Month: June 2015

Ticks that carry Lyme disease may also carry a rarer bacterium that is infecting people in the Northeastern United States, a new study finds. The infection is called Borrelia miyamotoi. Many people and doctors are not aware of this disease. Researchers found 97 cases of Borrelia miyamotoi based on thousands of blood tests done during 2013 and 2014. They reviewed the medical records of 51 infected patients. Their symptoms were similar to the flu: fever, headache, chills and body aches. Patients got better with the same antibiotics used to treat Lyme disease. Some required a hospital stay. The bacterium was first found in Japan in 1994. The first case in the northeastern United States was seen in 2013. The journal Annals of Internal Medicine published the study. HealthDay News wrote about it June 8.     

More than 1 out of 4 U.S. children has been a witness or a victim of violence involving any weapon, a new study shows. About 3% or children said they had seen or were the victims of an assault with a deadly weapon (gun or knife). The study was based on a national survey of 4,114 people. They included children, ages 2 to 17, and their caregivers. About 12.5% said they had been directly attacked with any weapon. Another 13.1% had witnessed violence involving a weapon. Just under 1% said they had been directly attacked with a deadly weapon. Another 2.4% had witnessed such an assault. The survey showed that about 10% of the children in the study were “poly-victims.” They had been victimized in at least 7 different ways in the last year. Children who had been a victim or witness of weapon violence were more likely to be poly-victims than other children.

More U.S. adults have problems with alcohol than just a decade ago, a new survey finds. And nearly one-third have had problems at some time, the survey showed. Researchers from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism did the survey during 2012 and 2013. They asked 36,000 adults about their drinking habits. “Alcohol use disorder” was defined as having at least 2 of 11 symptoms. They included drinking that causes problems at work, school or home, frequent hangovers and failed attempts to limit drinking. Depending on the number of symptoms, the disorder can be mild or severe. This is a new definition. It combines the disorders previously called alcohol abuse and dependence. Based on their survey answers, about 14% of adults were current or recent problem drinkers. About 30% had an alcohol problem at some point. Only 1 in 5 had sought help.

A new report finds only “limited” evidence that breast-cancer screening benefits women in their 40s. The report comes from the International Agency for Research on Cancer. The agency asked experts from 16 countries to look at the latest evidence on breast-cancer screening. The panel found that routine mammograms reduce the risk of dying from breast cancer for women ages 50 to 75. But the panel did not find enough evidence to recommend screening for women in their 40s. Experts have had the strongest disagreement about whether routine mammograms save lives for this group. And that continued with the panel that wrote this new review, one member told HealthDay News. The group was “split down the middle” about whether to recommend mammograms for women ages 45 to 49, the member said. Breast-cancer risk increases with age.