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Children who don’t get enough sleep may also have a higher risk of being overweight, a new study suggests. The study included more than 1,000 children. Mothers were asked how much sleep their kids usually got. They were asked when the children were 6 months old, 1 year old and then every year. Researchers gave each child a sleep score. About 4% of the children did not get enough sleep during most of the study (scores 1 to 4). About 40% got enough sleep on a regular basis (scores 12 or 13). The others got enough sleep only some of the time. Kids who were the most sleep-deprived were about 2½ times as likely to be obese as those who consistently got enough sleep. They also scored higher on other measurements of body fat. The journal Pediatrics published the study. HealthDay News wrote about it May 19.

U.S. health officials have released research on hepatitis testing and care as a prelude to National Hepatitis Testing Day on Monday, May 19. May is also Hepatitis Awareness Month. There are several types of hepatitis caused by viruses. Hepatitis B and C can cause long-term illness and liver damage. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) did the research. The CDC said one project was able to strengthen primary care for hepatitis C in rural areas of Arizona and Utah. Programs in three other states focused on hepatitis B testing. They targeted people born in countries where at least 2% of the population is infected. The CDC said expansion of programs like these will help prevent the spread of hepatitis B and C. The journal Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report published results of the two studies May 9.

Two confirmed cases of the often deadly MERS virus have been reported in the United States. But so far there’s no evidence that these patients spread the disease to anyone in this country, health officials said. And the World Health Organization affirmed May 13 that it does not consider MERS a public health emergency. That’s because so far there been no “sustained human-to-human transmission.” MERS stands for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome. It is caused by a type of coronavirus. More than 500 cases have been confirmed worldwide. Nearly one-third of the patients died. Most cases occurred in the Middle East. It has spread only to health care workers and others in very close contact with people who were ill. The two new cases involved health care workers who had traveled to the United States. They had cared for MERS patients in the Middle East. Two U.S.