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Two New Studies Support Health Benefits Of Black Tea
Two new research papers supporting the health benefits of drinking black tea were presented today at the first-ever Epidemiology Congress 2001, a joint meeting of Canadian and American scientific societies. The first paper, a national cross-sectional study of 1,764 women in Saudi Arabia, shows that tea drinkers are 19 percent less likely to suffer from cardiovascular disease. A second epidemiological paper presented at the conference shows that tea consumption is associated with a lower risk of rectal cancer in Moscow women. more
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ACE Inhibitor Use Brings About Fifty Percent Reduction Of Recurrent Stroke Risk In Historical Study
Fifty million people worldwide have strokes or TIAs (mini-strokes) annually. A new study has revealed that over 500,000 of those incidents annually could be prevented by using a combination of perindopril (a high-blood pressure medication) and indapamide (a diuretic). more
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Physicians' Database Searches As A Tool For Early Detection Of Epidemics
The frequency of physician searches in a popular database could be useful as a complementary tool in early recognition of infectious disease epidemics. In a pilot study, a retrospective analysis of the feasibility of using surveillance of database searches in the PDRD to identify epidemics of four specific infectious diseases, as recorded in a recently revised National Infectious Diseases Register (NIDR) was undertaken. The findings are available in today's issue of Vidyya. more
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PulseNet: The Molecular Subtyping Network for Foodborne Bacterial Disease Surveillance, United States
PulseNet, the national molecular subtyping network for foodborne disease surveillance, was established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and several state health department laboratories to facilitate subtyping bacterial foodborne pathogens for epidemiologic purposes. PulseNet, which began in 1996 with 10 laboratories typing a single pathogen (Escherichia coli O157:H7), now includes 46 state and 2 local public health laboratories and the food safety laboratories of the US Food and Drug Administration and the US Department of Agriculture. Four foodborne pathogens (E. coli O157:H7; nontyphoidal Salmonella serotypes, Listeria monocytogenes and Shigella) are being subtyped, and other bacterial, viral, and parasitic organisms will be added soon. This report summarizes the activities of PulseNet and explains how professionals from around the world may benefit from the agencies activities. more
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Seasonal Variation In Host Susceptibility And Cycles Of Certain Infectious Diseases
Seasonal cycles of infectious diseases have been variously attributed to changes in atmospheric conditions, the prevalence or virulence of the pathogen, or the behavior of the host. Some observations about seasonality are difficult to reconcile with these explanations. These include the simultaneous appearance of outbreaks across widespread geographic regions of the same latitude; the detection of pathogens in the off-season without epidemic spread; and the consistency of seasonal changes, despite wide variations in weather and human behavior. In contrast, an increase in susceptibility of the host population, perhaps linked to the annual light/dark cycle and mediated by the pattern of melatonin secretion, might account for many heretofore unexplained features of infectious disease seasonality. Ample evidence indicates that photoperiod-driven physiologic changes are typical in mammalian species, including some in humans. If such physiologic changes underlie human resistance to infectious diseases for large portions of the year and the changes can be identified and modified, the therapeutic and preventive implications may be considerable. more
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