(Reuters) – Yosemite National Park expanded a warning about the deadly hantavirus to 230,000 more recent visitors and confirmed on Thursday that a ninth person had contracted the virus, which has already killed three people.The Californian, the latest person confirmed to have been infected with hant

(Reuters) – Britain launched a public consultation on Monday to ask whether controversial “three-parent” fertility treatments should be available to families hoping to avoid passing on incurable diseases.The potential treatments, currently only at research stage in laboratories in Britain and the Un

(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

(Reuters) – Scientists have grown a drug to treat a rare genetic disease inside corn plants, potentially offering a cheaper way to manufacture a treatment that currently costs hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for each patient.The move marks an advance for the emerging field of molecular farmi

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) has issued a warning about the dangers of picking poisonous mushrooms.It says foragers should be aware that it is easy to mix up toxic with non-toxic varieties.Dozens of people seek medical advice each year after eating wild mushrooms which they have picked themsel

A new oral medication to treat patients in the early stages of multiple sclerosis has shown considerable promise in two clinical trials, researchers announced on Wednesday.The medication is on track to become just the third oral drug available to M.S. patients, and potentially the safest and most ef

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

By Denise WintermanBBC News MagazineFaecal matter can be found on just over a quarter of our hands, new research suggests. In some cases the amount of germs is equivalent to the number in a dirty toilet bowl. So why are the British so bad at washing their hands?Poo, it’s getting everywhere. Faecal b

From CBC News (http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2012/10/15/cancer-burden-lifestyle-world.html)The unhealthy consumption of high-calorie food threatens to reverse declines in smoking-related cancers in developed countries, while cancer death rates are expected to increase in developing countries,

On 28 January 2013, Sir Michael gave a public lecture on “Optimising health care in the UK National Health Service: Balancing quality and efficiency” as part of the PMAC conference. Due to the variable backgrounds of the attendees, this lecture aimed to introduce the term HTA and its roles in the Na