Harvard Health Content API

H1N1 flu is still around and people should consider getting vaccinated, says the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Flu cases are increasing in the Southeast, even as spring weather appears. In the past week, Georgia has reported 40 hospitalizations for flu-like illness. H1N1 does not appear to follow the usual pattern of flu outbreaks. Seasonal flu is more common in cold weather, but H1N1 was first identified in April 2009. In the United States, infections appeared to peak in late October and early November. H1N1 vaccine is still available. About 86 million Americans have been vaccinated.

U.S. health officials are urging doctors to ask patients about alcohol use before a problem turns into alcoholism. The Washington Post reported on the effort June 17. The latest tool is a video. It shows doctors how to screen their patients for alcohol abuse. The guidelines urge doctors to ask each man a basic question: “How many days in the past year have you had five or more drinks?” For a woman, the number is four drinks. Officials hope doctors will screen for alcohol abuse as many of them do now for depression, the Post reported. The guidelines come from the National Institutes of Health.

Talking with young children is important to their language development, a study has found. Researchers looked at 275 families. All had children ages 2 to 4. Children with high language scores had a lot of conversations with adults. Watching more TV lowered language scores. In conversations, kids will make mistakes. Then adults can correct them, and language skills can improve, researchers said. The study was published in the July issue of the journal Pediatrics.

Long-term exposure to lead may increase the risk of death from heart and artery disease, a study shows. The study included 868 male veterans. Their average age was 67 when the study began. Researchers measured lead in their knee and shin bones. During the 9-year study, 241 men died. Men with the most lead in their bones were six times more likely to die from heart attack, stroke and related conditions than those with the lowest amount of lead. Their risk of death from any case was 2.5 times as high as for men with low lead levels. Current U.S. standards for excess lead exposure are based on lead in blood. But lead remains much longer in bones — perhaps as long as decades. Researchers said current standards probably need to change. The study appeared in the journal Circulation. HealthDay News wrote about it September 8.

Non-drug therapies can help to relieve pain in hospital patients after surgery, a new study suggests. The study included 1,837 patients who had surgery at a hospital. They were given various treatments for pain. The treatments included acupuncture, acupressure, massage, music or aroma therapy, reflexology, healing touch and therapies to help them relax. They were asked to score their pain before and after treatment. The score range was 0 to 10. Researchers said the non-drug treatments reduced pain by up to half in some people. The study appeared March 5 in the Journal of Patient Safety.

Children need twice as much vitamin D as previously recommended, their doctors now say. The new advice came from the American Academy of Pediatrics. This is the nation’s largest group of children’s doctors. The group said kids should receive 400 units of vitamin D daily. This includes even breastfed infants. Most kids will need a supplement to provide this much vitamin D. The doctors based their advice on new research. These studies suggest that the vitamin may help prevent diseases as well as keep bones strong. The Associated Press wrote about the new advice October 13.

A salmonella outbreak involving large tomatoes and roma tomatoes has hit people in 17 states. At least 23 people were hospitalized, and one tomato eater died. The Associated Press reported on the outbreak June 10.

Drinking green tea may reduce the risk of lung cancer in both smokers and nonsmokers, new research suggests. The study was done in Taiwan. It included 170 people with lung cancer and 340 healthy people. They were asked questions about their diet, tea drinking and smoking. They also were given gene tests. People with some variations in their genes are more likely to develop lung cancer than others. In the study, lung cancer risk was 13 times lower for smokers who drank at least one cup of green tea daily than for smokers who drank none. Nonsmokers’ risk of lung cancer was five times lower among tea drinkers. Tea drinkers with “low-risk” genes were even less likely to have lung cancer. Researchers said the best way to prevent lung cancer is to avoid smoking. The study was presented at a conference on lung cancer. HealthDay News wrote about it January 12.

People exposed to pesticides at work have a higher risk of Parkinson’s disease, a study has found. The study compared two groups of more than 500 people each. They were similar in age and in other ways. But one group had Parkinson’s disease and the other did not. People who were exposed to pesticides on the job had an 80% higher rate of Parkinson’s disease. This means there were 18 people with job exposure who had Parkinson’s disease for every 10 people with no job exposure who had the disease. The risk of Parkinson’s disease was more than triple the average for people exposed to one of three chemicals. They were Agent Orange, paraquat and permethrin. The study appeared in the journal Archives of Neurology. Reuters Health news service wrote about it September 14.

A new study has found no clear increased risk of suicide or depression from a drug that helps people quit smoking. U.S. labels for varenicline (Chantix) warn that it could increase the risk of behavior changes. Depression, thoughts of suicide and suicide attempts are among the changes listed. The study used a database of 80,660 people. All had been prescribed a product to help them quit smoking. Nearly 11,000 used varenicline. Researchers found no clear increased risk of suicidal thoughts, self-harm or depression in this group. But researchers said the study was too small to provide a definite answer. They said it’s possible that a larger study would find that varenicline doubles suicide risk or even cuts it in half. The journal BMJ published the study. HealthDay and Reuters news services wrote about it October 2.