healthy living websites: January 2015

Bacteria May Help Battle Cancer, Study Suggests

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay Reporter

SATURDAY, Jan. 31, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Bacteria may offer a new way to treat cancer, a small, preliminary study suggests.

Researchers injected a weakened strain of Clostridium novyi-NT bacteria spores into tumors in six patients. The bacteria grew in the tumors and killed cancer cells, the investigators reported.

C. novyi-NT, which lives in soil, is a close relative of the bacteria that causes botulism. Before injecting C. novyi-NT into the patients, the researchers weakened it by removing its dangerous toxin.

Five of the six patients are still alive, while one died from unrelated causes several months after receiving the bacteria injection, according to the study to be presented Saturday at the annual Symposium on Clinical Interventional Oncology in Hollywood, Fla.

Research presented at medical meetings should be viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

"When tumors reach a certain size, parts of them do not receive oxygen, which makes them resistant to conventional therapies such as radiation and chemotherapy," study author Dr. Ravi Murthy, a professor of interventional radiology at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, said in a symposium news release.

"C. novyi-NT thrives under these conditions, hones in on the low-oxygen areas and destroys tumors from the inside while sparing normal tissue," Murthy explained.

C. novyi-NT also triggers an immune response to cancer.

"Essentially, C. novyi-NT causes a potent cancer-killing infection in the tumor," study principal investigator Dr. Filip Janku, an associate professor in the department of investigation therapeutics at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, said in the news release.

The new findings are very preliminary and much additional research into the potential therapy is needed.

More information

The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more about cancer treatments.

Recommended article: Chomsky: We Are All – Fill in the Blank.

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Winter Is the Season of Nosebleeds

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay Reporter

SATURDAY, Jan. 31, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Nosebleeds are a common during the winter and shouldn't be cause for concern, an expert says.

"Cold winter air can be drying and irritating to the nose, and so can forms of indoor heat, such as forced air and fireplaces. Blood flow from the nose can range from a few drops to a real gusher," explained Dr. James Stankiewicz, chair of the otolaryngology department at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Ill.

"Older individuals are more susceptible to nosebleeds in winter because their mucous membranes are not as lush and the dry air causes the thinning blood vessels in the nose to break," he said in a university news release.

And older women and people taking blood-thinning drugs have an even greater risk. "Women who are postmenopausal are especially vulnerable to nosebleeds because of the decrease in estrogen that increases bodily fluids. Anyone who is taking blood thinners such as an aspirin regimen or Coumadin also is prone to nosebleeds," Stankiewicz added.

He offered the following advice.

If you get a nosebleed, don't panic. "Tilt your head back and apply firm pressure to the nostrils for about five minutes," Stankiewicz said.

Apply ice. The cold causes blood vessels to constrict, which limits and slows blood flow. Put petroleum jelly on cotton pads and insert them into your nostrils.

"Go to the doctor if the bleeding is profuse and will not stop. The bleeding vessel will likely be cauterized, meaning heat will be applied to the wound to stanch the flow," Stankiewicz said.

There are some things you can do to prevent winter nosebleeds, too.

"Get a humidifier and run it, especially in the bedrooms, with the door closed, a few hours before bed. You will be spending eight hours or so asleep and your nose, like you, needs a soothing rest," Stankiewicz said.

"A dab of petroleum jelly on either side of the septum, two times per day, will aid moisture. Saline sprays and specialized gels and ointments also are readily available at stores," he said.

More information

The U.S. National Library of Medicine has more about nosebleeds.

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Lead Exposure May Be Bigger Threat to Boys Than Girls

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, Jan. 30, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Hormones may explain why lead exposure is less likely to cause brain damage in girls than in boys, researchers report.

Specifically, the female hormones estrogen and estradiol may help protect against lead's harmful effects on the frontal areas of the brain, according to the findings published recently in the Journal of Environmental Health.

"The study supports existing research suggesting that estrogen and estradiol in females may act as neuroprotectants against the negative impacts of neurotoxins," study author Maya Khanna, a psychology professor at Creighton University, said in a university news release.

The study included 40 children. They were between the ages of 3 and 6, and all lived in an area of Omaha considered the largest residential lead clean-up site in the United States. The area has high levels of lead contamination in the soil due to emissions from a lead refinery that operated there for 125 years.

Also, many homes in the area are old and still have lead-based paint.

The researchers found that 23 of the children had elevated blood lead levels. Boys with elevated lead levels scored low on tests of memory, attention and other thinking abilities. Girls with elevated lead levels did not do as poorly on the tests, according to the study.

The researchers also found that elevated lead levels had a much stronger negative impact on thinking abilities than on reading readiness.

This is the first study to show that very young children already experience harm from lead exposure, and that lead has a greater impact on thinking abilities in boys than in girls, according to Khanna.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about lead.

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Early Exposure to English May Help Spanish-Speaking Kids in School

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, Jan. 30, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Early exposure to English helps Spanish-speaking children in the United States do better in school, a new study shows.

"It is important to study ways to increase Spanish-speaking children's English vocabulary while in early childhood before literacy gaps between them and English-only speaking children widen and the Spanish-speaking children fall behind," study author Francisco Palermo, an assistant professor in the University of Missouri College of Human Environmental Sciences, said in a university news release.

"Identifying the best ways to support Spanish-speaking children's learning of English at home and at preschool can diminish language barriers in the classroom early and can help start these students on the pathway to academic success," he added.

The study included more than 100 preschoolers who primarily spoke Spanish. The children were learning English. The researchers found that the youngsters' English vocabulary skills were better if they were exposed to English both at home and in the classroom.

When parents used English at home, it helped the kids learn and express new English words. Using English with classmates also helped the children practice new English words, according to the researchers.

"It is important for parents with limited English proficiency to continue speaking their native languages with children and to look for situations where they, other relatives, neighbors and children's playmates can expose children to English so that they can have some familiarity with English before entering preschool," Palermo suggested.

The amount of English used by teachers didn't have a significant effect on the preschoolers' English vocabularies. The quality and variety of teachers' English may be more important than the amount of English they use, according to Palermo.

"Preschool is an ideal setting to study how [Spanish-speaking] children learn language because learning in preschool occurs mainly through social interactions, and languages are learned naturally by engaging in social interactions," Palermo explained.

"Teachers should support children's native languages and encourage activities in the classroom that allow children to interact using English," he added.

The study was published recently in the journal Applied Psycholinguistics.

By 2030, as many as four in 10 students in the United States will be learning English as a second language, according to the Center for Research on Education, Diversity and Excellence.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about building languages.

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Flame Retardants May Raise Risk of Preterm Births, Study Finds

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, Jan. 30, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Pregnant women exposed to high levels of flame-retardant chemicals may be at increased risk for having premature babies, a new study indicates.

Researchers analyzed blood samples from pregnant women when they were admitted to hospital for delivery. Those with higher levels of flame-retardant chemicals in their bodies were more likely to have preterm babies (before 37 weeks of pregnancy) than those with lower levels of the chemicals, the investigators found.

"Nearly all women have some amount of exposure to flame-retardant chemicals. Many people have no idea that these chemicals can be found on many common items, including household dust and clothes dryer lint," study author Dr. Ramkumar Menon, an assistant professor in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Texas Medical Branch, said in a university news release.

