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VENTURA (CBSLA.com) — The California Department of Health Thursday confirmed the first cases of enterovirus in the state. The cases were found in one patient in Ventura County and three children in San Diego County. More cases are anticipated in the coming weeks. Enterovirus causes respiratory illness and likely spreads when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or touches contaminated surfaces. Symptoms of EV-D68 include fever (although fever may not be present), runny nose, sneezing, cough, and body and muscle aches. Some children have more serious illness with breathing difficulty and wheezing, particularly children with a history of asthma. Parents should...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (CBS Connecticut/AP) — The Rhode Island Health Department says a child has died from complications of an unusual respiratory virus that has been affecting children across the U.S. Health officials said Wednesday that the 10-year-old girl died last week of a staph infection associated with the enterovirus 68 infection, which it called “a very rare combination.” “We are all heartbroken to hear about the death of one of Rhode Island’s children,” Dr. Michael Fine, director of the Rhode Island Department of Health, said in a statement. “Many of us will have EV-D68. Most of us will have very...

At least four people have died after contracting a severe respiratory illness that has spread to more than 40 states, public health officials announced on Wednesday.

An unusual respiratory virus has sickened more than 400 children across the United States, and the emergence of sudden paralysis in some Colorado youths is sparking concern among doctors. The nationwide outbreak of enterovirus D68 -- which can cause wheezing and coughing -- coincided with the hospitalization of nine children due to limb weakness in Colorado since early August, and officials are investigating if there is any link between the two.

Ebola panic has spread all the way to the United States, even though the possibility of it actually spreading across American shores is dismally low. People might be better off preparing for the chikungunya virus, which has been reported several times throughout the southern United States — including a third case recently reported in the Dallas area, according to CBS. Chikungunya virus has hit the hardest in the Central American and Caribbean countries of El Salvador and the Dominican Republican. Although exact number are unavailable for the Dominican, El Salvadorian officials are reporting that there are currently 30,000 cases...

Woman gets fired without pay after telling her boss she has cancer Carol Jumper, of Hopewell Township, Pa., received a handwritten letter of her termination from her boss, Dr. George Visnich Jr., shortly after she was diagnosed with cancer. Her family and friends are outraged but the doctor's attorney claimed he did a 'humanitarian thing.'

Two Veterans Affairs Medical Center employees were arrested last week for using VA facilities to smuggle and deal cocaine, the Department of Justice recently announced. Robert Tucker and Erik Casiano had been using the U.S. Postal Service and the mailroom of a VA Medical Center in the Bronx to receive and distribute cocaine since “at least November 2013,” according to the press release. Tucker has worked for the VA since 1997, and in 2012 was promoted to supervisor of the Logistics Warehouse and Mail Center. Casiano, a pipefitter in the plumbing department, had worked for the center since 2012. All...

The Italian government has plans to produce medical marijuana in a military factory in Florence, national media reported on Friday. Roberta Pinotti, defence minister, and Health Minister Beatrice Lorenzin have given their backing to the plans to see the army produce drugs using cannabis, La Stampa said. If approved the medical marijuana will be cultivated at a chemical plant run by the army, originally used to produce medicines for the military. The plans could see cannabis drugs available in Italian pharmacies as early as next year, the newspaper said. But although the defence and health ministries have been drawing up...

Obama administration moved Thursday to restrict prescriptions of the most commonly used narcotic painkillers in the U.S. in an attempt to curb widespread abuse.

Wanting to be cured of illness is “depraved” —if your life isn’t worth saving. “In a bygone era, doctors thought every life was important. Treatment was aggressive and persistent in intensive care units even when it might be futile.…” A UCLA “academic study” is providing the theoretical basis for denying ordinary care to those deemed “Life Unworthy of Life” (“Lebensunwertes Leben“).That idea, most prominently advanced by the Nazis, has been repackaged as “futile care theory”, disregarding the fact that all persons are in the process of moving towards death from their earliest moments. University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Health...

Two years of research by a Nigerian scientist has shown that sufferers of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease could be helped by punicalagin, a compound extracted from pomegranates. Olumayokun Olajide from the University of Huddersfield in West Yorkshire showed how punicalagin could inhibit inflammation in specialised brain cells known as micrologia. He also found the painful inflammation that accompanies illnesses such as rheumatoid arthritis and Parkinson's disease could be reduced using the same drug. "We do know that regular consumption of pomegranate has a lot of health benefits, including prevention of neuro-inflammation related to dementia," Olajide added.

