Month: February 2015

About 100 patients at a Los Angeles hospital may have been exposed to dangerous drug-resistant bacteria. The exposure occurred through contaminated medical devices, Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center said. Seven patients have become seriously ill, and 2 have died, the hospital said. Before getting sick, they had digestive procedures using devices called endoscopes. The scopes were contaminated with carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE), the hospital said. CRE infections can fight off most antibiotics. This means they are hard to cure. People who had procedures between October and January may have been exposed. The hospital is contacting these patients. They will be given home testing kits. The hospital lab will analyze the results. The two scopes had already been cleaned according to manufacturers’ standards, the hospital said.

A new study links the shingles virus to another painful condition in the elderly, giant cell arteritis. The varicella-zoster virus causes chickenpox. After symptoms go away, the virus can hide in the body for many years. If it gets active again, it can cause shingles, a painful skin condition. The new study focused on giant cell arteritis. This condition usually strikes people age 60 or older. It causes inflamed blood vessels in the head and neck. Symptoms include sudden headaches, muscle aches and vision problems. In the new study, researchers looked at 95 biopsy samples taken from arteries in the face. They found signs of the varicella-zoster virus for 74% of people who had giant cell arteritis. They found the virus in only 8% of those without the condition. Researchers said antiviral medicines may help people with giant cell arteritis. They urged more research.

Calculators used to assess people’s risk of heart problems may put those odds too high, a new study finds. Calculators use cholesterol levels, blood pressure and other factors to estimate risk. They are based on research. The newest one was released in 2013. It came from the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology (AHA/ACC). The new study looked at this calculator and 4 others. It tested them using data from a heart study that began in 2000. That study included 4,200 Americans, ages 50 to 74. When the study began, they did not have heart disease. Researchers plugged their early numbers into the calculators. Then they compared the results with what  happened to people in the next 10 years. On average, 4 calculators estimated people’s risk too high, by 8% to 154%, the study found.

For at least half of women with frequent hot flashes, the symptoms go on for more than 7 years, a new study finds. The study used data from a long-term women’s health study. Women were asked about menopause symptoms each year for 13 years. The study focused on 1,449 women who reported having hot flashes and night sweats for at least 6 days in the last 2 weeks. The median amount of time these symptoms lasted was 7.4 years. Half of the women had symptoms for a longer time and half for a shorter time. The earlier symptoms started, the longer they tended to last. Among women who had symptoms before reaching menopause, they lasted a median of 11.8 years. If symptoms started after menopause, they lasted about 3 years. Symptoms lasted longer than average for black and Hispanic women. They lasted a shorter time for white women and those of Japanese or Chinese descent.

Over the last 20 years, U.S. teens have been getting less sleep, a new study finds. Between 1991 and 2012, researchers surveyed more than 270,000 students in 8^th, 10^th and 12^thgrades. Each year, they asked the students how often they got 7 or more hours of sleep, as well as how often they got less sleep than they needed. Among 15-year-olds, 72% reported getting 7 or more hours of sleep a night in 1991. By 2012, the number dropped to 63%. The number of teens who reported sleeping 7 or more hours a night dropped dramatically between the ages of 13 and 18 years. About two-thirds of 13-year-olds sleep at least 7 hours a night. Only about one-third of 18-year-olds get at least 7 hours of sleep. Compared with boys, girls are less likely to regularly get 7 or more hours of sleep. Teens with less-educated parents came up short on sleep.