Flame retardants have been widely used for four decades in home construction, furniture, clothing and electronic appliances, and they have been found in amniotic fluid, umbilical cord tissue, fetal tissue and breast milk, the study authors said.

More than 15 million babies around the world are born prematurely every year. About 1 million of these babies die shortly after birth, making preterm birth the second-leading cause of death in children under 5, the researchers added.

"Since stopping the use or exposure of flame retardants during pregnancy is not likely, our laboratory is currently studying the mechanisms by which flame retardants cause preterm birth," Menon said.

While the study found an association between exposure to flame-retardant chemicals and premature birth, it did not prove a cause-and-effect link.

The study was published Jan. 28 in the Journal of Reproductive Immunology.

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development has more about preterm labor and birth.

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Obama to Announce Major Personalized Medicine Initiative

By Margaret Steele, HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, Jan. 30, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- In what could be a significant advance for personalized medicine, President Barack Obama will ask Congress to fund a research program aimed at developing treatments that would be tailored to a patient's individual genes, the White House said Friday.

The plan would give scientists access to genetic and medical information for about 1 million American volunteers, according to news reports.

The goal is to help physicians determine the best treatments for specific patients, Dr. Francis Collins, director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), told The New York Times. The NIH will head the ambitious venture.

White House officials told reporters that $215 million is needed to launch the "precision medicine initiative" next fall.

"We do not envision this as being a biobank, which would suggest a single repository for all the data or all the samples," Jo Handelsman, associate director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, told the Times. "There are existing cohorts around the country that have already been started and have rich sources of data. The challenge in this initiative is to link them together and fill in the gaps."

The scientists would have access to medical records, genetic profiles, laboratory test results, lifestyle habits and more for the participants.

Already, certain medical fields and centers are moving away from a one-treatment-fits-all approach.

"Patients with breast, lung and colorectal cancers routinely undergo molecular testing as part of their care," Handelsman told reporters. Results of these tests help doctors select the drug treatments most likely to boost patients' odds for survival. Some drugs target specific genes implicated in a condition.

The Center for Individualized Medicine at the Mayo Clinic offers genomic testing to patients to personalize care. Currently, it accepts patients with advanced cancers or rare diseases thought to have genetic origins, according to its website.

The aim of the U.S. program is to "harness the power of science to find individualized health solutions," Collins told the Associated Press.

Collins said the growing affordability of genomic sequencing combined with advances in computer-powered medicine have made it possible to tackle this approach on a large scale.

More information

The U.S. National Institutes of Health has more about matching treatments to your genes.

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Some With Kidney Stones Might Have Calcium Buildup in Blood Vessels: Study

By Rosemary Black

HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, Jan. 30, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Some people who develop recurring kidney stones may also have high levels of calcium deposits in their blood vessels, and that could explain their increased risk for heart disease, new research suggests.

"It's becoming clear that having kidney stones is a bit like having raised blood pressure, raised blood lipids [such as cholesterol] or diabetes in that it is another indicator of, or risk factor for, cardiovascular disease and its consequences," said study co-author Dr. Robert Unwin, of University College London. Unwin is currently chief scientist with the AstraZeneca cardiovascular & metabolic diseases innovative medicines and early development science unit, in Molndal, Sweden.

The main message, Unwin said, "is to begin to take having kidney stones seriously in relation to cardiovascular disease risk, and to practice preventive monitoring and treatments, including diet and lifestyle."

Some 10 percent of men and 7 percent of women develop kidney stones at some point in their lives, and research has shown that many of these people are at heightened risk for high blood pressure, chronic kidney disease and heart disease, the researchers said.

But study author Dr. Linda Shavit, a senior nephrologist at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, and her colleagues wanted to find out whether the heart issues that can occur in some of those with kidney stones might be caused by high levels of calcium deposits in their blood vessels.

Using CT scans, they looked at calcium deposits in the abdominal aorta, one of the largest blood vessels in the body. Of the 111 people in the study, 57 suffered recurring kidney stones that were comprised of calcium (kidney stones can be made up of other minerals, depending on the patient's circumstances, the researchers noted), and 54 did not have kidney stones.

Not only did the investigators find that those with recurring kidney stones made of calcium have higher calcium deposits in their abdominal aortas, but they also had less dense bones than those who did not have kidney stones.

Earlier research has shown that calcium buildup in blood vessels frequently goes hand in hand with bone loss, which suggests a link between osteoporosis and atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries.

Dr. Steven Fishbane, vice president of dialysis services at North Shore-LIJ Health System, in Great Neck, N.Y., was cautious in interpreting the results. "Patients should not be panicked by the findings, but they are worth discussing with your physician," he advised.

"Many people who develop a kidney stone will go on to form more stones," Fishbane said. "There is a risk of recurrence, although it can also be an isolated event."

Shavit noted that genetic factors are responsible for the development of kidney stones in about 50 percent of cases, but diet and lifestyle also play a part. Not drinking enough water or consuming too much calcium, potassium or salt in your diet are major risk factors for kidney stones, she said.

So, Shavit added, individuals with kidney stones should be monitored for heart disease in various ways, including having CT scans that measure both calcium deposits in blood vessels and bone density, and by counting the number of kidney stones that develop and where they are located.

Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, a preventive cardiologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, agreed that CT scans can be useful for these patients. "If you are having recurring kidney stones, it may be worth talking to your doctor about this test since we know that kidney stones can be associated with heart disease down the line," she said.

The findings were published online Jan. 29 in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

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Colon Cancer Rates Rising Among Americans Under 50

By Alan Mozes

HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, Jan. 30, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Although the overall rate of colon cancer has fallen in recent decades, new research suggests that over the last 20 years the disease has been increasing among young and early middle-aged American adults.

At issue are colon cancer rates among men and women between the ages of 20 and 49, a group that generally isn't covered by public health guidelines.

"This is real," said study co-author Jason Zell, an assistant professor in the departments of medicine and epidemiology at the University of California, Irvine.

"Multiple research organizations have shown that colon cancer is rising in those under 50, and our study found the same, particularly among very young adults," he said. "Which means that the epidemiology of this disease is changing, even if the absolute risk among young adults is still very low."

Results of the study were published recently in the Journal of Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology.

The study authors noted that more than 90 percent of those with colon cancer are 50 and older. Most Americans (those with no family history or heightened risk profile) are advised to start screening at age 50.

Despite remaining the third most common cancer in the United States (and the number two cause of cancer deaths), a steady rise in screening rates has appeared to be the main driving force behind a decades-long plummet in overall colon cancer rates, according to background information in the study.

An analysis of U.S. National Cancer Institute data, published last November in JAMA Surgery, indicated that, as a whole, colon cancer rates had fallen by roughly 1 percent every year between 1975 and 2010.

But, that study also revealed that during the same time period, the rate among people aged 20 to 34 had actually gone up by 2 percent annually, while those between 35 and 49 had seen a half-percent yearly uptick.

To examine that trend, the current study focused on data collected by the California Cancer Registry. This registry included information on nearly 232,000 colon cancer cases diagnosed between 1988 and 2009. Half the cases were in men, and over 70 percent occurred in whites.

Less than half a percent of those with colon cancer were between the ages of 20 and 29. And, about 2 percent were between the ages of 30 and 39. Around 7 percent were between the ages of 40 and 49 when diagnosed with colon cancer, according to the study.

