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Reuters Health News Headlines - Yahoo! News Radiation from Idaho fire posed no health risks: officials Number of U.S. meningitis cases rises to 50 in deadly outbreak Colombian president to leave hospital on Saturday - doctors 11,000 German schoolchildren probably laid low by strawberries Getting paid to quit may work for some smokers Climate linked to California ER visits Lot of work left on Canada-EU trade talks, says senior official Analysis: Romney would lean on Congress for tax code overhaul FDA warns against use of Stryker surgical suction systems U.N. chief says sanctions on Iran affecting its people Canada court says not revealing HIV not always a crime FDA cites risk, but MS patients seek unproven therapy Chronic stress tied to worse heart attack prognosis Water exercise boosts endurance in COPD Sanofi flags positive study on Lantus insulin Radiation from Idaho fire posed no health risks: officials SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - Smoke from a wildfire in Idaho that burned mining sites with traces of uranium and thorium contained elevated levels of radiation, but none that posed a risk to human health, state officials said on Friday. The state Department of Environmental Quality last month took air samples in North Fork, a town in the burn zone in east-central Idaho, after the so-called Mustang Complex fire swept through a former uranium mine and two abandoned gold mines. Health officials said then they believed risks to people's health was low, and the latest findings back up that assessment. ... Full Story Top Number of U.S. meningitis cases rises to 50 in deadly outbreak NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) - The number of people stricken with a rare form of meningitis linked to steroid injections rose to 50 in seven U.S. states, authorities said on Friday, in a widening outbreak that has killed at least five people. Michigan said it had confirmed six cases of fungal meningitis, the seventh state to report people falling ill after receiving the injections, mainly for back pain. Other states with cases are Tennessee, Virginia, Florida, Maryland, North Carolina and Indiana. The U.S. ... Full Story Top Colombian president to leave hospital on Saturday - doctors BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos will be released from the hospital on Saturday following surgery for prostate cancer that has not spread beyond the gland, his medical team said. Santos, 61, said on Monday that doctors had discovered a tumor on his prostate. The cancer announcement came two weeks before his government was about to start peace talks with Marxist rebels. "The definitive pathology result now available shows that the tumor was confined to the prostate gland. ... Full Story Top 11,000 German schoolchildren probably laid low by strawberries BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's biggest outbreak of food poisoning, in which more than 11,000 schoolchildren have been laid low by diarrhoea and vomiting, is "very likely" to have been caused by a batch of frozen strawberries, authorities said on Friday. Children in almost 500 schools and daycare centres across eastern Germany that received food from a subcontractor of the catering firm Sodexo have been affected, and at least 32 have been treated in hospital. ... Full Story Top Getting paid to quit may work for some smokers NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - During a single year when the Dutch government covered the costs of counseling and drugs to help smokers quit, calls to a national smoking-cessation hotline rose 10-fold, and the number of smokers in the country dropped significantly, according to a new study. The results, reported in the journal Addiction, suggest that more people may enroll in smoking cessation programs if their governments or insurance companies offer to pay for the therapies and medications, according to the study's authors. "We can only speculate about what this means for individual smokers. ... Full Story Top Climate linked to California ER visits NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The risk of heading to the emergency room for certain conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes, stroke, kidney disease and low blood pressure rises slightly as temperature and humidity increase, according to a new study from California. Researchers also found that for a few conditions, including aneurysm and high blood pressure, higher temperatures were tied to a drop in ER visits. ... Full Story Top Lot of work left on Canada-EU trade talks, says senior official OTTAWA (Reuters) - A large amount of work remains to be done on a proposed free trade treaty between Canada and the European Union, which is supposed to be concluded by the end of the year, a senior Canadian official was quoted as saying on Friday. Canada, keen to diversify its exports away from the United States, says a deal with the European Union would increase two-way trade by 20 percent. ... Full Story Top Analysis: Romney would lean on Congress for tax code overhaul WASHINGTON (Reuters) - If Mitt Romney is elected president on November 6, he likely would look to fellow Republicans in Congress to fill in the blanks of a framework to slash rates and pare deductions as part of an overhaul of the U.S. tax code. Accused by Democrats and some academics of not spelling out how he would fund his proposed 20 percent across-the-board tax cut, Romney this week offered a hint of a solution: imposing a $17,000 to $50,000 deduction cap on tax breaks for Americans. ... Full Story Top FDA warns against use of Stryker surgical suction systems (Reuters) - U.S. health regulators warned on Friday against the use of systems made by Stryker Corp for removing surgical waste from patients after receiving reports of one death and one serious injury due to tissue damage. The Stryker systems, called Neptune 1 Silver and Neptune 2 Ultra Waste, use powerful suction to collect and remove surgical fluid waste in operating rooms and smoke at surgical sites caused by electrocautery or laser devices. ... Full Story Top U.N. chief says sanctions on Iran affecting its people UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - International sanctions on Iran are having "significant" effects on the Iranian people and also appear to be harming humanitarian operations in the country, U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said in a report to the U.N. General Assembly released on Friday. The Iranian currency has fallen during the past year and over the last ten days alone has lost a third of its value, sparking street protests. U.S. official and other Western officials blame the drop on a combination of economic mismanagement and sanctions. Iran is under U.N., U.S. ... Full Story Top Canada court says not revealing HIV not always a crime (Reuters) - Canada's top court said on Friday that failing to tell a sexual partner you have HIV is only sexual assault if there is "a realistic possibility" of transmitting the virus that causes AIDS. In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court of Canada rejected the government's argument that everyone who has HIV should be required to disclose that condition to all sexual partners in any circumstance. ... Full Story Top FDA cites risk, but MS patients seek unproven therapy LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK (Reuters) - A controversial treatment for multiple sclerosis has been linked by U.S. health regulators to serious injuries including stroke, paralysis or even death, prompting them to issue an official warning to patients and physicians earlier this year. But California radiologist Michael Arata and other doctors are continuing to treat a condition dubbed "chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency," or CCSVI, on dozens of new patients, based on their conviction that it offers a better quality of life. ... Full Story Top Chronic stress tied to worse heart attack prognosis NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Heart attack patients with a stressful life may have a worse long-term outlook than their less-stressed counterparts, a new study finds. Researchers found that of people hospitalized for a heart attack, those who'd felt stressed out recently were 42 percent more likely to die over the next two years. It's not clear whether the stress is to blame, said lead researcher Dr. Suzanne V. Arnold, of St. Luke's Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City, Missouri. ... Full Story Top Water exercise boosts endurance in COPD NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Water workouts may trump land-based exercise for people with chronic lung disease and other health problems, according to a small study. Australian researchers found that exercising in a pool boosted physical endurance and energy levels in people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, and physical complaints such as obesity or back pain. ... Full Story Top Sanofi flags positive study on Lantus insulin PARIS (Reuters) - Sanofi said its top-selling Lantus insulin treatment proved three times more likely than standard care to maintain targeted blood sugar levels in patients with pre-diabetes or early type 2 diabetes at high risk of heart disease. This was based on a six-year clinical trial called "Origin" that involved more than 12,500 participants, Sanofi said on Friday. The data was presented to the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes. ... Full Story Top

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