Eighty-five per cent of Irish people travelling to countries where infectious diseases such as typhoid, polio and hepatitis A are widespread take serious health risks by not ensuring they have the necessary vaccinations before departure. For instance, only 15 per cent of those who holiday in Turkey, Tunisia, Mexico and Egypt consider getting travel health vaccinations, in spite of the fact that hepatitis A, typhoid, polio and tetanus vaccinations are recommended. A new travel health booklet, Passport to Health, will be launched tomorrow. It is available free from SmithKline Beecham Travel Vax Health Bureau, Casita, Saval Park Crescent, Dalkey, Co Dublin.
NOW is possibly a better time to give up smoking than at the start of the year when the inevitable spotlight was directly on those hoping to kick the habit. That said, however, the Irish Cancer Society logged up to 300 calls on its smoking quitline in the first four days of January, as compared to 342 in the whole of January 1999. A new feature on the Irish Cancer Society quitline is that, as well as sending out advice kits to all those making inquiries, a stop-smoking counsellor will return calls to those would-be non-smokers who want more one-to-one advice and encouragement. The Irish Cancer Society quitline is Callsave 1850201203 and operates 9.30 a.m.-4.30 p.m., Monday to Friday.
Travellers to countries such as Mexico (above), Egypt and Turkey forgo vaccinations at their peril
Infants delivered with the aid of forceps were found to have a higher response to stress than those born naturally or by Caesarean section. Researchers at the Queen Charlotte and Chelsea Hospitals in London monitored infants' response to the pain of inoculation at eight weeks. They noted how much the babies cried and measured the levels of the stress hormone, cortisol, in their saliva (which may, one would think, have been an extra stress on tiny babies). The lowest stress response was shown in babies born by Caesarean, followed by those born naturally without assistance. Babies born by assisted delivery were the most difficult to soothe. The study follows previous research which established a link between an early experience of pain, such as circumcision after birth, and a more pronounced reaction to pain. (BBC Health News)
UP TO 1,000 chronically-ill people throughout the US are now having their health checked daily via Health Buddy, an Internet device which connects them to their doctor's surgery. Each morning, those linked to Health Buddy answer a few basic health questions, delivered over the Internet. If the responses foreshadow trouble, their doctor is notified immediately. There are now at least three privately-held companies, all based in California, which use the Internet to monitor chronically ill patients. The consulting firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers, recently predicted that by 2015, all homes will be fitted with virtual health agents that will screen for a variety of illnesses. (Health Central News)
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