The researchers found that between 1988 and 2009, the biannual colon cancer rates had been rising by 2.7 percent among males 20 to 29 and 40 to 49. Among males 30 to 39, the biannual increase was pegged even higher, amounting to 3.5 percent.

In young women, the increases were even higher. Women aged 20 to 29 saw a 3.8 percent biannual increase, according to the study. Those in their 30s saw a 4.5 percent increase, and women in their 40s had a 2.6 percent biannual increase, the study reported.

By contrast, both males and females in their 50s, 60s and 70s, saw a decrease in their colon cancer rates during the study period.

"We're not saying the proportion is shifting," Zell stressed. "Most colon cancer is still happening to older people. But I do think we need to do a much better job at early-age detection. Because another thing we observed is that those young adults who get colon cancer have a higher stage of cancer at diagnosis. And that has terrible implications when we look at survival."

But what exactly is driving the trend?

"That's the 20-million-dollar question right there," said Zell, who acknowledged that there is no simple explanation at hand. "But what I can say is that we need more awareness of the trend among both patients and doctors. Because at this point, key symptoms among young adults, like blood in the stool, weight loss or other complaints, are often ignored."

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Health Highlights: Jan. 29, 2015

Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:

Obama to Launch Research Program Focused on Personalized Medicine

Personalized medicine is the focus of a major research program to be announced Friday by President Barack Obama.

Administration officials said it will include the collection of genetic data on one million Americans in order to help scientists develop drugs and other treatments tailored to individual patients' characteristics, The New York Times reported.

The initiative will help doctors determine which treatments work best for which patients, according to Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health.

The research program would begin with an initial $215 million included in the president's budget request for the fiscal year that starts on Oct. 1, The Times reported.

"Many details about how this initiative is going to be designed and operated are still in the process of being worked out," Collins said. The government will create a panel of advisers to "help us put real specifics into what is now an exciting but somewhat general plan."

Since the 1990s, scientists have been collecting and storing human tissue and other biological specimens in what are called biobanks.

"There are existing cohorts around the country that have already been started and have rich sources of data. The challenge in this initiative is to link them together and fill in the gaps," Handelsman explained.

The data collected in the new initiative would include laboratory test results, medical records, information about people's diet, lifestyle, environment and tobacco use, and profiles of patients' genes, The Times reported.

Patients will help shape the research program and their "privacy will be rigorously protected," according to Handelsman.

She noted that "patients with breast, lung and colorectal cancers routinely undergo molecular testing as part of their care," and doctors use the results of these tests to help them select treatments most likely to benefit patients.

The initiative was praised by Mark Fleury, a policy analyst at the American Cancer Society's Cancer Action Network.

"Cancer is a disease of faulty genes. The goal of personalized medicine is to understand the unique characteristics of individual patients so therapies can be tailored to genetic mutations that underlie their disease," he told The Times.

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Teens, Young Adults Most Likely to Go to ER After Car Accidents: Report

By HealthDay staff, HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, Jan. 30, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- In a finding that won't surprise many parents, a new government analysis shows that teens and young adults are the most likely to show up in a hospital ER with injuries suffered in a motor vehicle accident.

Race was another factor that raised the chances of crash-related ER visits, with rates being higher for blacks than they were for whites or Hispanics, data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicated.

According to information in the study, there were almost 4 million ER visits for motor vehicle accident injuries in 2010-2011, a figure that amounted to 10 percent of all ER visits that year.

Crash victims were twice as likely to arrive in an ambulance as patients with injuries not related to motor vehicle crashes (43 percent versus 17 percent), the study found. However, the chances that crash victims were determined to have really serious injuries were only slightly higher than those who arrived at the ER for other injuries (11 percent versus 9 percent).

"While almost half of the patients arrived by ambulance, they were generally no sicker than patients with non-motor vehicle-related injuries and were no more likely to require admission to the hospital," said Dr. Eric Cruzen, medical director of emergency medicine at The Lenox Hill HealthPlex, a freestanding emergency room in New York City.

Cruzen -- who was not involved in the study -- noted that "most patients evaluated after motor vehicle accidents received an X-ray and/or CT scan, and were most often diagnosed with sprains, strains and contusions."

According to the study authors, Dr. Michael Albert and Linda McCaig of the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), "In spite of improvements in motor vehicle safety in recent years, motor vehicle crashes remain a major source of [injury and death] in the United States."

And, they wrote, "Motor vehicle-related deaths and injuries also result in substantial economic and societal costs related to medical care and lost productivity."

Age was perhaps the most compelling determinant of who arrived in the ER with a motor vehicle crash injury, with the rate peaking at 286 per 10,000 persons for those aged 16 to 24. That compared to a rate of 65 per 10,000 persons for those aged 65 and over, and 70 per 10,000 persons for those under the age of 15.

In addition, race also played a part in the likelihood of such ER visits, the findings showed.

The overall ER visit rate for motor vehicle injuries was higher among black people (260 per 10,000 persons) than among whites (119 per 10,000 persons) or Hispanics (104 per 10,000 persons), the study found.

The findings were reported Jan. 30 in the NCHS Data Brief.

More information

Find out more about teen driving safety at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

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Health Tip: Drink Responsibly

By Diana Kohnle, HealthDay Reporter

(HealthDay News) -- Responsible drinking is a surefire way to prevent alcohol abuse and alcohol poisoning, a dangerous complication of drinking too much.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests:

Don't over-drink or binge drink.

Don't mix alcohol with energy drinks. The caffeine in energy drinks may mask the effects of alcohol and lead to drinking too much.

Avoid drinks with an unknown amount of alcohol.

If you see anyone with signs of alcohol abuse, seek immediate help.

Seek help if you think you have a drinking problem.

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Health Tip: Prepare Your Child for College

Some doctors won't see patients with anti-vaccine views

By ALICIA CHANG, AP Science Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) — With California gripped by a measles outbreak, Dr. Charles Goodman posted a clear notice in his waiting room and on Facebook: His practice will no longer see children whose parents won't get them vaccinated.

"Parents who choose not to give measles shots, they're not just putting their kids at risk, but they're also putting other kids at risk — especially kids in my waiting room," the Los Angeles pediatrician said.

It's a sentiment echoed by a small number of doctors who in recent years have "fired" patients who continue to believe debunked research linking vaccines to autism. They hope the strategy will lead parents to change their minds; if that fails, they hope it will at least reduce the risk to other children in the office.

The tough-love approach — which comes amid the nation's second-biggest measles outbreak in at least 15 years, with at least 98 cases reported since last month — raises questions about doctors' ethical responsibilities. Most of the measles cases have been traced directly or indirectly to Disneyland in Southern California.

The American Academy of Pediatrics says doctors should bring up the importance of vaccinations during visits but should respect a parent's wishes unless there's a significant risk to the child.

"In general, pediatricians should avoid discharging patients from their practices solely because a parent refuses to immunize his or her child," according to guidelines issued by the group.

However, if the relationship between patient and doctor becomes unworkable, the pediatrics academy says, the doctor may want to encourage the vaccine refuser to go to another physician.

Some mothers who have been dropped by their doctors feel "betrayed and upset," said Dotty Hagmier, founder of the support group Moms in Charge. She said these parents made up their minds about vaccines after "careful research and diligence to understand the risks versus the benefits for their own children's circumstances."

