Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:
Drowned Toddler Found to Be Alive
A 2-year-old drowning victim from Rexburg, Idaho, was found to be alive more than an hour after he'd been pronounced dead.
A hospital nurse preparing Logan Pinto's body for the funeral home when she noticed slight movement in his chest and realized he was breathing. The boy was airlifted to a Salt Lake City hospital and was listed in critical condition Friday, the Associated Press reported.
The boy was submerged for almost 30 minutes Thursday after tumbling into a canal near his home in Rexburg, which is about 275 miles east of Boise. Police and emergency crews tried to revive him after he was pulled from the water, but those efforts were deemed unsuccessful and Logan was pronounced dead.
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Poll Finds Overweight Americans in Denial
Weight problem? What weight problem?
That seems to be the attitude of many Americans, according to an Ipsos poll conducted for the Associated Press. The poll found that six in 10 Americans who are overweight according to government standards actually consider themselves to be at a healthy weight.
And only 25 percent of obese people feel that they're overweight.
The poll of 1,000 adults also found that 12 percent of the respondents are currently on a diet. Most of those who've been on diets said they regained at least some of the weight they shed and 23 percent said they gained back all their weight after being on a diet.
About two-thirds of the poll respondents attempted to start regular
physical exercise programs within the previous year.
Most of the people singled out unhealthy eating habits as the health risk that posed the greatest threat to Americans. Fifty-six percent said they try to restrict fat intake in their diets and 33 percent said they try to restrict carbohydrates.
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Second U.S. Human West Nile Case Reported
in Arizona
The second human case of West Nile virus in the United States this year has been reported in Maricopa County, Ariz.
An adult in the county developed symptoms of the mosquito-borne virus on May 8 and was admitted to hospital. The person is now fully recovered, the Associated Press reported.
On Wednesday, New Mexico reported the first human West Nile case in the U.S. this year. The San Juan County man suffered only mild symptoms had has recovered.
The West Nile virus first appeared in the United States in New York in 1999. Since then, it's spread to many parts of the country and has killed more than 560 people in the U.S.
People infected with the virus usually develop flu-like symptoms,
including nausea, muscle aches, headache and fever. Most people recover but the virus can be a deadly threat for some people, including the
elderly.
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Every 6.5 Seconds, Another Smoker Dies: UN Official
You don't have to wait long until someone across the globe dies of a tobacco-related illness, according to Lee Jong-wook, director of the World Health Organization.
A current or former smoker dies about every 6.5 seconds, which amounts to 4.9 million people annually, according to the Associated Press. That figure, with much of the social and economic burden falling on developing nations, is expected to double over the next 20 years, experts say.
"The world cannot accept such easily preventable human and economic losses," Lee told the wire service in advance of World No Tobacco Day, which takes place Monday. He urged more countries to sign the United Nations agency's groundbreaking anti-tobacco treaty, which aims to reduce tobacco's damage to the global health system and economy.
Of WHO's 192 members, 118 have signed the 2003 pact, including the United States, the wire service said.
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Surgeon General Links More Diseases to
Smoking
A long list of diseases -- including acute myeloid leukemia and cancers of the kidney, cervix, stomach and pancreas -- have been added to the catalog of serious health problems caused by smoking.
Abdominal aortic aneurysm, pneumonia, periodontitis and cataracts are also among the diseases now linked to smoking, said a report released Thursday by U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona.
Current evidence doesn't offer conclusive proof that liver cancer,
colorectal cancer, prostate cancer or erectile dysfunction are caused by
smoking, the report said, adding that smoking may not cause breast
cancer in women overall. But smoking may increase the risk of developing
breast cancer, depending on a woman's genetics.
Carmona also reported that the number of Americans who smoke has dropped from about 42 percent in 1965 to about 22 percent in 2002, the last year for which such data is available, according to the AP.
Meanwhile, new government statistics also released Thursday show that while smoking has declined, the rate is not sufficient to achieve a 2010 national health objective of cutting smoking prevalence in adults to 12 percent.
The report, by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
covered the 1983-2002 period and found that men smoked more than women, young people smoked more than older ones, and smoking prevalence was higher for those below the poverty line and those without a college degree.
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Northeasterners Warned on Eating Certain Farmed Fish
Salmon and trout raised on federally sponsored farms in the northeastern United States are so contaminated with dioxin and other pollutants that area residents should watch how much of the fish they eat, researchers have concluded from recent studies sponsored by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Despite other federal announcements this week touting the normal heart-healthy benefits of eating fish, federal officials have concluded that anglers who catch trout and salmon raised on federal farms but are later released into public waterways should eat no more than half a serving of these fish a month, the Associated Press reported. About 14,000 of these fish are released every year.
Most of the pollutants found in the prized catches are believed to come from PCBs found in the fish oil and meal fed to the farm-raised fish, the wire service said.
While the contaminant levels were below standards set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the EPA made the recommendation about limiting consumption of these fish once it reviewed the recent research, the AP said.
For its part, the federal Wildlife Service is recommending that state fish and wildlife directors discuss the test results with public health officials before deciding whether to continue releasing the federally donated fish into their waters, the wire service said.
