A drug which can extend the lives of men with incurable prostate cancer has been approved for use in Scotland.Scotland was the only part of the UK where abiraterone was not yet available on the NHS.But the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) has now given doctors the green light to prescribe it.The

The Thailand Ministry of Public Health - U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Collaboration (TUC) in collaboration with partners in Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, conducted a clinical study resulting in a new algorithm for pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) detection. The newly proposed algorithm consists of three initial symptom screening cr

A drug user has died in a Lancashire hospital after being infected with anthrax, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) has said.It is understood the victim is a man from north-west England. The HPA said the death happened in Blackpool and the person had injected drugs.It is the eighth case recently rep

The Disease Control Department is seeking to ease public fears over a disease found in Thailand with HIV-like symptoms, saying it is not contagious.The disease, identified by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and reported in the New England Journal of Medicine last Thursday, has been found

Coconut oil attacks the bacteria behind tooth decay and could be used in dental care products, according to research.Scientists found that coconut oil which had been treated with enzymes stopped the growth of Streptococcus bacteria – a major cause of tooth decay.Tooth decay affects 60% to 90% of chi

People with highly stressful jobs but little real control over decision making are running a 23% increased risk of a heart attack, according to authoritative research.Many people in today’s world, where the pace of life is fast and money is tight, may consider themselves stressed at work, but the de

(Reuters Health) – People who smoke or drink heavily may develop pancreatic cancer at an earlier age than folks who avoid those habits, a new study suggests.It’s long been known that smoking is a risk factor for developing pancreatic cancer – a disease that is rarely caught early and has a grim prog

A new way to screen poor women for cervical cancer was introduced this month in El Salvador, using a test that was originally developed in China.Cervical cancer was once the leading cancer killer of women in the United States, but deaths have been dramatically reduced in the last 50 years as a resul

We all get headaches from time to time and most of us reach for a painkiller when we do. But guidelines published on Wednesday by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) are warning that painkillers may be exacerbating rather than curing the problem.Solid evidence is hard to

More dentists need to be checking their patients for mouth cancer, say experts.Cancer Research UK says oral cancer rates are going up and some dentists are missing an opportunity to spot those at risk.All dentists should be asking about risk factors like smoking or heavy drinking as well as early te