Public Health in the News – August 30, 2015

Global

• A new study has showed that the life expectancy has increased for people across the globe, but people are also spending increasing portions of their lives living with illness and disability.
• The WHO is recommending that the EU ban trans fats and more tightly regulate alcohol consumption.
• Tropical Storm Erika is wreaking havoc, leading the country of Dominica to declare disaster status.
• Increasing numbers of people are fleeing Syria as conflict there mounts, but the refugees are having a hard time finding places that will take them in.

National

• Oliver Sacks, neuroscientist and author who wrote about unusual neurological disorders, passed away today.
• Researchers have developed a blood test that can detect DNA from breast cancer cells.
• A new, tiny version of the pacemaker has been developed and is awaiting FDA approval.
• Water in the San Quentin State Prison in California became contaminated with Legionnaires’ Disease, leading some inmates to get sick.
• A man from Utah has become the fourth person in the U.S. to die of the plague this year.
• You might want to rethink that Netflix binge – people who watch more than five hours of T.V. are at risk for developing fatal blood clots.
• A 14-year-old Houston boy, who had previously competed in the Junior Olympics, passed away after contracting a brain-eating amoeba while swimming in a lake.
• A new study has found four new genetic features that may predict a woman’s risk of developing ovarian cancer.
• Researchers have identified behaviors linked to suicide risk, including risky behavior, psychomotor agitation, and impulsivity.

Illinois/Chicago

• Several Chicago residents are at the end of their second week of hunger striking in an attempt to save a Bronzeville high school as well as call attention to modern educational policies that are unfair to students in disadvantaged neighborhoods.
• An emergency response drill led by the Illinois Department of Public Health was recently conducted. Although the Illinois State Police and the Illinois Department of Transportation did not participate, Governor Rauner says he is confident the state will be able to handle disasters such as a terrorist attack or pandemic.
• Two residents in a Quincy, Illinois veterans’ home have died from Legionnaires’ Disease.

Northwestern

• A Northwestern study indicates that very few young gay men get tested for HIV – only one in five.
• A recent NU PhD graduate published a paper that helps explain how a set of genes drives cancer formation.