Dropping patients who refuse vaccines has become a hot topic of discussion on SERMO, an online doctor hangout. Some doctors are adamant about not accepting patients who don't believe in vaccinations, with some saying they don't want to be responsible for someone's death from an illness that was preventable.

Others warn that refusing treatment to such people will just send them into the arms of quacks.

The measles-mumps-rubella vaccine, or MMR, is 97 percent effective at preventing measles, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Measles spreads easily through the air and in enclosed spaces. Symptoms include fever, runny nose, cough and a rash all over the body. In rare cases, particularly among babies, measles can be deadly. Infection can also cause pregnant women to miscarry or give birth prematurely.

All states require children to get certain vaccinations to enroll in school. California is among 20 states that let parents opt out by obtaining personal belief waivers. Some people worry that vaccines cause developmental problems, despite scientific evidence disproving any link. Others object for religious or philosophical reasons.

Nationally, childhood measles vaccination rates have held steady for years at above 90 percent. But there seem to be growing pockets of unvaccinated people in scattered communities, said Dr. Gregory Wallace of the CDC.

In recent years, nearly all U.S. measles cases have been linked to travelers who caught the virus abroad and spread it in this country among unvaccinated people.

Northern California's Marin County has a high rate of people claiming personal belief exemptions. In 2012, Dr. Nelson Branco and his partners at a Marin County practice started turning away toddlers whose parents refused to make sure they received the measles vaccine.

Branco said 10 to 20 of his practice's 8,000 or so patients left after the change.

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More Measles Cases Seen in January Than in Typical Year: CDC

By Dennis Thompson

HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, Jan. 29, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- The United States has seen more cases of measles in January than it usually does in an entire year, federal health officials said Thursday.

A total of 84 cases in 14 states were reported between Jan. 1 and Jan. 28, Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said during an afternoon news conference.

That's more in one month than the average 60 measles cases each year that the United States saw between 2001 and 2010, said Schuchat, who is also Assistant Surgeon General of the U.S. Public Health Service.

"It's only January, and we've already had a very large number of measles cases -- as many cases as we have all year in typical years," she said. "This worries me, and I want to do everything possible to prevent measles from getting a foothold in the United States and becoming endemic again."

January's numbers have been driven largely by the multi-state measles outbreak that originated in two Disney theme parks in California in December, Schuchat said.

There have been 67 cases of Disney-related measles reported since late December, occurring in California and six other states, she said. Of those, 56 are included in the January count. About 15 percent of those infected have been hospitalized, she added.

Schuchat pointed the finger directly at a lack of vaccination for the Disney cases.

"The majority of the adults and children that are reported to us for which we have information did not get vaccinated, or don't know whether they have been vaccinated," she said. "This is not a problem of the measles vaccine not working. This is a problem of the measles vaccine not being used."

Public health officials are particularly concerned because the Disney outbreak comes on the heels of the worst year for measles in the United States in two decades, Schuchat said.

In 2014, there were more than 600 cases of measles, the most reported in 20 years. Many were people who contracted measles from travelers to the Philippines, where a massive outbreak of 50,000 cases had occurred, Schuchat explained.

The United States declared measles eliminated in 2000, meaning that the virus is no longer native to this country.

But measles still rages abroad, and can re-enter the United States to infect vulnerable people through travelers, Schuchat noted.

"Although we aren't sure how exactly this year's outbreak began, we assume that someone got infected with measles overseas, visited the Disneyland parks and spread the disease to others," she said.

The CDC estimates there are about 20 million cases of measles worldwide each year, and in 2013 almost 146,000 people died from the highly infectious disease, Schuchat said. For every 1,000 children who get measles, two to three die, she added.

Parents whose children are not vaccinated against measles should get them immunized, she said, and adults who aren't sure about their vaccination history should get a booster dose as well.

"For adults out there, if you're not sure if you've had measles vaccine or not, we'd urge you to contact your doctor or nurse and get vaccinated," Schuchat said. "There's no harm in getting another MMR vaccine if you've already been vaccinated."

A trickle of measles cases have always flowed into the United States as a result of travel between countries. In January, doctors have seen cases here linked to travel to Indonesia, Azerbaijan, India and Dubai, Schuchat said.

Measles is incredibly infectious, even more so than Ebola, officials explained.

"It's so contagious that if one person has it, 90 percent of the people close to that person who aren't immune will also become infected," Schuchat said. "You can become infected by being in the same room as a person who has measles, even if that person already left the room, because the virus can hang around for a couple of hours."

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Tamiflu Cuts 1 Day Off Average Flu Bout, Study Finds

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, Jan. 29, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- A review of the data suggests that the antiviral drug Tamiflu shortens the length of flu symptoms by about a day, and reduces the risk of flu-related complications such as pneumonia.

The findings come from an analysis of nine published and unpublished randomized clinical trials of Tamiflu (oseltamivir) in adults. The data was provided to the researchers by Tamiflu's maker, Roche.

The studies compared the effectiveness of the licensed 75-milligram dose of Tamiflu against a placebo in more than 4,300 adults who had the flu between 1997 and 2001.

In patients with laboratory-confirmed flu, Tamiflu shorted the length of flu symptoms by 21 percent compared with the placebo, shortening the average flu bout from about five days to four.

Compared to flu sufferers who took the placebo, patients who took Tamiflu also had a 44 percent lower risk of lower respiratory infections requiring antibiotics and a 63 percent lower risk of hospitalization for any cause.

One expert said the study was important.

"This type of confirmatory data is great to see," said Victoria Richards, associate professor of medical sciences at the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn.

"It has often been stated that Tamiflu reduces the length of the flu, but to have more data, especially independent data, to back up the statement is critical for appropriate prescribing and usage," she said. "Moreover, reducing the risk of bacterial infections is encouraging."

Still, every medicine has its risks and that was true for Tamiflu, as well. The study found that patients who took Tamiflu were 3.7 percent more likely to experience nausea and 4.7 percent more likely to have vomiting than those who took a placebo.

The study, published online Jan. 29 in The Lancet, was funded by the Multiparty Group for Advice on Science foundation, an independent panel of experts.

Tamiflu's safety and effectiveness "has been hotly debated, with some researchers claiming there is little evidence that [Tamiflu] works," study co-leader Arnold Monto, professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, noted in a journal news release.

But the new data review gives "compelling evidence" the drug does reduce flu duration while preventing complications, he said. However, "whether the magnitude of these benefits outweigh the harms of nausea and vomiting needs careful consideration," Monto added.

Dr. Ambreen Khalil is an infectious disease specialist at Staten Island University Hospital in New York City. She said that any drug that can ease a bout of flu is welcome because "symptoms associated with influenza can be severe, and influenza infection predisposes some people to develop secondary infections such as pneumonia."

Khalil said that testing patients to quickly confirm influenza is also key and can "help limit the use of Tamiflu to those who have confirmed diagnosis."

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about flu antiviral drugs.

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More Evidence That Boxing Can Lead to Brain Damage

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, Jan. 29, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Another study supports the notion that repeated blows to the head in boxing or the martial arts can damage the brain.

The study, led by Dr. Charles Bernick of the Cleveland Clinic, included professional fighters -- 93 boxers and 131 mixed martial arts experts. They ranged in age from 18 to 44, and were compared against 22 people of similar age with no history of head injuries.

The amount of time the boxers and martial arts combatants had spent as professional fighters ranged from zero to 24 years, with an average of four years, Bernick's team said. The number of professional matches they'd had ranged from zero to 101, with an average of 10 a year.

