GOOD NEWS

Bird flu not so scary

According to a report in the Archives of Internal Medicine, while the avian flu virus can easily spread to people from fowl than previously believed, it is less likely to be lethal. A team of resear-chers from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm have reported that contact with sick or dead birds may result in a large number of people infected with a mild form of the virus. If these researchers are correct in their conclusion, more people would be sick from bird flu, but predictions about widespread deaths could be off the mark.

Meningitis signs

Researchers from Oxford have identified a number of early symptoms that can rapidly identify meningitis in its earliest and most-treatable stage. Writing in The Lancet, the researchers report that leg pains, cold hands and feet and abnormal skin colour, all considered signs of blood infection, show up within 12 hours of infection with meningococcal disease. That is more than 10 hours before classic meningitis symptoms like stiff neck, wooziness and haemorrhagic rash appear to cause alarm for a patient and a doctor.

BAD NEWS

Prostate test fails

Men who regularly undergo prostate cancer screening using PSA (prostate specific antigen) test should know that this does not reduce prostate cancer mortality, according to a group of researchers at Yale University. They analysed data from roughly 72,000 veterans living in Connecticut and reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine that 14 per cent of the men who died from prostate cancer underwent regular screening, and 13 per cent of the men who died from the disease ignored screening recommendations.

For smoking moms

For women who need one more reason to quit smoking, a report in the January issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery may be of help. Some plastic surgeons from the University of Pennsylvania have offered this compelling argument: pregnant women who smoke are more likely to deliver babies with extra fingers or toes or with webbed fingers and toes.