We should limit our listening to music to one hour per day, according to WHO
International health news
- A simple skin test may be used to detect disorders which occur in the brain such as Alzheimer’s, Dementia and Parkinson’s. Abnormal proteins which collect in the brain in these conditions can also be found in the skin, making early diagnosis of these conditions, and therefore earlier treatment, a possibility.
- ME has distinct stages according to a recent study. It is hoped that this will help improve the treatment, diagnosis and understanding of this debilitating disease
- The WHO have been taken aback by surge in Measles outbreaks in Europe and central Asia and are urging parents to have their children vaccinated.
- Non-communicable diseases are the real global threat. People in developing countries are now more likely to die from strokes and heart attacks, the big killers of the developed world, than from infectious diseases.
Health advice
- Listening to music should be cut to only one hour a day recommends the WHO. According to the WHO, 43 million 12-35 year olds suffer from hearing loss and this move may help to curb that number.
Country health updates
- Spain suggests a staggering new law to reclassify pedestrians as ‘users of the road’ in a move to curb ‘drunk-walking’ in order to make the streets safer following a report which showed that drunk pedestrians pose a threat to themselves and others.
- Last month Belgium became the first country in the world to allow euthanasia without age restriction. This means that even children can opt for this measure, in extreme circumstances. This prompted the president of Chile to visit a 14-year-old girl who suffers from cystic fibrosis who had posted an emotive video on YouTube, begging the government to allow her to die.
- Sierra Leone’s vice president has voluntarily put himself in quarantine following the death of his bodyguard from Ebola. Meanwhile, a whole village elsewhere in Sierra Leone has put itself in lockdown due to a rise in new cases of Ebola in the past few weeks.
- STIs are not being treated effectively in the UK, investigation finds. Online pharmacies in the UK have been offering less effective treatment for gonorrhea than is recommended by health officials. Oral antibiotics are being given when the advised treatment is a stronger antibiotic received only through an injection. The websites are also reported to not be advising the patients to notify sexual partners that they have the STI.