Author: Hassan Nadrous

Whooping cough vaccine less effective over time for middle school children

Whooping cough vaccine less effective over time for middle school children

A new study was published in the journal Pediatrics indicates “the protection offered by middle-school whooping cough vaccines fades with each passing year, leaving teens vulnerable to infection as they age.

The study, found that “the shot protects 69% of 11- and 12-year-old in the first year after vaccination, but within four years, just 9% of these children have sufficient protection from the infection.”

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Florida Declares Health Emergency Over Zika Cases

Florida Declares Health Emergency Over Zika Cases

Florida declared a health emergency after at least nine cases of Zika virus were reported in four counties, bringing the total to 50 cases across 13 US states.

Florida’s emergency declaration “will allow more spraying for mosquitoes that can spread the disease.

It’s very unlikely we will have a big outbreak on the scale of something say in Brazil.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and the Risk of Stroke

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and the Risk of Stroke

Within the prospective population-based Rotterdam Study, 13,115 participants were followed without history of stroke for occurrence of stroke.

Higher risk of both ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke in subjects with COPD and revealed the importance of smoking as a shared risk factor.

This was published in the AJRCCM journal

Zika “Spreading Explosively” Through Americas, but Reach into U.S. “Will Likely Be Limited”

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Women With Chronic Sleep Problems Have An Increased Risk For Type two Diabetes

Women With Chronic Sleep Problems Have An Increased Risk For Type two Diabetes

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Teen e-cigarette users more likely to subsequently smoke

Teen e-cigarette users more likely to subsequently smoke

A study led by Thomas Wills, a cancer-prevention expert at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu, concluded that “teens who said they had used…vaping devices were far more likely than their peers to try regular cigarettes over the next year.” The study, published in the journal Tobacco Control, showed that “among nonsmoking students who had vaped when they took an initial survey, 20% said they had smoked their first regular cigarette by the time they took the survey again one year later.” Meanwhile, “among nonsmokers who hadn’t used e-cigarettes when they took the first survey, 6% had tried regular cigarettes a year later.”

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Study finds insignificant differences in various Nicotine Replacement Therpay quit rates

Study finds insignificant differences in various Nicotine Replacement Therpay quit rates!

A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that smoking cessation rates for various nicotine replacement therapies (NRTs) “did not differ significantly at either six months or a year.” The study found that “the nicotine patch, the drug Chantix [varenicline], or a combination of the patch and lozenges all appear to work equally well,” with six month quit rates of 23%, 24%, and 27%, respectively, which declined to 21%, 19%, and 20% after one year.

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Second Case of MERS in Thailand

Second Case of MERS in Thailand

Health officials in Thailand on Sunday confirmed the country’s second case Middle East respiratory syndrome, or MERS.

The patient was a 71-year-old Omani national.

Ministry officials said they have quarantined, and are monitoring, 37 people who had close contact with the man, including family members who traveled with him, as well as a taxi driver, passengers who sat near him, flight attendants and hospital personnel.

MERS belongs to the same family of viruses as the common cold and severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, and kills more than one-third of the people it infects, largely through respiratory infections. Symptoms include fever, cough and shortness of breath. No vaccine exists.

Last year, South Korea struggled with an outbreak that killed 36 people.

GET FLU VACCINE EVEN AT THE END OF JANUARY!

What should I do to protect myself from flu this season?

CDC recommends a yearly flu vaccine for everyone 6 months of age and older as the first and most important step in protecting against this serious disease. People should begin getting vaccinated soon after flu vaccine becomes available, if possible by October, to ensure that as many people as possible are protected before flu season begins. However, as long as flu viruses are circulating in the community, it’s not too late to get vaccinated.  It is NOT LATE TO BE VACCINATED FOR FLU NOW AT THE END OF JANUARY

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LUNG CANCER SCREENING: WHERE ARE WE TWO YEARS LATER?

LUNG CANCER SCREENING: WHERE ARE WE TWO YEARS LATER?

In December 2013 USPSTF released a very important step towards fighting lung cancer however the hurdles by CMS and private insurance agencies are still in the way of fighting this big monster!

Please ask your doctor if you are a candidate for lung cancer screening.  Our staff are ready to answer any questions you might have.