World of Health

The prospect of ‘switching off’ coupled with exposure to people with a cold or flu frequently results in many holiday-makers getting sick with a cold or flu on holiday. One preventative measure for flu is to take an anti-viral medication such as Tamiflu or Relenza. Some NHS doctors can be willing to prescribe this but it can be bought legitimately and safely via online healthcare providers such as The Online Clinic (www.theonlineclinic.co.uk)

Many people, especially those with little spare time, are turning to online healthcare providers to purchase a variety of drugs in preparation for their holidays. With online pharmacies and clinics now offering a huge range of medications, including anti-malarials, contraceptives, influenza preventatives such as Tamiflu and Relenza as well as ‘lifestyle drugs’ such as Viagra, deciding which clinic to choose is hard. However online medicine purchase can be done very safely and legally provided you choose a reputable service. The Online Clinic, a leading online healthcare provider (www.theonlineclinic.co.uk), has put together this checklist to help you.

• Registration with the Care Quality Commission; this should be displayed on the homepage but you can cross-check this at the Care Quality Commission website (www.cqc.org.uk)
• UK pharmacies must be registered with the RPSGB, often online pharmacies display this registration number of but again, you can check this at http://www.pharmacyregulation.org/theregister/lookingforapharmacy/index.aspx
• Legitimate online healthcare providers should provide a UK address and phone number – call this and check you are purchasing from a UK supplier, whilst It isn’t necessarily illegal to buy medication abroad but it is much safer to choose a supplier within the UK so that you can check supplier credentials
• Avoid all websites offering to supply prescription-only medicines without a prescription; not only is this illegal it is also unsafe it is highly unlikely they will supply genuine products
• No legitimate website will allow customers to purchase medicines without a consultation with a registered doctor. Online consultations conducted properly can suffice and if a website’s consulting doctor has any doubts as to your suitability for a chosen drug  they will refer you to your GP.
• GMC rules state that all registered doctors must disclose their registration details to patients if they are consulting online. Insist on getting this information if it is not volunteered.

Bowel cancer is the third most common cancer in the UK with 38,500 new cases every year. Around half of these people will die, making it the second most common cause of cancer death after lung cancer, but despite this, many of us have no idea what the symptoms are.

Early diagnosis is vital because, if spotted early, bowel cancer is one of the most treatable forms of cancers (with over 90% of people surviving for 5 years or more if the cancer is diagnosed in the early stages).

So, to educate people about the  risk factors, symptoms, prevention and treatment of the disease, a new campaign has been launched by The London Clinic, to coincide with a national bowel cancer awareness campaign Be Loud Be Clear (running from 24^th to 31^st January).

As ever, prevention is better than cure, so The London Clinic is highlighting the importance of screening for the disease. If pre-cancerous polyps are identified and removed at colonoscopy then the likelihood of developing colorectal cancer is reduced by 80% or more.

There are currently a number of ways to screen for bowel cancer:

• Faecal Occult Blood test (FOBt) which can be carried out at home and checks for blood in stools
• Flexible sigmoidoscopy (flexi-sig) which involves passing an endoscope (thin, flexible tube with a miniature video camera on the end) into the first part of the colon and must be done at a hospital
• CT (virtual) colonography, again carried out in hospital Colonoscopy, which involves inserting a long, flexible endoscope all the way around the colon to directly visualise all areas where polyps and cancer can occur.

Risk factors of developing the disease include a family history of bowel cancer, obesity and increasing age (with 8 out of 10 cases of bowel cancer occurring in people aged 60 and over) It is important to be aware of the key symptoms, although unfortunately, some of the these can be overlooked or mistaken:

• A change in bowel habit (eg increased frequency or increased looseness of stool)
• Blood seen on or mixed in with a stool
• Extreme fatigue or shortness of breath, indicating anaemia
• Abdominal pain
• Weight loss
• Persistent lump in the abdomen

The London Clinic’s Dr Julian Teare, consultant gastroenterologist, and Mr Alistair Windsor, consultant colorectal surgeon, explain the importance of bowel cancer screening and symptoms to look out for.

For more information visit www.thelondonclinic.co.uk

Since the 1970′s there has been negligible progress in slowing or even stopping skin cancer. Now, at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London and Surrey, it has been proven that a drug has the ability to slow the reproduction of the deadliest skin cancer form, increasing the rate of survival of patients.

More than a thousand patients each year throughout the UK would be aided, where theirs has come back with a vengeance post-op.

The specific medicine, RG7204, is taken in the form of a pill, which is set to deal with a faulty gene that is found in 50% of the cases where there is malignant melanoma.

The cases of malignant melanoma have increases by 400% within only 30 years. This is a faster increase than any other cancer. Many experts believe it is the result of wider spread travel to sunny locations and popularity of sunbeds.

The reports did not reveal the length of extension of life for those who took the medicine, simply because it has not been professionally presented yet in either a journal or at a conference. However, they did note that the period is much longer than those undergoing traditional treatments, such as chemotherapy.

Unfortunately, malignant melanoma is not caught by the doctors until the patient has mere months left to live.

Studies done earlier reported a six to seven month life extension in contrast to two for traditional treatments.

Since the results are so optimistic, existing trial patients who are on chemo will now be given the medicine instead.

The research studied 680 patients across the globe. Seventy percent of those who have this faulty gene experienced a significant reduction in their tumour’s size.

The manufacturer, Roche, is now seeking a license to administer the medicine to those late in the progression of the disease.

The UK lead researcher for the study, Dr. James Larkin, from The Royal Marsden, said, “This is an amazing achievement. You can’t imagine how stubborn this disease is to treat. The outcome of the phase III trial is great hope in light of the increased occurrences of malignant melanoma in young people.”