MRI brain scans and tests of memory, reaction time and other intellectual abilities showed that the fighters who had suffered repeated blows to the head had smaller brain volume and slower processing speeds, compared to non-fighters.

While the study couldn't prove cause-and-effect, the effects were evident at a relatively young age and tied to a higher risk of thinking and memory problems, the Cleveland researchers said.

The more fights, the worse the outcomes for the brain, the study found. Gauging the number of fights a boxer or martial arts expert had engaged in, Bernick's team came up with a "Fight Exposure Score." They found that the higher the score, the lower the volume of certain brain structures, and the poorer the person's performance in "brain processing speed."

The boxers tended to fare worst: They had smaller brain volume and tested as mentally slower compared martial arts fighters, according to the study published online Jan. 29 in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

"Perhaps the most obvious explanation is that boxers get hit in the head more," the researchers wrote. "In addition to trying to concuss (i.e. knock out) their opponent, martial arts fighters can utilize other combat skills such as wrestling and jiu jitsu to win their match by submission without causing a concussion," they added.

More information

The American Academy of Family Physicians has more about concussion.

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Too Much Alcohol at Midlife Raises Stroke Risk, Study Finds

By Dennis Thompson

HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, Jan. 29, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Too much alcohol in middle age can increase your stroke risk as much as high blood pressure or diabetes, a new study suggests.

People who average more than two drinks a day have a 34 percent higher risk of stroke compared to those whose daily average amounts to less than half a drink, according to findings published Jan. 29 in the journal Stroke.

Researchers also found that people who drink heavily in their 50s and 60s tend to suffer strokes earlier in life than light drinkers or non-imbibers.

"Our study showed that drinking more than two drinks per day can shorten time to stroke by about five years," said lead author Pavla Kadlecova, a statistician at St. Anne's University Hospital International Clinical Research Center in the Czech Republic.

The enhanced stroke risk created by heavy drinking rivals the risk posed by high blood pressure or diabetes, the researchers concluded. By age 75, however, blood pressure and diabetes became better predictors of stroke.

The study involved 11,644 middle-aged Swedish twins who were followed in an attempt to examine the effect of genetics and lifestyle factors on risk of stroke.

Researchers analyzed results from a Swedish registry of same-sex twins who answered questionnaires between 1967 and 1970. By 2010, the registry yielded 43 years of follow-up, including hospital records and cause-of-death data.

Almost 30 percent of participants had a stroke. They were categorized as light, moderate, heavy or nondrinkers based on the questionnaires, and researchers compared the risk from alcohol and health risks such as high blood pressure, diabetes and smoking.

The researchers found that for heavy drinkers, alcohol produced a high risk of stroke in late middle age, starting at age 50. By comparison, light drinkers' or nondrinkers' stroke risk increased gradually with age.

Among identical twins, siblings who had a stroke drank more than their siblings who hadn't had a stroke, suggesting that midlife drinking raises stroke risks regardless of genetics and early lifestyle, the researchers said.

Midlife heavy drinkers -- those in their 50s and 60s -- were likely to have a stroke five years earlier in life, irrespective of genetic and lifestyle factors, the study found.

The findings are consistent with national guidelines that recommend a maximum of two drinks a day for men and one for women, said Dr. Irene Katzan, a staff neurologist and director of the Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation at the Cleveland Clinic. That translates to a daily maximum of about 8 ounces of wine for a man and 4 ounces for a woman.

"It's a nice study that corroborates what we've known about alcohol and stroke, and it corroborates the recommendations that are in the national guidelines," Katzan said.

It's not clear exactly how alcohol affects stroke risk, but some theories center on the fact that alcohol thins your blood. This could increase your risk of hemorrhagic stroke, in which a blood vessel breaks inside the brain, Katzan said.

"The more you drink, the more risk you have of bleeding in the brain," she said.

At the same time, it's also well-known that alcohol contributes to high blood pressure and can increase the chances of atrial fibrillation, two other health-related risk factors for stroke, she added.

"Who knows what combination of factors are at play in any particular person?" Katzan concluded.

People who imbibe should consider cutting back their intake if they are having two or more drinks a day on average, Katzan and Kadlecova said.

"It is okay to drink in moderation," Katzan said. "The ideal is consuming less than two drinks per day for men, and for non-pregnant women the maximum should be no more than one drink per day."

More information

For more on stroke risk factors, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Early Birds May Catch the Worm, but Night Owls May Snatch the Win

By Amy Norton

HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, Jan. 29, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Who's going to win Sunday's Super Bowl? It may depend, in part, on which team has the most "night owls," a new study suggests.

The study found that athletes' performance throughout a given day can range widely depending on whether they're naturally early or late risers.

The night owls -- who typically woke up around 10 a.m. -- reached their athletic peak at night, while earlier risers were at their best in the early- to mid-afternoon, the researchers said.

The findings, published Jan. 29 in the journal Current Biology, might sound logical. But past studies, in various sports, have suggested that athletes usually perform best in the evening. What those studies didn't account for, according to the researchers behind the new study, was athletes' "circadian phenotype" -- a fancy term for distinguishing morning larks from night owls.

These new findings could have "many practical implications," said study co-author Roland Brandstaetter, a senior lecturer at the University of Birmingham, in England.

For one, athletes might be able to maximize their competitiveness by changing their sleep habits to fit their training or play schedules, he suggested.

"What athlete would say no, if they were given a way to increase their performance without the need for any pharmaceuticals?" Brandstaetter said. "All athletes have to follow specific regimes for their fitness, health, diet and psychology."

Paying attention to the "body clock," he added, just adds another layer to those regimens.

The study began with 121 young adults involved in competitive-level sports who all kept detailed diaries on their sleep/wake schedules, meals, training times and other daily habits.

From that group, the researchers picked 20 athletes -- average age 20 -- with comparable fitness levels, all in the same sport: field hockey. One-quarter of the study participants were naturally early birds, getting to bed by 11 p.m. and rising at 7 a.m.; one-quarter were more owlish, getting to bed later and rising around 10 a.m.; and half were somewhere in between -- typically waking around 8 a.m.

The athletes then took a series of fitness tests, at six different points over the course of the day. Overall, the researchers found, early risers typically hit their peak around noon. The 8 a.m. crowd, meanwhile, peaked a bit later, in mid-afternoon.

The late risers took the longest to reach their top performance -- not getting there till about 8 p.m. They also had the biggest variation in how well they performed across the day.

"Their whole physiology seems to be 'phase shifted' to a later time, as compared to the other two groups," Brandstaetter said.

That includes a difference in the late risers' cortisol fluctuations, he said. Cortisol is a hormone that, among other things, plays a role in muscle function.

But while the study showed clear differences in the three groups' peak-performance times, it didn't prove that trying to change an athlete's natural sleep/wake tendencies will boost performance.

"You can't infer that from this study," said Dr. Safwan Badr, immediate past president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

To prove that would work, he said, researchers would have to do an "intervention" study where they recruited night owls or early birds and changed their sleep/wake cycles.

Plus, altering one's body clock would be easier said than done, according to Badr. It could also get complicated, he noted, for athletes who have to travel to different time zones to compete.

"If you're an East Coast team playing on the West Coast at night, you're really at a disadvantage," Badr said.

