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Is swimming pool chlorine fueling the allergy epidemic?

Is swimming pool chlorine fueling the allergy epidemic?

Swimming in a chlorinated pool may boost the odds that a child susceptible to asthma and allergies will develop these problems, a study released today indicates.

“These new data clearly show that by irritating the airways of swimmers chlorination products in water and air of swimming pools exert a strong additive effect on the development of asthma and respiratory allergies such as hay fever and allergic rhinitis,” Dr. Alfred Bernard, a toxicologist at the Catholic University of Louvain in Brussels, Belgium, noted in an email to Reuters Health.

“The impact of these chemicals on the respiratory health of children and adolescents appears to be much more important — at least by a factor of five — than that associated with secondhand smoke,” Bernard noted.

Taken together with his team’s prior studies, he added, “There is little doubt that pool chlorine is an important factor implicated in the epidemic of allergic diseases affecting the westernized world.”

In the current study, Bernard and colleagues compared the health of 733 adolescents, 13 to 18 years old, who swam in chlorinated outdoor and indoor pools for various amounts of time with that of 114 “control” adolescents who swam mostly in pools sanitized with a concentration of copper and silver.

In children with allergic sensitivities, swimming in chlorinated pools significantly increased the likelihood of asthma and respiratory allergies, the researchers report in the journal Pediatrics.

Among “sensitive” adolescents, the odds for hay fever were between 3.3- and 6.6-fold higher in those who swam in chlorinated pools for greater than 100 hours and the odds of allergic rhinitis were increased 2.2- to 3.5-fold among those who logged more than 1000 hours of chlorinated pool time.

For example, among children and teens who swam in chlorinated pools for 100-500 lifetime hours, 22 children out of 369 (6.0%) had current asthma, compared with those who had spent less than 100 hours (2 of 144, 1.8%). The proportions with asthma rose with longer exposure, to 14 out of 221 (6.4%) who had been swimming for 500-1000 hours, and 17 out of 143 (11.9%) who swam for more than 1000 hours.

The risk of asthma and allergy was not influenced by swimming in copper-silver sanitized pools and children without allergic tendencies were not at increased risk of developing allergies.

“The only plausible explanation” for these observations, the researchers argue, is that the chlorine-based toxic chemicals in the water or hovering in the air at the pool surface cause changes in the airway and promote the development of allergic diseases.

“It is probably not by chance,” Bernard told Reuters Health, “that countries with the highest prevalence of asthma and respiratory allergies are also those where swimming pools are the most popular.”

The current findings, he and colleagues conclude, “reinforce” the need for further study on the issue and to enforce regulations concerning the levels of these chemicals in water and air of swimming pools.

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Study exposes how bacteria resist antibiotics

June 29, 2012Uncategorizedanti inflammatory drugs, antibiotic resistant bacteria, antibiotics, bacteria, beating, bf1, blister, calories, can, Cancer, damage dna, dangerous infections, defense mechanism, diet, different types of antibiotics, Drug, drug resistant bacteria, eating, Exercise, Exercising for Weight Gallery, Exercising for Weight Health Story, Exercising for Weight Health Photo, Exercising Weight, exposes, Flu, gallery, Gym, Health Health, health video, Healthy Minnesota, Healthy Minnesota Asia, Healthy Minnesota Health Story, Healthy Minnesota Photo Gallery, history, how, hurdle, in, journal science, laparoscopy, Malaysia Health, many different types, medical, MRSA, new antibiotics, new york university, nitric oxide, Nutrition, nyu langone, of, operation, organic, oxygen species, photo, physical, produce, resist, resistant, resistant staphylococcus aureus, safety issues, skin, spiritual, study, Study exposes, Study exposes Asia, Study exposes Gallery, Study exposes Health, Study exposes Health History, Study exposes Health Information, Study exposes Health Latest, Study exposes Photo Gallery, Study exposes Picture, Study exposes Video, Study exposes Web, Study exposesHealth latest, Study exposesHealth Photo, Study exposesover Picture, superbugs, Surgery, symptoms, telephone interview, tips, to, training, types of antibiotics, video, video photo, video surgery, virus, web Health, web Health picture, weightlossazuan

Study exposes how bacteria resist antibiotics

Scientists have discovered how bacteria fend off a wide range of antibiotics, and blocking that defense mechanism could give existing antibiotics more power to fight dangerous infections.

Researchers at New York University said on Thursday that bacteria produce certain nitric oxide-producing enzymes to resist antibiotics.

Drugs that inhibit these enzymes can make antibiotics much more potent, making even deadly superbugs like Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA succumb, they said.