Eleanor Carruthers, a 68-year-old grandmother from Merseyside, considered herself free of the threat of swine flu only to be taken by it last Saturday. She was confident because she had had the vaccination months ago.

She was already ill from lung cancer and emphysema. However, the vaccination for swine flu had been administered to her three months ago. She died at Royal Liverpool Hospital despite the fact that she had been inoculated. H1N1 is believed to be the major cause of her passing away.

Surviving her are her husband, Alf, 69, and her three children. One her daughters, Carole, 46, told reporters that they were floored at the speed of her decent toward death.

Carole went on, “We are all confused, since she had had the vaccine a couple of months ago. She was in a high risk slice of the population and it was highly recommended by the doctor. In fact, she was doing fine, but then Saturday morning her breathing fell apart. Everything happened so quick and then she was gone by night.”

“We had asked the doctor if I should stay away from her at News Year, since I was sick during this time with the flu. The doctor swore the shot would keep her safe.”

The NHS declares that the seasonal flu shot provides 75% flu protection. The World Health Organisation, the Department of Health, and the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation all declare that the vaccination is quite effective and they strongly suggest high risk individuals guard themselves against the flu virus.

This news of Eleanor Carruthers follows on the heels of the release of figures indicating more than 110 people were killed by the flu from October, twice that reported count half a month ago.

From those, 95 were infected with H1N1 and most of these patients who passed away were of retirement age or older.

You thought it was healthy to remove cash from the cash machine, but new tests prove the presence of more bacteria than is found in public lavatories. We’re not talking just any old plain vanilla bacteria, but the kind that cause illness, such as diarrhoea.

Samples were taken by experts from the keypads of several ATM’s throughout England, visited by thousands of patrons each day. These same experts lifted samples from lavatories close to these ATM’s. They let them grow overnight, culturing in petri dishes. When they examined them with microscopes, they keyed pseudomonads and bacillus, linked to diarrhoea.

As for the quantity of these bacteria, the ATM’s hosted just as many as the lavatories. BioCote conducted the research tests following a poll which showed the public lavatories are thought by Brits to be the worst risk of public disease.

The same poll showed that more than 3,200 people were afraid that public phones posed the worst risks of disease infections.

Lavatories were certainly regarded the worst health risks I the UK, but ATM’s came in tenth place. Nearly 25% of the people polled thought the public phone was a risk, but only 10% claimed they wiped the buttons and handset prior to using it.

Many diseases of civilization are directly related to obesity. In the other context, a statistical, but the mechanism of action is unknown.  Increased internal abdominal fat causes inflammation, diabetes, heart attack and cancer.  Overweight and obese people are high risk for the development of cardiovascular diseases.

Obesity increases the risk for hypertension (high blood pressure), diabetes mellitus type 2 (adult onset diabetes, diabetes), reflux, heart attacks, atherosclerosis, strokes, breast cancer, arthritis and osteoarthritis, joint pain, degenerative spinal disorders such as intervertebral osteochondrosis, foot deformities, gallbladder disease, gout and obstructive sleep apnea syndrome.

The dangers of weak veins / venous thrombosis, also caused by obesity, has been ignored for a long time. If your BMI is 25 to 29.9, the mortality risk is already increased by 20-40%.

Obesity is also a risk factor for a decrease in cognitive performance and dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease.  This may at least partly be associated with diabetes mellitus, of which we now know that there is an increased risk for Alzheimer’s disease. Recent studies show that with an increasing BMI, the risk of atrophy of certain brain areas also increases the risk of dementia.

Concerned about the shrinking of brain tissue is primarily the frontal lobes, parts of the parietal lobe and hippocampus. The psychological consequences of obesity are serious. Those affected often feel like failures and outsiders. Often, psychological and even economic damage can occur for those affected, because obesity is not socially tolerated.

The financial and socio-economic consequences of being overweight are enormous.  Serious damage can be caused to the musculoskeletal system (joint damage, muscle spasms, bone deformation, damage to ligaments, tendons and bursae, scoliosis and herniated disc and bone growth in children and adolescents) can lead to many secondary treatments and serious operations.

Do you wear glasses or contact lenses because you have less than perfect vision? If your answer to that question is yes then you are not alone. While there are many people with perfect vision, most of us will experience an eye problem at some point. Fortunately, thanks to the invention of contact lenses, it is harder to tell who has eye problems and who does not.

It is important that you keep your eyes healthy, regardless of whether or not you have to wear some type of corrective lenses. In order to ensure that your glasses or contact lenses are properly adjusting your eyesight, you should have an eye exam at least once every two years. Some people are able to get away with only having an exam every three to four years but those suffering from eye problems, are diabetic, over the age of 60 and under the age of 16 need to have their eyes checked on a more regular basis.

If you wear contact lenses UK guidelines state that if you work with hazardous materials or chemicals, then you need to make sure that you wear safety glasses. This is also an important consideration for anyone playing sports, doing projects at home or even lying out in the sun on holiday.

One of the leading causes of eye injury is flying particles that can get into the eyes and damage them. If you get something in your eye, immediately contact a doctor to get treatment.

Finally, people who sit in front of computers for their jobs are more prone to eye strain issues and injuries than others. In order to protect your eyes, you can purchase special glasses that will reduce the glare from your computer screen and protect your eyes from strain.

Contact lens wearers can purchase special filters that fit over their computer screen and act the same way, reducing the glare and the strain on your eyes. Sometimes, all you have to do is rearrange your desk to reduce the strain. If you feel that you have eye problems due to computer usage, see your optician as soon as possible.

Ensuring that they stay healthy is imperative; it doesn’t matter if you purchase your prescription lenses from your optician or your favourite online contact lens store, taking care of them is fundamentally important, and continuing to do so after purchase is a vital step, too. Remember; you only get one pair of eyes, so make sure you treat them as best you can.