In fact, a 2013 study of National Football League teams found that since 1970, West Coast teams have had a major advantage over East Coast teams during night games.

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Flu's Grip on U.S. Starting to Weaken: CDC

By Steven Reinberg

HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, Jan. 29, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- After a rough start to the flu season, the number of infections seems to have peaked and is even starting to decline in many parts of the nation, federal health officials reported Thursday.

"We likely reached our highest level of activity and in many parts of the country we are starting to see flu activity decline," said Dr. Michael Jhung, a medical officer in U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Influenza Division.

Jhung added, however, that flu remains widespread in much of the country.

As has been the case since the flu season began, the predominant type of flu continues to be an H3N2 strain, which is not a good match to this year's vaccine. The majority of H3N2-related infections diagnosed so far -- 65 percent -- are "different from the strain in the vaccine," he said.

The reason: the circulating H3N2 strain mutated after scientists settled last year on the makeup of this season's flu shot.

This year's flu season continues to hit children and the elderly hardest. And some children continue to die from flu. "That's not surprising," Jhung said, adding that 56 children have died from complications of flu.

In an average year, children's deaths vary from as few as 30 to as many as 170 or more, CDC officials said.

Jhung thinks that over the next few weeks, as in other flu seasons, different flu strains -- such as H1N1 -- will likely become more common. "I expect to see some other strains circulating, but I don't know how much," he said.

That could be good news on the vaccine front. Right now, the flu vaccine is only about 23 percent effective, due to the mutated H3N2 strain. But, as other strains become more widespread, the vaccine's effectiveness should increase, Jhung said.

Most years, flu vaccine effectiveness ranges from 10 percent to 60 percent, according to the CDC.

Twenty-three percent effectiveness means there's some benefit -- a little less flu among vaccinated people. Typically, flu is more common among the unvaccinated, but this year there's been a lot of flu both in people who are vaccinated and in those who aren't, CDC officials said.

Vaccine effectiveness is also related to the health of those getting the shot. Flu vaccine usually works best in young, healthy people, and is less effective in those 65 and older, the CDC said.

So far, this year's shot has been most effective -- 26 percent -- for children 6 months old through 17 years. Older people have been getting less benefit -- 12 percent effectiveness for those 18 to 49 years and 14 percent effectiveness for those 50 and older, according to the CDC.

Jhung said that all the data right now suggest that this flu season will be like the last H3N2 season -- in 2012-13. "At the end of that season, we called it a 'moderately severe' season," he said.

And even though it's well into the flu season, Jhung said it's not too late to get a flu shot. "It's the first line of protection," he said.

The CDC recommends that everyone 6 months and older get vaccinated. Vaccination can prevent some infections and reduce severe disease that can lead to hospitalization and death, the agency says.

Other ways to treat and prevent flu from spreading include early treatment with antiviral drugs such as Tamiflu and Relenza, and washing hands frequently and covering your mouth when coughing or sneezing.

As of the middle of January, all areas of the country reported flu activity at or above baseline levels. Twenty-three states and Puerto Rico experienced high activity. Ten states and New York City experienced moderate activity. Another 10 states reported low flu activity and seven states reported minimal activity, the CDC reported.

More information

For more on flu, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Acne Gel Linked to Rare Side Effect, Doctors Warn

By Alan Mozes

HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, Jan. 29, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- For certain people, the acne treatment Aczone may be linked to a rare blood disorder, a new case study contends.

A 19-year-old woman who had used Aczone -- the skin gel version of the drug dapsone -- for a week developed a serious condition called methemoglobinemia.

The patient showed up at a Pittsburgh emergency room with a headache, shortness of breath, and blue lips and fingers. Her symptoms initially confounded her doctors.

Although she had applied a "pea-sized" amount of Aczone to her skin twice daily for seven days before seeking care, she never mentioned that when asked if was using any medications.

"We went over all her meds and herbal supplements," said Dr. Greg Swartzentruber, a medical toxicology fellow at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. "And we couldn't come up with a cause, even after interviewing her and her family. Aczone was just never mentioned."

The young woman didn't realize that "topical medicines can have systemic adverse effects, and she didn't realize the importance of telling your doctor about everything you might be taking, including topicals," he added.

The study authors noted that prior research has shown that dapsone pills, in very rare instances, can trigger methemoglobinemia, the abnormal production of a red blood cell protein that delivers oxygen throughout the body.

But the current case appears to be the first time that this condition has been associated with Aczone, the skin gel version of dapsone, they said.

Swartzentruber and his colleagues described the case in a letter in the Jan. 29 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Dapsone pills, which were also used to treat leprosy, have been available for decades. The topical 5 percent gel version known as Aczone was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2005.

"It's a very effective first- or second-line treatment for acne," said Dr. Darrell Rigel, a clinical professor of dermatology with New York University Medical Center in New York City. "The medicine has actually been around since before World War II. It works, and anything you can apply topically to the skin is going to, by definition, be more locally targeted than an ingestible. So that's good."

The problem with this drug "is that whether taken orally or topically it can cause a serious reaction among certain people with a rare genetic defect that makes it impossible to metabolize properly," he explained.

"The blood cells blow up, basically," Rigel added. "The prevalence of this deficiency is very low. Maybe it affects less than 1 percent of the population, but those that have it can end up with serious problems."

Rigel said the dermatologist who prescribes Aczone has a responsibility to always screen patients for this issue. "And patients have to know that when they're asked to give their drug history they can't forget their topicals," he said.

On both points, Swartzentruber agreed. It wasn't until the results of a urine test came back that doctors saw indications of dapsone, he said.

This case shows that even a skin product is absorbed, "and can still produce a serious reaction," he added.

The young woman was successfully treated and released from the hospital after two days, he said.

Allergan, the maker of Aczone, commented on the findings in the same journal issue.

"Acquired methemoglobinemia is a rare complication after exposure to certain topical anesthetic agents and oral antibiotic agents, including oral dapsone, but was not seen in clinical trials of topical dapsone," the company said.

"Although methemoglobinemia appears to be rarely associated with Aczone 5 percent gel, it has been listed as an adverse drug reaction in the Allergan reference safety materials in order to create awareness among patients and prescribers," the drug maker continued.

A company spokeswoman declined further comment.

More information

There's more on acne at the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

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Good Sleep Habits, Enforced Rules Help Kids Sleep: Study

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, Jan. 29, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- A regular bedtime and other sleep-related rules help children and teens get a good night's sleep, a new study suggests.

"Good quality and sufficient sleep are vital for children," study leader Orfeu Buxton, an associate professor of biobehavioral health at Penn State in College Park, Pa., said in a university news release.

"Just like a healthy diet and exercise, sleep is critical for children to stay healthy, grow, learn, do well in school, and function at their best," Buxton added.

Researchers analyzed survey responses from more than 1,100 American parents or guardians of youngsters aged 6 to 17.

Even though most of the parents believed sleep was important, only 10 percent of the children and teens in the study got the recommended amount of sleep for their age group. For ages 6 to 11, the amount of recommended sleep is at least nine hours a night. It's at least eight hours nightly for ages 12 to 17, according to the study.

Youngsters were more likely to get better and more sleep if they had a regular bedtime and rules such as limited caffeine consumption and no electronic devices on in the bedroom after bedtime, the researchers found.

"An important consequence of our modern-day, 24/7 society is that it is difficult for families -- children and caregivers both -- to get adequate sleep," Buxton noted.

