People Don't Respect Herpes

'“Mono probably doesn’t have the respect it deserves,” said Dr. Robert Frenck..“It is a significant disease in the U.S., and people trivialize it,” [Dr. Joseph Pagano] said.' 95 percent of people become infected with Epstein-Barr, the herpes virus that causes mononucleosis. Spytoms include "fatigue, fever, sore throats, swollen glands and an enlarged spleen...[even] serious complications in transplant patients or those with weakened immune systems."

Overuse of Sleeping Pills

The use of sleeping pills has tripled in use amongst those of college-age, "rising from 599 users per 100,000 in 1998 to 1,524 users per 100,000 in 2006. Dr. Eric M. Plakun ...said the increasing reliance on sleeping pills reflects changes in cultural attitudes toward medication use."

This is a generation that was raised on Ritalin and Adderall," Dr. Plakun said. "They and their parents have turned to medication and found medications can be helpful. But it’s a double-edged sword. You pay a price in which taking a pill becomes the way to go.

Ritalin (methylphenidate) is used to treat ADHD, narcolepsy, daytime fatigue. It was patented in 1954. It is a central nervous stimulant produced by Novartis.

Novartis has about 18 small molecule drugs on the market.

Study links water pollution with declining male fertility

More medicine and hormones in our tap water. New research by Dr Susan Jobling at Brunel University and the University of Exeter has shown how "female sex hormones (estrogens), and chemicals that mimic estrogens, are leading to ‘feminisation’ of male fish."

“We have been working intensively in this field for over ten years. The new research findings ... effects seen in wild fish and in humans are caused by similar combinations of chemicals. We have identified a new group of chemicals in our study on fish, but do not know where they are coming from.”

'Professor Charles Tyler of the University of Exeter said: ”Our research shows that a much wider range of chemicals than we previously thought is leading to hormone disruption in fish. This means that the pollutants causing these problems are likely to be coming from a wide variety of sources. Our findings also strengthen the argument for the cocktail of chemicals in our water leading to hormone disruption in fish, and contributing to the rise in male reproductive problems. There are likely to be many reasons behind the rise in male fertility problems in humans, but these findings could reveal one, previously unknown, factor.”'

Compounds in Tap Water

The Southern Nevada Water District tested water in 19 different counties for 51 different compounds and discovered 11 compounds existing at low levels. They include drugs like beta-blockers, herbicide, hormones, tranquilisers, and anti-biotics. They list goes as...

• Atenolol, a beta-blocker used to treat cardiovascular disease

• Atrazine, an organic herbicide banned in the European Union, but still used in the US, which has been implicated in the decline of fish stocks and in changes in animal behaviour

• Carbamazepine, a mood-stabilising drug used to treat bipolar disorder, amongst other things

• Estrone, an oestrogen hormone secreted by the ovaries and blamed forcausing gender-bending changes in fish

• Gemfibrozil, an anti-cholesterol drug

• Meprobamate, a tranquiliser widely used in psychiatric treatment

• Naproxen, a painkiller and anti-inflammatory linked to increases in asthma incidence

• Phenytoin, an anticonvulsant that has been used to treat epilepsy

• Sulfamethoxazole, an antibiotic used against the Streptococcus bacteria, which is responsible for tonsillitis and other diseases

• TCEP, a reducing agent used in molecular biology

• Trimethoprim, another antibiotic

Doctor's Error

"A new study has found that hospitals could cut surgery complications by about 30 percent and resulting deaths by 40 percent if doctors and nurses follow a checklist of safety rules before, during and after performing surgery."

The World Health Organization wants to implement this list of 19 steps to take from observations from about 7,688 patients. 234 million majors surgeries are performed every year around the world.