The cost of diabetes in the US could soar to $3.35 trillion from 2010-2020, with the government footing 60 percent, the bulk of the bill, if Americans don’t start to take off pounds, says the country’s largest health insurance group, United Health of Minnesota. Diabets currently costs the US $195 billion. The number of Americans with high blood sugar will climb from 93.8 million in 2010 to 135 million by 2020, a new study released 23 November by the group shows.
The figures follow a study published in October 2010 by the US Centres for Disease Control in Atlanta that shows one in three US adults could have diabetes by 2050. “One in 10 US adults has diabetes now,” the CDC reported. “The prevalence is expected to rise sharply over the next 40 years due to an aging population more likely to develop type 2 diabetes, increases in minority groups that are at high risk for type 2 diabetes, and people with diabetes living longer, according to CDC projections.”
The 1.3 million people displaced by January’s massive earthquake in Haiti are bracing for the arrival of tropical storm Tomas, which is heading for the Caribbean island and is gathering strength. People living in tents since their houses were destroyed by the earthquake are hoping that the storm will give the capital Port-au-Prince a miss, but weather experts are saying the deforested half-island is prone to flooding and mudslides.
Health experts worry that the country’s poor sanitation system, also largely destroyed by the earthquake, will exacerbate water-borne diseases, especially the cholera outbreak that has killed more than 440 people, 105 in the past 6 days. The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed earlier that the cholera strain afflicting Haiti was of South Asian origin, fuelling rumours that the source was a Nepalese army base in Haiti.
Links to other sites: Miami Herald, NewsTime, SF Gate, Washington Post
Source: Al-Jazeera
At least 138 people have died and more than 1,500 are seriously ill following an outbreak of what Haitian health officials say may be cholera, according to reports 22 October. The victims are all from the Artibonite region north of the capital Port-au-Prince, and died of acute diarrhea and dehydration, symptoms of cholera. Medical investigators from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention are investigating the source of the outbreak. The government is trucking in clean water to the area.
Cholera is a bacterial disease spread by contaminated water that can cause death by dehydration in as few as four hours. It is entirely treatable by intravenous or oral rehydration.
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Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – US President Barack Obama declared swine flu a national emergency late Friday 23 October, in order to relax some Medicaid and Medicare (national health insurance for the elderly and the poor) rules ahead of a potential surge in cases that could swamp the country’s medical facilities. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says the epidemic has increased in the past weeks and is now widespread in 46 of the 50 states. Swine flu activity has reached levels that the seasonal flu variety normally reaches in late November to March, CDC reported 23 October.
People at particular risk are pregnant women, especially those in the latest stage of pregnancy, children under the age of two, and people with pre-existing pulmonary problems, like asthma. In these cases, patients can develop severe symptoms within 3-5 days. The World Health Organization (WHO) says that the disease can progress rapidly, leading to respiratory collapse and the urgent need for mechanical respiration.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – After an emergency meeting early this afternoon the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the the A/H1N1 (swine) flu pandemic had entered its highest phase 6, denoting “sustained community-level outbreaks in at least two WHO regions.” In its latest update 10 June, WHO reported almost 28,000 confirmed cases of swine flu in 74 countries worldwide, with 141 deaths. Sudden spikes in confirmed cases in the past few days have been reported from widely-separated countries like Australia and Chile, prompting WHO concern.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The World Health Organization (WHO) reported a 16 percent increase in 24 hours in the number of A/H1N1 (swine flu) cases worldwide, from 6,497 confirmed cases Thursday 14 May to 7,500 Friday. During the previous week, the increase was 200 percent. The statistics hide a more complex picture than the dramatic rise in numbers at first appears to show.