The findings were published in the Jan. 26 issue of the journal Sleep Health.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about sleep.

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Little Improvement in Children Paralyzed After Viral Infection, Study Finds

By Dennis Thompson

HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, Jan. 29, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- A cluster of 12 Colorado children are suffering muscle weakness and paralysis similar to that caused by polio, and doctors are concerned these cases could be linked to a nationwide outbreak of what's usually a rare respiratory virus.

Despite treatment, 10 of the children first diagnosed late last summer still have ongoing problems, the authors noted, and it's not known if their limb weakness and paralysis will be permanent.

The viral culprit tied to at least some of the cases, enterovirus D68 or EV-D68, belongs to the same family as the polio virus.

"The pattern of symptoms the children are presenting with and the pattern of imaging we are seeing is similar to other enteroviruses, with polio being one of those," said lead author Dr. Kevin Messacar, a pediatric infectious diseases physician at Children's Hospital Colorado in Aurora.

Dr. Amesh Adalja is a senior associate at the Center for Health Security at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and a spokesman for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. He stressed that it's "important to keep in context that this is a rare complication that doesn't reflect what enterovirus D68 normally does in a person.

"There's no avoiding comparisons to polio because it's in the same family of virus, but I don't think we're going to see wide outbreaks of associated paralysis the way we did with polio," Adalja added. "For whatever reason, we're seeing a smaller proportion of paralytic cases."

In 2014, the United States experienced a nationwide outbreak of EV-D68, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). From mid-August to mid-January 2015, public health officials confirmed more than 1,100 cases in all but one state. The virus was detected in 14 patients who died of illness, the CDC reported.

In most cases EV-D68 resembles a common cold, according to the CDC. Mild symptoms include fever, runny nose, sneezing and cough. People with more severe cases may suffer from wheezing or difficulty breathing.

Colorado was hit hard by EV-D68, the report authors say in background notes. In August and September, Children's Hospital Colorado experienced a 36 percent increase in ER visits involving respiratory symptoms and a 77 percent increase in admissions for respiratory illness, compared to 2012 and 2013.

During that same time frame, the hospital also began to see children come in with mysterious limb weakness and paralysis. A review of cases between August and October revealed 12 children, averaging 11.5 years of age, who had suffered these symptoms.

The children all had varying degrees of muscle weakness to the arms and legs, difficulty swallowing, and/or facial weakness. In addition, all had a fever and respiratory illness about a week before the neurological symptoms began, according to the study.

Doctors found that 10 of the children had spinal cord lesions revealed by MRI, and brainstem lesions were seen in nine children.

Eight of the children tested positive for enteroviruses or rhinoviruses, of which five were identified as EV-D68. Eleven of the children had been previously vaccinated against polio. One child was completely unvaccinated, according to the study.

Messacar said he and his colleagues wanted to raise the possibility of a link between these cases and the EV-D68 outbreak, although he added, "We can't definitively prove the two are linked."

There is currently no vaccine available for EV-D68, and no antiviral medications have yet been identified as effective in treating the virus, Adalja said.

Doctors at Children's Hospital Colorado tried a variety of treatments, including the antiviral drug pocapavir, and none seemed to help the children, according to the study.

"People are looking into which compounds might be active against it in the future," Messacar said.

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Arizona Officials Say Nearly 1,000 People May Have Been Exposed to Measles

By Tara Haelle

HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, Jan. 29, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- In a development that could dramatically widen the scope of a measles outbreak that began last month at Disney parks in California, Arizona health officials said Wednesday that up to 1,000 people in that state may have been exposed to the highly infectious disease.

Included in that number are an estimated 200 children who could have been exposed to the measles virus after an infected woman recently visited a Phoenix health clinic. The woman had been in contact with a family that had traveled to Disneyland, and although she did not have the telltale signs of measles when she went to the clinic, her infection was confirmed Tuesday, Arizona health officials told the Associated Press.

Maricopa County Health Director Bob England would not say whether the woman had ever been vaccinated against measles, the AP reported.

"Unfortunately, she came down with the disease and by the time it was recognized had already exposed a large number of children at the facility," he told the wire service.

Arizona Health Services Director Will Humble said it's possible, but unlikely, that the number of cases in that state can be contained to seven. Still, anyone who has not been vaccinated has been asked to stay home for 21 days or wear masks if they have to go out in public.

"To stay in your house for 21 days is hard," Humble said. "But we need people to follow those recommendations, because all it takes is a quick trip to the Costco before you're ill and, 'bam,' you've just exposed a few hundred people. We're at a real critical juncture with the outbreak."

Arizona health officials don't know how many of the children at the Phoenix clinic were vaccinated against measles. They are working to notify the families of children who went there either Jan. 20 or Jan. 21, the AP reported.

The possible exposure rate of 1,000 is based on the number of people who may have come in contact with the 195 children who health officials think visited the clinic on those two days, USA Today reported.

Arizona is now second to California in the number of cases. Measles has also been confirmed in five other states -- Utah, Washington, Colorado, Oregon and Nebraska -- as well as Mexico.

The total number of measles cases linked to the outbreak now stands at 95, with 79 of those cases reported in California, state health officials there reported Wednesday.

So far, most of the people infected hadn't gotten the measles-mumps-rubella -- or MMR -- vaccine, officials said.

The outbreak is occurring 15 years after measles was declared eliminated in the United States. But the new outbreak illustrates how quickly a resurgence of the disease can occur.

And health experts explain the California outbreak simply.

"This outbreak is occurring because a critical number of people are choosing not to vaccinate their children," said Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center and an attending physician at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's Division of Infectious Diseases.

"Parents are not scared of the disease" because they've never seen it, Offit said. "And, to a lesser extent, they have these unfounded concerns about vaccines. But the big reason is they don't fear the disease."

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommended last week that all parents vaccinate their children against measles.

The United States declared measles eliminated from the country in 2000. This meant the disease was no longer native to the United States. The country was able to eliminate measles because of effective vaccination programs and a public health system for detecting and responding to measles cases and outbreaks, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But in the intervening years, a small but growing number of parents have chosen not to have their children vaccinated, due largely to what experts call mistaken fears about childhood vaccines.

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Diabetes Patients Lax With Meds If Diagnosed With Cancer, Study Finds

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, Jan. 29, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- People with diabetes are less likely to take their diabetes medications if they've been diagnosed with cancer, researchers report.

The new study included more than 16,000 diabetes patients, average age 68, taking drugs to lower their blood sugar. Of those patients, more than 3,200 were diagnosed with cancer.

"This study revealed that the medication adherence among users of [blood sugar-lowering drugs] was influenced by cancer diagnosis," the researchers wrote.

"Although the impact of cancer was more pronounced among cancers with a worse prognosis and among those with more advanced cancer stages, the difference in prognosis associated with these cancers seemed to only partly explain the impact of cancer on medication adherence," they added.

To determine the impact, the Dutch and Canadian researchers analyzed the patients' medication possession ratio (MPR), which represents the amount of medication patients had in their possession over a certain period of time.

In this study, a 10 percent decline in MPR translated into three days a month where patients did not take their diabetes medications.

At the time of cancer diagnosis, there was an overall 6.3 percent drop in MPR, followed by a 0.20 percent monthly decline following a cancer diagnosis.

