 groups that lost weight, the loss averaged 15 pounds.

A case of the mosquito-borne virus chikungunya has been reported for the first time in a U.S. territory. The virus was acquired in the U.S. Virgin Islands, health officials there said. A second patient acquired the infection elsewhere, they said. The virus mostly has been found in Africa and Asia. But it has been spreading rapidly across the Caribbean in recent months. More than 135,000 suspected and confirmed cases have been reported in the Western Hemisphere since December. This is the first case anywhere in the United States. But health officials are concerned that it will spread to the mainland soon. The 2 types of mosquitoes that spread chikungunya are also found in southern and eastern U.S. states. Symptoms of chikungunya include a high fever, headaches and severe pain in joints. The virus is rarely fatal, but symptoms can linger for months. There is no vaccine.