A Sacramento hospital announced Tuesday that one of its patients may have Ebola. Kaiser Permanente South Sacramento Medical Center said in a release the patient is isolated. The hospital's Dr. Stephen Parodi said in the release 'We are working with the Sacramento County Division of Public Health regarding a patient admitted to the Kaiser Permanente South Sacramento Medical Center who may have been exposed to the Ebola virus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will be testing blood samples to rule out the presence of the virus.

Cases in West Africa's Ebola outbreak this year have risen to 2,240, including 1,229 deaths, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Tuesday, reporting the toll in four countries, including Nigeria. While Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation and No. 1 oil producer, appears to be containing its smaller outbreak, Liberia and Sierra Leone are struggling to halt the spread of the deadly Ebola virus among their populations. On Friday, these small two West African nations and a medical charity chided the WHO for its slow response, saying more action was needed to save victims threatened by the disease and hunger.

Screening older patients for cancer provided minimal benefit at considerable cost and increased use of invasive procedures, reported investigators in two separate studies. "It is particularly important to question screening strategies for older persons," Gross continued. "Patients with a shorter life expectancy have less time to develop clinically significant cancers after a screening test and are more likely to die from noncancer health problems after a cancer diagnosis."

When scientists injected spores of a weakened form of the bacterium Clostridium novyi directly into the soft-tissue tumors of dogs and that of a single human subject, the results were not only abscesses, fever and pain at the site--all inflammatory responses that showed the immune system had been drawn to the area. In a matter of hours, the bacterial spores quickly found their way into these tumors' necrotic cores and began replicating madly, in several cases killing the malignant tissue. In three of 16 dogs treated with the C. novyi, tumors disappeared altogether and the animals were cured. In three...

The technique, which involves a simple injection, could aid the recovery of hundreds of thousands of heart failure patients - and could even consign heart transplants to history. Researchers hope to increase levels of SERCA2a, a protein in heart muscle cells that plays an important role in heart muscle contraction The technique, which involves a simple injection, could aid the recovery of hundreds of thousands of heart failure patients. Heart transplants could even be consigned to history thanks to a trial by Imperial College, London, which aims to show for the first time that gene therapy could repair failing organs....

Hoskins’ plan to bring 100 children to Ontario for medical treatment, like the relocating of the gas plants, is nothing more than a political gesture. While the government of Ontario announced the province would permit 100 injured children in Gaza to be treated in its hospitals, the federal government, accused of being too pro-Israel, used common sense and said not so fast. Last week, Dr. Eric Hoskins, Ontario’s Minister of Health, announced the plan that was requested by Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish, a Toronto doctor who lost three of his daughters in Gaza in 2009.

Today, we have news about saving the life of Captain Alexander Petrakovskogo, 8 Regiment special forces of Khmelnitsky, whose doctors are fighting for his life at the military hospital. An hour ago I got a call from a well-known Ukrainian businessman, who offered to export Alexander and fully pay for the extra medical treatment abroad which amounts to the amount of 150 million euros. I called Peter Petrakovskomu, Sasha's father-a personnel officer, Reserve Colonel, to report that his funds were already collected. And thanked him for the service of his son-hero, like other members of ATU, and to help care...

Now, should the medical workers in the Ebola infected countries use robotic technology to handle patients, administer certain drugs, and then do certain functions that could prevent the spread of the disease to the workers in the medical field? I thought this would be a much better way to have patients taken care of and reduce risk drastically in regards to patient to doctor/carer transmission.

Lewis-Payton admitted VISN 16 must work on “trust issues” with veterans and providers. Some of these individuals accuse VISN 16 of systematically gaming medical-record filing deadlines and leaving veterans with massive debts. When providers sent required medical records by certified mail, VA employees shredded them without explanation, insisting they were incomplete after the 90 day filing deadline had expired. As a result of this practice, one Louisiana veteran owes more than $22,000 and is being pursued by a collection agency. Lewis-Payton has not replied to questions about this case. In other cases, VISN 16 reportedly cited absurd reasons for leaving...