The researchers also found that MPR rose about 2 percent after a prostate cancer diagnosis and fell only 0.5 percent after a breast cancer diagnosis. Large drops in MPR occurred among patients with liver (35 percent), esophageal (19 percent), lung (15.2 percent), stomach and pancreatic cancers, as well as those with late-stage cancer (10.7 percent).

For each extra month after cancer diagnosis, the largest declines in MPR were seen in patients with pancreatic cancer (0.97 percent) and in those with late-stage cancer (0.64 percent).

The research was led by Marjolein Zanders, of the Netherlands Comprehensive Cancer Organization in Eindhoven, and Jeffrey Johnson, of the School of Public Health at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. The findings were published Jan. 28 in the journal Diabetologia.

Cancer patients with diabetes are also much more likely to die than those without diabetes, and part of that might be explained by the decline in medication adherence, the researchers noted in a journal news release.

"In future studies, the reason for the decline in MPR needs to be further elucidated among the different cancer types -- is it the patient who prioritizes the fight against cancer or the advice of the physician to stop the treatment?" they wrote.

More information

The American Academy of Family Physicians has more about diabetes.

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Nearly 1 in 10 Adults Skips Meds Due to Cost, CDC Says

By Steven Reinberg

HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, Jan. 29, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Nearly one in 10 American adults don't take their medications as prescribed because they can't afford to, health officials reported Thursday.

High drug costs in the United States may be hurting the very people the medications are meant to help, the new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests.

About 15 percent of U.S. adults have asked their doctor for a lower-cost alternative, the researchers found. Moreover, almost 2 percent have bought prescription drugs from another country -- where medications may or may not be regulated -- and more than 4 percent have tried alternative therapies.

"These people are skipping doses, taking less medication or delaying filling prescriptions," said report author Robin Cohen, a health statistician at CDC's National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).

Not taking medications as prescribed can have serious consequences, said co-author Maria Villarroel, chief of the special projects branch at NCHS.

"People who do not take their medication as prescribed have more hospitalizations, emergency room visits and an increased burden of their illness," Villarroel said.

Skimping on prescription drugs because of financial concerns was seen at every age, but much more so in people younger than 65. They were nearly twice as likely to not take their medications to save money as people aged 65 and older (8.5 percent versus 4.4 percent).

Whereas more than 5 percent of 18- to 64-year-olds skipped doses or took less medication to save money, those tactics were practiced by fewer than 3 percent of people aged 65 and older.

Also, delaying filling a prescription to cut expenses was reported by about 7 percent of 18- to 64-year olds, and about 3 percent of those aged 65 and older, the report found.

The researchers used data from the 2013 National Health Interview for the report and published the findings as a NCHS Data Brief. Overall, they found, 7.8 percent of adults admitted not taking medication as recommended because of high costs.

Insurance was a key factor in whether patients took their medications as prescribed, the researchers found. Among adults younger than 64, about 6 percent with private insurance skipped medications to save money, compared with 10.4 percent of those with Medicaid and 14 percent of uninsured patients.

The poorest adults -- those with incomes below 139 percent of the poverty level (about $27,300 for a family of three last year) -- were most likely to not take medication as prescribed because of limited finances, the researchers said.

"Poor adherence to prescribed medication use is a significant problem with potentially serious consequences," agreed Dr. David Katz, director of the Yale University Prevention Research Center.

For many medications, it makes sense for public and private insurers to remove all barriers to access and, if anything, add incentives, Katz said.

"Failure to use an important medication portends complications, a bad outcome and higher costs," Katz said. "The patient, the payer, and potentially the public, all lose in this scenario. Removing financial disincentive is a good place to start."

The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services suggests the following ways patients can save money on drugs:

Take generic or other lower-cost medications,

Choose an insurance plan that has additional drug coverage,

Consider drug assistance plans offered by pharmacies and states,

Apply to Medicare and Social Security for help reducing costs,

Apply to community-based charities for help with medication costs.

More information

For tips on reducing drug costs, visit the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

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Binge-Watching TV May Be Sign of Depression, Loneliness

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, Jan. 29, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Binge-watching television is linked with feeling lonely and depressed, a new study suggests.

"Even though some people argue that binge-watching is a harmless addiction, findings from our study suggest that binge-watching should no longer be viewed this way," study author Yoon Hi Sung said in a news release from the International Communication Association.

The study included more than 300 people. They were between the ages of 18 and 29. The researchers asked about their TV viewing habits and their moods.

The more lonely and depressed people were, the more likely they were to binge-watch TV. And, people binge-watched in an attempt to distract themselves from their negative feelings, according to the University of Texas at Austin researchers.

The researchers also found that people who lacked self-control were more likely to binge-watch TV. They were unable to stop even when they knew they had other tasks to complete.

"Physical fatigue and problems such as obesity and other health problems are related to binge-watching and they are a cause for concern. When binge-watching becomes rampant, viewers may start to neglect their work and their relationships with others. Even though people know they should not, they have difficulty resisting the desire to watch episodes continuously," Sung said.

"Our research is a step toward exploring binge-watching as an important media and social phenomenon," Sung concluded.

The study is to be presented at the International Communication Association's annual meeting in Puerto Rico, which will be held in late May. Findings from meetings are generally considered preliminary until they've been published in a peer-reviewed journal.

More information

Mental Health America outlines how to live your life well.

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Eye Tracking May Help to Spot Concussions Quickly

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, Jan. 29, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- A new eye-tracking method might help determine the severity of concussions, researchers report.

They said the simple approach can be used in emergency departments and, perhaps one day, on the sidelines at sporting events.

"Concussion is a condition that has been plagued by the lack of an objective diagnostic tool, which in turn has helped drive confusion and fears among those affected and their families," said lead investigator Dr. Uzma Samadani. She is an assistant professor in the departments of neurosurgery, neuroscience and physiology at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City.

"Our new eye-tracking methodology may be the missing piece to help better diagnose concussion severity, enable testing of diagnostics and therapeutics, and help assess recovery, such as when a patient can safely return to work following a head injury," she explained in an NYU news release.

According to researchers, it's believed that up to 90 percent of patients with concussions or blast injuries have eye movement problems. But the current method of assessing eye movement is asking a patient to track a doctor's finger, Samadani said.

The new method was originally developed by Samadani and her colleagues to assess eye movement in U.S. military personnel believed to have concussion or other types of brain injuries.

The researchers compared 75 trauma injury patients and a control group of 64 healthy people. The movements of the participants' pupils were tracked while they watched a music video for a few minutes.

Thirteen trauma patients who hit their heads and had CT scans showing new brain damage, and 39 trauma patients who hit their heads and had normal CT scans, were much less able to coordinate their eye movements than trauma patients who hadn't hit their heads and those in the control group.

The more severe the concussion, the worse a patient's eye movement problems, according to the study. Results were published online Jan. 29 in the Journal of Neurotrauma.

Dr. M. Sean Grady, chair of the neurosurgery department at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia, said, "The importance of this study is that it establishes a reliable test and a 'biological' marker for detecting concussion." He was not involved in the study.

"Since concussion can occur without loss of consciousness, this can be particularly important in sideline evaluations in athletics or in military settings where individuals are highly motivated to return to activity and may minimize their symptoms. More work is needed to establish its sensitivity and specificity, but it is very promising," Grady said.

More information

The American Academy of Family Physicians has more about concussion.

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