Home  »  Headline News

On:

Cattle could be breeding grounds for future flu outbreaks, according to researchers who are tracking emerging strains in animals in the hope of averting further human pandemics.

The last flu pandemic swept the globe in 1968, killing nearly half a million people. Flu viruses originate in wild birds and are become lethal when they cross into poultry or pigs. Then the viruses pick up genes that enable them to infect humans.

Ian Brown and his colleagues at the Veterinary Laboratories Agency in the U.K. believe that cows, too, could be harboring new strains of flu, because they have detected influenza genes in cattle for the first time.
read more

On:

Millions of Americans are drinking tap water that?s contaminated with large amounts of chemical byproducts from chlorine which are far greater may be safe for pregnant women.

Although chlorine is commonly used to disinfect drinking water, when it?s added to water that contains organic matter such as runoff from farms or lawns, it can form compounds such as chloroform that can make you ill.

The Environmental Working Group and Public Interest Research Groups have identified parts of the United State where there may be increased health risks for pregnant women who drink the water, including miscarriage, neural tube defects and reduced fetal growth.
read more

On:

A new injectable microchip could turn people into ?human bar codes.? Radio-frequency identification chips, which are used in toll road passes, may soon be able to be injected into the human body. Applied Digital Solutions of Palm Beach, Florida has introduced a chip that could be injected through a syringe and is compatible with human tissue, and wants to develop it for use in pacemakers, defibrillators and artificial joints.
read more

On:

Ebola is back in Africa. It?s one of the most deadly viral diseases known and can incubate for up to three weeks before flu-like symptoms set in. It then starts attacking internal organs, causing bloody diarrhea and vomiting. Within two weeks, the victim usually is dead from massive blood loss. There is no cure. But the virus usually kills its victims faster than it can spread, so it doesn?t spread too far.

The Ebola death toll in West Africa is now 24, the World Health Organization says. The latest fatality occurred in Republic of Congo, where seven people have now died. The disease has killed 17 people in neighboring Gabon.
read more