“Developing new medications to fight antibiotic resistant bacteria like MRSA is a huge hurdle, associated with great cost and countless safety issues,” said Evgeny Nudler of NYU Langone Medical Center, whose study appears in the journal Science.

“Here, we have a short cut, where we don’t have to invent new antibiotics. Instead, we can enhance the activity of well-established ones, making them more effective at lower doses,” he said in a statement.

Drug-resistant bacteria such as MRSA are a growing problem in hospitals worldwide, killing about 19,000 people a year in the United States.

Nudler’s team found that many antibiotics kill bacteria through the production of harmful charged particles known as reactive oxygen species, otherwise called oxidative stress.

“Antibiotics cause bacteria to produce a lot of reactive oxygen species. Those damage DNA, and bacteria cannot survive. They eventually die,” Nudler said in a telephone interview.

We found nitric oxide can protect bacteria against oxidative stress.”

He said bacteria produce nitric oxide to resist antibiotics. The defense mechanism appears to apply broadly to many different types of antibiotics, he said.

Nudler said many companies are testing various nitric oxide-lowering compounds called nitric oxide synthase inhibitors for use as anti-inflammatory drugs.

He thinks a compound in this class could be made to reduce the amount of nitric oxide bacteria can produce, reducing their ability to resist antibiotics. That would mean researchers would not need to discover new antibiotics.

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High street pharmacy offers cervical cancer vaccine for £405

High street pharmacy offers cervical cancer vaccine for £405

The Cervarix vaccine which protects against the two strains of humanpapilloma virus responsible for the majority of cases of cervical cancer is available to girls aged between 12 and 18 on the NHS as part of a national vaccination programme.

However older women have been requesting the vaccine from their GPs only to be turned down in most cases. Cervarix and its rival Gardasil are available privately.

Government scientists advised that young girls be offered the vaccine as the virus is transmitted through intimate contact and sex and is less effective in women who have already been exposed to the virus.

Fears have also been raised that women may be given a false sense of security through having had the vaccine and not attend for cervical smear tests in future.

Boots the chemist is offering the service to women aged between 18 and 54 in 134 of its stores in England and Wales following successful pilots in ten stores in London which began in November last year.

Lloydspharmacy also offers the vaccine in almost 300 of its stores.

Women will not be tested to establish if they have already been infected with the HPV strains 16 and 18 which are included in the vaccine and so cannot be sure whether it will offer them substantial benefit.

Evidence considered by the Government advisers on the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation showed that one in ten women aged between 20 and 29 were already infected with HPV strain 16.

In recommending that girls aged 12 be routinely vaccinated with a catchup campaign offering it to all girls aged up to 18, a statement from the JCVI said: “Vaccination of girls above this age was not cost-effective given the assumed cost of vaccine and administration, and the increase in prevalence of previous infection in this age group.”

Sarah Woolnough, Cancer Research UK’s head of policy, said: “The best way that older women can protect themselves against cervical cancer is through the free NHS cervical screening programme, which has saved 100,000 lives since its introduction in 1988.

“We strongly advise all women to attend cervical screening when invited, even if they have had the HPV vaccination.

“We don’t yet know how effective the vaccine is in women who have already come into contact with HPV.”

However Dr Anne Szarewski, clinical consultant at Cancer Research UK’s centre for epidemiology at the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, is backing the Boots programme.

She said the chances of having contracted both strain 16 and 18 were just five per cent.

Dr Szarewski said: “And, even if you do catch HPV then a lot of people – around 50 per cent – will clear it from their bodies and not be immune.

“Even if you have an antibody response, this does not mean you are protected in the future.

“There is no reason why an individual woman should not have this vaccine.”

Dr Graham Marshall, Boots Medical Director, said: “As this vaccination is only available on the NHS through the schools’ vaccination programme, most women above the age of 18 will not be aware that they could benefit from the vaccination. Pharmacists are well placed to offer this service with convenient high street locations and a welcoming, familiar atmosphere.

“Boots pharmacists have undergone comprehensive training – written and agreed by an independent panel of experts – to provide this innovative, patient-led service. The consultation includes advice on sexual health and the importance of regular cervical screening.”

A Department of Health spokesman said: “The NHS runs a free HPV vaccination programme for girls from 12-18 years of age which will save the lives of up to 400 women each year.

“We strongly encourage all women over 25 to be regularly screened to help protect them from cervical cancer.

“Careful consideration was given to vaccinating older women. However, the national HPV vaccine programme aims to protect girls and young women before they are exposed to the human papillomavirus, where research shows that vaccination is most effective. The programme has been a great success with over three quarters of girls aged 12-13 years already having received all three doses of the vaccine.”

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