Officials from the World Health Organization warn that the new H7N9 strain of the bird flu virus that has emerged over the last month in China is one of the deadliest flu viruses so far, due to its ability to jump more easily from birds to humans than the last strain, H5N1, that wreaked havoc in 2003.

Since this new H7N9…

A survey published last week in the UK has drawn attention to the stress and pressure that General Practitioners across the country face just to perform their weekly tasks: 49% of GPs state that the level of care they provide to patients is compromised as a result.

An international study led by researchers from Edinburgh University has found that a drug given to patients who have suffered an ischaemic stroke is more likely to result in a good quality of life eighteen months later, as long as the drug is administered within six hours of the stroke. The drug, alteplase, has been given by researchers…

The incidence and spread of diabetes has been described as a worldwide epidemic. Nearly 350 million people have the disease, and deaths as a result of diabetes are projected to rise by up to half in the next 10 years. By 2030, diabetes may be the seventh leading cause of global death, according to disease experts.

Warnings have been appearing on cigarette packaging for over 40 years, and over the last decades they have evolved to become bigger, bolder, more hard hitting. These days, 40 countries worldwide now legally require large, graphic images on the front of cigarette packs; these depictions of the effects of smoking often include shocking images of diseased people or diseased body parts.

Globally, breast cancer is the most common cancer to affect women. Of all women suffering from cancer, 23 percent will be battling breast cancer. The breast cancer mortality rate is also high. Data shows that in 2008, breast cancer caused nearly half a million deaths across the world.

As is generally…

Recent research in England has thrown more light on a worrying phenomenon - the fact that your chances of surviving surgery are greatly influenced by exactly when in the week you have  your operation. The investigation, published by the British Medical Journal in May 2013, has made it clear that weekend surgery or elective…

The Hong Kong government has recently suffered an angry reaction from the insurance industry in response to its proposed standardised medical insurance plan. Insurers argue that the government has backed down, in this new move, from regulating the costs of private hospitals. Under the new Health Protection…

Cosmetic surgery is big business in the UK. According to the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS), the number of facelifts, liposuction procedures, nose jobs and other surgical cosmetic operations in the UK totaled 43,172 last year, and the industry is predicted to be worth £3.6 billion in the UK by 2015. As cosmetic…

American President Barack Obama this week encouraged those Americans paying high prices for health insurance, as well as the uninsured, to sign up for cover under his new Affordable Care Act. On a trip to California, Obama encouraged the recruitment of Hispanics in particular to the new healthcare scheme that is designed to help uninsured Americans afford health insurance.

California…